User:Jbreedveld86/sandbox

UNESCO Source Evaluation
Digital Services for Education in Africa: http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0023/002318/231867e.pdf

Who is this article publication directed to?


 * For members of the informal working group who collected and shared information for the article to provide a summary of their conclusions
 * For representatives of African ministries and training institutes, donors, academics and private sector representatives who want to know and build on the body of  knowledge and experience available in sub-Saharan Africa on the educational ICT sector.

What are the main themes it covers?


 * current state of education in sub-Saharan Africa
 * progress has been made, but significant differences in quality between countries, genders
 * current challenges for teachers
 * potential of technology for improving the quality of basic education in Africa (examples include mobile learning)
 * integrating ICT into teaching methods
 * handling environmental and funding constraints
 * focus on mobile phones and tablets as tools

Wikipedia Articles - Options for editing

 * M-learning
 * Education - Education and technology in developing countries
 * Education in Africa - Education Technology (article already references this publication)
 * Africa -Education (other classmate has chosen this section, so remove from list)
 * Gender disparity in education (not enough changes to make to article)

Wikipedia Articles to Edit - M-learning and Education-Education and technology in developing countries

 * M-learning article
 * Article summarizes the definition of m-learning (or m-education), uses in school and work settings, risks and benefits
 * Possible additions from UNESCO publication:
 * Add references to benefits of digital over paper learning (low cost of materials compared to print)
 * Potentially add a distance learning section to supplement classroom learning. Reference a case study from sub-Saharan Africa, or does that not fit into the article style?
 * Add to sections on benefits and risks
 * Some citation links are broken. I don't see anything missing a citation that I could add.
 * Based on the Talk page, some concern about the article's approach to pedagogy being out of date, and that some benefits/risks are also outdated. Some writers have edited it in the past few years to correct these changes and restructure it.
 * It is part of a few WikiProjects, where it's been rated as either Start-Class, or Stub-Class with High Importance.


 * Education-Education and technology in developing countries article
 * Article summarizes definition of education, history, forms of education, educational theory, and education in developing countries
 * Possible aditions from UNESCO publication:
 * Developing country section is rather short and doesn't have a strong intro. Could add a few sentences to introduce it.
 * Africa section could include some additional references to ICT work in Africa.
 * Could also add a Bangladesh ICT example, and see if publication has others for additional countries not listed.
 * Most citation links appear to work.
 * Based on the Talk page, the outline of the page has been set, but sections like the technology section need to be fleshed out with greater detail. There also appears to be a consistent theme of sections that reference to bias, rather than neutral points of view.
 * Article has been listed as C-class and of high importance. Perhaps too visible to add updates to this one as a new user

Introduction
M-learning has the added benefit of being cost effective, as the price of digital content on tablets is falling sharply compared to the traditional media (books, CD and DVD, etc.). One digital textbook, for instance, costs one-third to half the price of a paper textbook (AFD, 2012), with zero marginal cost.

Some examples of m-learning tools available through mobile devices include e-books and e-courses, learning games, networking, personalized evaluation services, preparation for tests, and distance tutoring.

Pakistan
In Pakistan, the Rehan School was one of the first initiatives to offer remote courses that could be accessed from a basic mobile phone. The application offers short educational sequences, showing how to write common names and words and conveying mathematical and scientific concepts. Sometimes featuring television personalities, the teaching sketches are intended for viewing on small telephone screens. The films are sold for a few cents in the telecoms boutiques and can then be exchanged by Bluetooth. The Rehan School estimates that over 40,000 individuals follow its lessons, but the real number is certainly higher.

Papua-New Guinea
In Papua-New Guinea, the SMS Story project has successfully improved teachers’ classroom practices in teaching children to read by using short messages and sent by SMS.

Sub-Saharan Africa
Since the 1960s, various information and communication technologies have aroused strong interest in Sub-Saharan Africa as a way of increasing access to education, and enhancing its quality and fairness. Today in Sub-Saharan Africa, teachers and students are faced with an extreme shortage of teaching materials. The number of textbooks available are limited, so few students have individual access to textbooks in class or at home. Given the shortage of textbooks in many African schools, tablets and mobile phones are being viewed as a solution to provide access to learning materials. As an example, the Tangerine mobile assessment and coaching system, deployed in Kenya, aims to help teachers in their assessment activities. With Tangerine, the reading level of a pupil can be evaluated, by recording the candidate’s answers on a mobile phone, on the smartphone or a tablet. A certificate of aptitude can be issued without the need for the candidate to travel. The data gathered by the application also allows comparisons of the learning levels of pupils according to their age, geographical area and gender.

Distance Learning


 * The mobile phone (through text SMS notices) can be used especially for distance education or with students whose courses require them to be highly mobile and in particular to communicate information regarding availability of assignment results, venue changes and cancellations, etc.
 * Mobile phones and tablets facilitate online interaction between teacher and student, and student to student. Mobile devices make it possible to facilitate interaction in real time, allowing students to obtain immediate feedback. Educators can also assess student comprehension by using mobile devices, which provide real time updates on student progress, enabling teachers to adapt and personalize their teaching, for instance, of pupils requiring additional support.
 * It can also be of value to business people, e.g. sales representatives who do not wish to waste time away from their busy schedules to attend formal training events.

Benefits


 * Decrease in textbook costs
 * Access to personalized content
 * Remote access to knowledge
 * Improved literacy levels