{"id":2381,"date":"2012-04-13T09:35:49","date_gmt":"2012-04-13T13:35:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/edutechdebate.org\/?p=2381"},"modified":"2012-09-27T10:39:00","modified_gmt":"2012-09-27T14:39:00","slug":"unesco-to-release-research-into-mobile-learning-initiatives-policies-and-teacher-development","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/edutechdebate.org\/mobile-learning-initiatives\/unesco-to-release-research-into-mobile-learning-initiatives-policies-and-teacher-development\/","title":{"rendered":"UNESCO to release research into mobile learning initiatives, policies and teacher development"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Over\u00a0five weeks UNESCO, in partnership with Nokia, is launching\u00a0its Working Paper Series on Mobile Learning with the release of a set of twelve papers reviewing mobile learning initiatives, implications for ICT in education policies and how mobile technologies support teacher development. The papers will be released according to regions of the world.<\/p>\n

Information and communication technologies (ICT) can contribute to achieving the pillars of Education for All<\/a> (EFA), which are universal access to education, equity in education and the delivery of quality education. Given the unprecedented uptake of mobile devices in the world \u2013 there are now almost 6 billion mobile phone subscriptions<\/a> \u2013 these ICT present a new and exciting possibility for supporting EFA.<\/p>\n

UNESCO is committed to fully exploring how mobile learning, using mobile devices alone or in combination with other ICT, can improve education. While mobile learning is certainly not new, only in very recent years is it receiving widespread attention and building serious momentum. The evidence base for how mobiles can improve grades, increase learner motivation, deliver content to hard-to-reach communities, support district and school administration, and enable adult education in areas such as literacy, is mounting.<\/p>\n

However, many challenges still abound, including the lack of an enabling policy environment, inequity of access, negative social attitudes towards mobile devices as learning tools, lack of awareness of mobile learning, high cost of usage and concerns around online safety. It is essential that the ICT in education community engages with these issues in open dialogue with policy makers, principals, teachers and parents so that the potential benefits of mobile learning are realised, and the challenges are addressed. Two areas of particular interest to UNESCO are policies related to mobile learning, and how mobiles can be used to support teachers and their professional development.<\/p>\n

Mobile learning initiatives and related policies<\/strong><\/p>\n

Many governments have adopted some form of national ICT in education policy. However, many of these policies were developed in the ‘pre-mobile’ era. The few policies that do refer to mobile devices either reference them obliquely or, in some cases, ban them. Overall, there is a dearth of considered and thorough mobile learning policies. To address this vacuum UNESCO will develop a set of guidelines for mobile learning policies to help national governments and educators create environments in which mobile learning can flourish. The papers released over the coming weeks are the initial research to inform the guidelines, which will be published in late 2012.<\/p>\n

Mobile technologies for teacher support and professional development<\/strong><\/p>\n

There is a global shortage of trained and motivated teachers. In order to meet the EFA goal of achieving Universal Primary Education (UPE) by 2015, 5.4 million primary teachers are needed<\/a>. How can mobile technologies play a role in meeting this need, in supporting teachers and their professional development, and in retaining existing teachers? Initial research has shown that this is a relatively unexplored area of mobile learning and that there is much more that can be done with mobile technologies. UNESCO\u2019s forthcoming papers identify some of the existing mobile-based teacher development projects, and how this area can be further developed. The papers inform four projects that UNESCO will implement with teacher training organisations in Nigeria, Senegal, Pakistan and Mexico in 2012 to further explore and understand this area.<\/p>\n

Release schedule<\/strong><\/p>\n

For each region there is one paper on mobile learning initiatives and related policies, as well as one on mobile technologies for teacher support and professional development. The papers will be released as follows:<\/p>\n