Mobile Learning and Numeracy: Filling Gaps and Expanding Opportunities for Early Grade Learning

"...there is very little practical and rigorously evaluated experience to date in mobile learning for early grade numeracy in the developing world....[T]here are a few promising examples, even using most basic mobile phones, for teacher professional development, parental engagement and advocacy, and early mathematics diagnostics and student assessment. In addition, there are opportunities for new pedagogies made possible by the mobility of the devices, their multi-functionality integrating image, audio and video; or icon- and touch-based interfaces that warrant further exploration for learning."

This study examines how mobile learning (m-learning) could influence and improve numeracy education at early grade levels (ages 4-10), especially in low-income countries. Key questions to guide the research include: 1) What are the benefits and challenges of integrating m-learning into early grade numeracy education? 2) What is the role of a teacher with regard to m-learning and numeracy education? 3) How can the community and the parents actively contribute to/participate in the child's numeracy education with the use of mobile devices? and 4) How can mobile technology be used effectively in measuring/assessing numeracy gains? The conclusions and recommendations of this study have been informed by an international working group that met over 2 days during the first International Numeracy Conference in Berlin, Germany, in December 2012. The report is one of three background papers commissioned by The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) to better understand how to improve early grade numeracy in developing countries.

In short, the study suggests that mobile technologies may be an untapped resource that offer opportunities to improve math skills for early grade students in developing countries. Math education in the early grades relies heavily on providing children with many different examples to illustrate concepts, which mobile technologies are well suited to provide. Because young children experience and explore not only mentally but also physically, touchscreen interfaces are particularly suitable; they offer hands-on exploration, such as the ability to change the size and orientation of shapes and construct and deconstruct them through simple dragging and dropping. The study indicates that mobile technologies - even basic mobile phones - also allow children to interact with their environment, supporting the seamless integration between life, play, and learning typical for young children; for example, a child could take a picture of an item and overlay it with a dynamic protractor to build understanding of measurement and angles that could engage them in learning both within and outside the classroom.

In addition, according to the report, mobile technologies can be used to improve teaching skills and curriculums, providing teachers with professional development opportunities and teaching tools for continuous assessment of learning, content that would otherwise not be available through local textbooks or teaching materials. Mobile phones can also be a link between school systems and parents, engaging parents to support numeracy at home.

Exhibit 12 on page 41 summarises the 4 distinct categories of m-learning programmes (from Exhibit 4, earlier in the report), with more detail about what specific types of activities and considerations are characteristic of that category. To cite one example, Nokia MoMaths is a programme started in South Africa as a multistakeholder partnership involving Nokia technology, Pearson content, an open source learning management system (Moodle), a private mobile instant messaging service (MxIT), government collaboration, and more. It operates using feature phones to provide free access to more than 10,000 math exercises covering all aspects of the national math curriculum using the MxIT chat platform. Learners can access a quiz bank or quizzes sent by the teacher and participate in competitions. An evaluation of the project in 2010 revealed a 14% increase in mathematics competency, with 82% of learners using the MoMath application outside of school hours, during holidays and weekends. It is now being adapted and implemented to improve teacher competency in Senegal. Exhibit 7 on page 21 of the report shows examples of some of the math exercises from this platform.

Then, the authors refer back to the table on page 41 to provide suggestions for developing m-learning programmes, before making additional broad recommendations for consideration. They recommend that when developing a mobile learning programme, stakeholders must clearly define the category they aim to target, then choose technology and design implementation accordingly. Policies and procedures will be different if one is expecting mobile devices to be used primarily in the classroom and with teacher guidance (formal/stationary and formal/mobile) or outside of the classroom through self-directed, on-demand learning (informal/mobile, informal/stationary).

Furthermore, the authors suggest that for these mobile technologies to be implemented effectively in developing countries, perceptions as well as policies need to be changed. "Skepticism about the value of mobile learning leads to policies that prohibit the use of mobile phones in schools, and teachers or administrators may be reluctant to change classroom dynamics to facilitate their effective use even where they can add educational value," said Carmen Strigel, team leader, Information and Communication Technologies for Education and Training at RTI.

The report also suggests that an enabling environment for adoption must include the availability of free and open content optimised for mobile devices offered in many languages. Furthermore, international standards for educational content such as file formats and communication protocols need to be developed that will allow content to be compatible with a wider variety of devices.

In addition, the report proposes a research agenda to ensure evidence-based use of mobile technologies for numeracy in low-income countries and to design initiatives so as to generate critical data to inform scale up and replication.

In the end, the report emphasises the need to first identify the learning gaps that mobile technologies can address that are not currently being met in the classroom. The idea is that the educational need should drive the use of mobile devices and not the other way around.

An excerpt from the final portion of the report follows:
"...[W]e have narrowed down the critical areas for immediate action and further research to the following:

1. Balanced advocacy - Currently there are many misconceptions and narrow viewpoints related to m-learning in general....Therefore an important first step is to continue to raise awareness of m-learning, provide the rationale for pursuing it (access, affordability, pedagogy, engagement), and provide examples of positive experiences....
   This may involve the following concrete actions:
   • Supporting publication of articles and papers (such as this desk study), particularly case studies of lesser-known experiences
   • Centralizing a database of experiences (including pilot projects, research, publications, etc.) that can act as a central information source
   • Dissemination of this desk study and request for comments and additional experiences (to be developed into supporting articles and papers and to contribute to the database)....
2. Support more rigorous research - An important part of any such clearinghouse would be to include studies of the effectiveness of m-math programs at the learner outcomes level....
   This may involve the following concrete actions:
   • Define terms and develop a theory of change
   • Map existing research to theory of change
   • Promote targeted evaluations and impact assessments
   • Conduct and evaluate pilot projects

   In addition to research in learning outcomes using mobile technologies, there is a need for further investigation of other topics through qualitative studies. The first topic is to continue exploring more about how the youngest learners interact with technologies. Most existing m-math experiences are in middle and secondary school using feature phones. M-learning with very young learners (grades 1-3) is currently dominated by large touchscreen devices such as the iPad, but few research examples could be found that documented early learning outcomes in these environments; none related to math.

3. Promote enabling environment - ...one where efforts to provide high-quality teaching and learning (including professional development and assessment) through mobile devices will not be hindered by policies, costs, or technologies...For example:
   • Policies: Adopting policies that allow (or even provide) the use of mobile phones in schools, that subsidize costs of communications for educational purposes, that support expansion of infrastructure and accessibility, and that recognize and value informal and out-of-school learning opportunities, including alternative forms of professional development for teachers.
   • Content: Increasing the availability of free and open content optimized for mobile devices, as well as affordable (or open-source) mobile content development platforms, and increasing the availability of content in different languages.
   • Interoperability: Promoting international standards for educational content (file formats, communication protocols, display, etc.) that will allow content to be compatible with a wider variety of devices, thus making the BYOD [bring your own device] model more feasible...."

Annex 4 of the report includes a table that summarises some of the m-math experiences that were studied for this report and provides sources of information for future reference.