Portable Classrooms

There was a time in the distant past when “distance education” meant sending letters to an instructor far away by post. In the long-distant past, you could do distance education by sending cassette tapes to an instructor in the mail. And just yesterday, distance education was about sitting down in front of a desktop or laptop computer and doing education over the internet.

But in the here and now, distance education is all about mobile phones. 

It’s not just people in developed countries who are tethered to their phones. On a recent trip to Jamaica, my wife and I noticed that young people – regardless of their social or economic status – were holding the latest generation of smart phone. 

The statistics support our casual observation. Out of the seven billion people who live on the planet, over six billion have access to a mobile phone. By contrast, only 4.5 billion people have access to toilets. And we’re all addicted to our phones, too. A recent Time Qualcomm survey said that 84 percent of us can’t go a single day without a cell phone in our hands. In fact, 44 percent of us would leave our wallets at home but not our cell phones.

TICKET TO A BETTER LIFE
Given that broadband coverage is almost everywhere – and that almost everyone living in the world today has access to a phone – it was only a matter of time before someone realized the possibility of using the technology for good, rather than sending nasty tweets or cat gifs. 

Companies like Waterloo’s D2L – which has been in the business of selling educational technology now for 20 years – have recognized that, for many people around the world, the phone in their hand is a ticket to a better life. The technology already being used in classrooms around the world to deliver lessons and tests can easily be adapted to work on a mobile phone – meaning that almost anyone can learn almost anywhere, any time they want. For people struggling to make ends meet, or working multiple jobs, or stuck working in shift work – the opportunity to complete a certificate or a degree online can mean the difference between the grim status quo and a better life. 

There’s a tendency among certain folks to dismiss online learning as less “real” or valuable than classroom learning. However numerous studies support the notion that mobile technology is a powerful tool to promote literacy and learning. 

For example, a UNESCO study looked at how mobile reading changes reading habits and attitudes towards reading in the developing world. After interviewing more than 4,000 people in seven countries (Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Kenya, Nigeria, Pakistan and Zimbabwe) researchers found that that people read more when they read on mobile devices, that they enjoy reading more, and that people more often read books and stories to their own children from mobile devices. In other words, mobile phones have taken the place of libraries for many people – and all the world’s collected knowledge – and cat gifs – have a positive impact on people’s ability and desire to read. 

But it’s not just literacy and learning that is advanced by mobile technology. Society, too, can progress as a result of mobile technology. A few years ago, D2L created a unique education partnership in Libya with MEDA, a renowned global development organization. Using D2L’s Brightspace learning platform, thousands of female entrepreneurs across Libya gained access to business education courses on mobile devices with personalized learning, social content, analytics and game-based courses. The result? More women entrepreneurs in a conservative country got access to the courses they need to become more independent. 

It’s been said that intelligence is distributed equally around the world but that opportunity lies in the hands of a few. By allowing classrooms to become portable, it’s possible that more people, in more places than ever before are – right now – holding the means to improve their lives and change the world for the better, right in the palm of their hand.