Sunday, January 10, 2010

Not Just a Phone - Mobile Phones

By Veronica Carrillo

There was a time when people had to use really bulky wired telephones to place calls. Nevertheless, that era has passed. Let bygones be bygones, they say. It is not unknown though that change is the only constant thing. Keeping this in mind, mobile phones were introduced. Not only did they provide the people with the freedom to move, but were also much lighter.

In India, the mobile phone has revolutionized communication and India is now one of the fastest growing markets for mobile phone services, with growing usage and increasing penetration. According to TRAI, there are 286 million wireless subscribers in India, June 2008, of which 76 million were capable of accessing data services. The increasing ubiquity of the mobile phone begs for it to be used as a learning tool. It would be a shame if we were unable to leverage it to improve socio-economic conditions in our vast population.

Now with the advent of 3G mobile phone, connectivity features have undergone a sea change. On one hand, you can enjoy easy hassle free Internet access all the time with Wi-Fi and can stay connected to outer world with much ease. Then, users also get to enjoy fast speed data transfers as devices are designed to support advanced technologies of EDGE, GPRS, HSDPA, HSUPA etc., which means that large packets of data can be transferred within seconds. Apart from this, market boasts of camera phones which capture impressive photos equivalent to that of digital like quality having vibrant colours. One can opt for handset equipped with built-in camera of high resolution up to 12MP.

Not only this as the technology progresses with every passing day, handsets also keep going through different phases and enable the users to enjoy more. Like camera phones, music handsets also enjoy worldwide users' appreciation. There are gadgets in the market which ensure crystal clear sound quality and at the same time, allow one to create and mix music as per his interest. Moreover, devices come complete with built-in music players and FM radio and keep the music freaks rocking all the time.

Viewed simply; phones are capable of: 1. Voice - These are the most basic phones, are still prevalent though being rapidly replaced. Such phones with voice only technology can be used to learn languages, literature, public speaking, writing, storytelling, and history amongst a whole range of topics. We've known that voice based learning works for millennia now. 2. SMS - Widely used in India, literally billions of short text messages are sent over the phone networks. These messages can be written quickly and offer enormous learning opportunities. SMS can be used to provide just in time information of almost any type, like reminders. (e.g., someone undergoing a formal mentoring process) SMS can be used for informational quizzes. There are also innovative games based around SMS that have strong learning potential. 3. Graphic Displays - Almost every mobile phone has a graphic display, even if it just shows signal and battery strength. Most phones today have far more graphic power and are able to display words, pictures and animation. Such screens also allow for meaningful amounts of text to be displayed, supporting rapid serial presentation of context-appropriate information. You can use this type of displays for almost any sort of learning. Eventually these displays will render content that is today rendered on personal computers. 4. Downloadable programs - With mobile phones that have memories, and can accept and install downloaded programs an entire new learning space is opened up on the phone. Almost any sort of learning content and interaction technology can be delivered to the phone using this method. 5. Mobile Internet Browsers - Internet browsers are now built into an increasing number of phones, especially those that take advantage of 3G or enhanced data networks such as GPRS. Having a browser on the phone opens up all the learning resources available on the web, including Google, LMS applications, typical eLearning courseware and other tools/applications.

Without proper research its hard to arrive at the worth of the m-learning market in India, any projection is unfounded; and is also due to the improbability of being able to predict the rate of technological (read network) adoption and penetration. However, empirically, we are seeing an increasing interest in mLearning. Similar to India, it's hard to quantify adoption in more developed markets. It's well known that Asia and Europe are far ahead in terms of mLearning adoption compared to the North American market. The US market for Mobile Learning products and services is growing at a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 21.7% and revenues reached $538 million in 2007. It would be fair to say that revenues in Europe and Asia will be equal to if not greater than the North American market. Almost every sector will benefit from the use of m-learning, however we feel three primary areas that will feel the biggest impact: Education, Agriculture and Healthcare Additionally, rural communities will benefit tremendously not just from mLearning, but the mobile technology as a whole. Mobile devices are far cheaper than personal computers and do not depend on a continuous power supply to function. There is a definite appeal in gaming for learning using mobile phones. Currently, several companies are experimenting with game-based learning technology for mobiles. However, the feasibility of such an approach depends on the cost of development and deployment of such applications, which are quite high at this time. With increasingly capable hardware and connectivity available and dropping costs, it's only a matter of time before learning games on mobile become commonplace. In the future, we will see mobile phones, computers and various other computing/media devices (iPods, Digital Cameras, PDAs, etc.) we use converge into a single personal mobile computing device. At such a time, the differentiation between eLearning and mLearning will cease to exist; all learning will be electronic and mobile. - 16890

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