Education design in a mobile era

Steve VoslooHead of Mobile, Innovation LabPearson South Africa

Presented at: North South TVET ICT Conference12 Sept 2014

The mobile revolutionChanging educationDesign considerationsChallengesAdvice for the journey ahead

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The mobile revolution

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Global mobile landscape

There are an estimated 6.8 billion mobile subscriptions worldwideand 3.2 billion mobile phone subscribers

90% of world’s population and 80% of people living in rural areas have mobile coverage

105 countries have more mobile phone subscriptions than inhabitants

In 2017 there will be more than five billion mobile broadband subscriptions worldwide. 85% of the world’s population will have 3G coverage

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Sources: ITU, 2013, Ericsson, 2012

African mobile landscape: A revolution

Africa is the second largest (after Asia-Pacific) and fastest growing mobile market in the world

For mobile-broadband Africa is the region with the highest growth rates over the past three years. Penetration has increased from 2% in 2010 to 11% in 2013

167 million people use the Internet, and 52 million are on Facebook – both largely accessed via mobile phones

Jan 2014: Android becomes Africa’s most popular mobile OS (28%)

Sources: GSMA, 2012, Ericson, 2013, ITU, 2013, HumanIPO, 2014

Mobile in Sub-Saharan Africa: Predicted growth for 2019

930 million subscriptions by 2019, of which 732 million would have mobile broadband

Estimated 476-million smartphones expected to reach the market

17-fold growth in data traffic between 2013 and 2019

Sources: Ericson, 2013

Mobile internet in SA

Of about 13m adults using the Internet in SA, 5,8m use only on phone, 6,4m use on phone and PC/laptop/tablet

Internet access via mobile devices comprised 89% of the Internet access market

SA mobile users now spend over 8 hours on the mobile internet every week

Data is becoming more of a factor: Spending on data has grown from 17% to 24% for 19-24 year olds

Prediction: 32.3 million mobile Internet subscribers in SA by 2017Sources: World Wide Worx 2013, PWC, 2013

Smartphones in SA: On the rise

Predict 75% penetration by end of 2015

Enter the low-cost smartphone: MTN Steppa ~ R500

Vodacom also has a cheap smartphone

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Sources: Ambient Insight, 2013, World Wide Worx 2013

Tablets are small, but rising

• 95% of citizens who own a cellphone don’t own a tablet• Samsung is the most popular tablet brand with 52% of the market,

Apple has 23%• 25% of adults surveyed said they were planning to buy a tablet in

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• BUT in schools and HEIs, tablets are rising there is increasing government and institutional adoption

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Sources: World Wide Worx 2013,

CTI/MGI tabletimplementation

12,000 tabletseBooks (ePub3)

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Mobile learning market

“The worldwide mEducation market could generate a global revenue opportunity for mobile operators worth US$70 billion by 2020. mEducation products and services will represent a US$38 billion market”

(GSMA/McKinsey & Co, 2012)

Sources: GSMA/McKinsey & Co, 2012

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Changing education

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With the increase in access to information, and production of knowledge, there is a questioning of the very notions of the authority of traditional bodies of knowledge controlled by legitimate educational institutions

Mobiles provide a new, and sometimes only, access channel to the internet for many people

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There will be a shift away from teaching in a classroom-centred paradigm of education to an increased focus on learning, which happens informally throughout the day

Mobiles support ‘anywhere, anytime’ learning, they are personal, available and suited to informal and contextual learning

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Learning that is time-dependent and location-dependent is not an option for everyone anymore

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There will be an increased blurring of the boundaries between learning, working and living

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In addition to education basics such as literacy and numeracy there will be a need for digital and information literacy, as well as critical thinking and online communication skills

Mobiles provide a medium for developing these skills for millions of Africans who go online ‘mobile first’ or even ‘mobile-only’

These changes, and the mobile revolution, exert pressure on Education to adapt and optimally design learning spaces and digital teaching methodologies to enhance student performance…

The emergence of the mobile society

“Mobile learning is no longer an innovation within institutional learning but a reflection of the world in which institutional learning takes place.”

(Traxler & Vosloo, 2014)

The time for mobile learning is here

Mobile and mobility

People are mobileDevices are mobileInformation is mobile

Mobility ‘denotes not just physical mobility but the opportunity to overcome physical constraints by having access to people and digital learning resources, regardless of place and time’ (Kukulska-Hulme, 2010)

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Mobile and mobility

Mobile Learning – Extending Educational Reach○ Resources (learning material, notes, media)○ Studying (activities, self-assessment and feedback)○ Interaction (peer learning, tutoring and feedback)

System strengthening through mobility – Extending Operational Reach

○ Information (directories, timetables, results)○ Services (library, sports venues, student services)○ Administration (registration, records, documentation)

Not mutually exclusive

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Design considerations

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1. Context is king / User-centred design

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Yoza Cellphone Stories: Average times of use

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Context is king / User-centred design

How will a student or lecturer use your educational resource or service?On-the-go?Seated for some time access to other resources?At what time?Will they be online?What device?What is their learning need?

Crucial for designing:ContentInterfaceFeaturesIntegration

What is mobile learning good for and what does it suck at?

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What we offer vs what they want

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“Mobile-Era to Multi-Device Era”Mobile is not a new, novel thing anymore

Support a continuous range of devicesLuke Wroblewski

2. Design for mobile first (but with discretion)

Common misconceptions…

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Is “mobile first” simply porting over a web experience / website for mobile devices? - No.

2 Is “mobile first” the process of testing on mobile devices first and then on the desktop? – No.

3 Is “mobile first” always choosing native apps over web technologies? - *No.

Does “mobile first” mean that we no longer develop for desktops? - No.

5 Is “mobile first” the same thing as “responsive design”? – No.

* This warrants some discussion, however…

What our peers are saying…

PEARSON

Thomas Plunkett, chief technology officer, Gawker“At the high level, mobile-first means build where users are and where technology is going. In practice, we build features mobile-first. We simplify the product. It forces us to think about what is essential; extend features to desktop.”

Matt Turck, publisher, Slate“The mobile user comprises a third of our traffic…our readers will have a true 360-degree user experience, with access to all our great content whenever and wherever they are.”

Mark Howard, chief revenue officer, ForbesMobile-first means developing for small screens before developing for desktop. It can be on a product, a feature or an entire experience…Mobile is still the untapped frontier for many publishers… ”

Design for Small Screens first

PEARSON

Thinking small

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PEARSON

Making mobile the first priority instead of an afterthought.

2 Understanding what our customers are trying to accomplish in their moments of need.

3 Designing our business services to intersect our customer's daily life or work.

Designing our systems of engagement to deliver a task-oriented service experience.

5 Designing and operating our mobile experiences to help customers take the next most likely action.

6 Focusing on what’s truly critical to a product or service. Strip away the excess.

3. Personalised learning

That is adaptiveThat is contextual

The Horizon Report highlights this as a significant challenge, saying that “there remains a gap between the vision and the tools needed to achieve it.”

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4. Learner analytics

For the first time ever, it is possible to track usage across platforms and throughout the day

There needs to be a shift in focus from the improvement of schools to the progress of individuals. Monitoring and enablement of learners, powerful combination of teachers and technology (not technology replacing teachers).

Sir Michael Barber, Chief Education Advisor at Pearson

Process: Capture analyse act (informs curriculum design, lecturer support, etc.)

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5. Be social

• 87% of Facebook users and 85% of Twitter users are accessing these tools on their phones (Facebook has 9.4m active users in SA, Twitter has 5.5m)

• Whatsapp usage doubled in the past 18 months from 26% to 53%

• Avg Mxit user spends 95 minutes per day on the app across 6 sessions

• Facebook, Whatsapp and Mxit were voted the three favourite apps of 2013

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Sources: World Wide Worx 2013, BizCommunity, 2014

Opportunities for: P2P learning, communities of practice, knowledge sharing, tutoring, reinforcing newly learned skills

6. Meet them where they are: Use existing platforms

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Challenges

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Challenges

• This is all new and fundamentally different to existing approaches• Existing systems designed for static, top-down learning• Inertia• Training needed on pedagogy of mobile learning

• Legacy systems: Getting them to share data

• Uneven landscape (device, infrastructure, affordability, ICT literacy, etc.)

• Privacy

• Mobile has a role to play in bridging the formal and informal learning spaces. But this requires change in both spheres. More work is needed here. The NMC Horizon Report 2013: K-12 Edition report highlights this as a significant challenge

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Challenges: Technical

• Native apps or responsive web design / mobi site?

• Which operating system? (iOS, Android, BlackBerry, Nokia (Own/Windows) and which version of the operating system?

• Which handsets to test now?• New handsets on the market?• Customer Support for multiple apps?

Implication: Solution should be based on market needs and technology adoption

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Advice for the journey ahead

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Advice

You are pioneering so expect mistakes - learn from them

Fail early, fail often

Test test test

Think holistically – without infrastructure, there is no digital

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Thank you

Steve VoslooHead of Mobile, Innovation LabPearson South Africa

steve.vosloo@pearson.com@stevevosloo