M-Learning

Fozdar and Kumar said that India has more than 100 million mobile phone subscribers and the m-learning has a lot of advantages. They take the India for example. It is a better way for this kind of country to learning through mobile device. However, according to information I found on the Internet, I think the m-learning is not an option for developing country.

The Net National Income of India is about 1000 US dollars during 2009-2010 (http://mospi.nic.in/PRESSNOTE_Q4_%202010_31may10.pdf). The cheapest smartphone I found on India Ebay is about 90 US dollars (http://mobiles.shop.ebay.in/i.html?_nkw=smartphone&_sacat=15032&LH_BIN=1&_sop=15&_odkw=smartphone&_osacat=0&_trksid=p3286.c0.m270.l1313). The cheapest desktop is about 188 US dollars (http://computers.shop.ebay.in/Desktop-PCs-/3736/i.html?LH_BIN=1&_nkw=desktop&_catref=1&_fln=1&_sop=15&_trksid=p3286.c0.m282). The cheapest iPhone is about 147 US dollars (http://mobiles.shop.ebay.in/i.html?_nkw=iphone&_sacat=15032&LH_BIN=1&_sop=15&_dmpt=IN_Desktop_PCs&_odkw=desktop&_osacat=3736&_trksid=p3286.c0.m270.l1313).

I think this research paper may take the situation too optimistic. The cell phone doesn’t represent the smartphone or 3G cell phone. If people want to access the Internet without lagging, 3 G cell phone is the basic mobile device. However, it can just do very basic operation on the Internet. In terms of the smartphones, they are still too expensive for most people who live in a developing country. Besides, the rent policy of internet service in India is a little different from America. Many plans limit usage of accessing internet. Users can just download several GB data (I am not sure whether it includes uploading data) and then they have to pay extra fee for additional usage. Please check the detail on the following links. (http://www.mtsindia.in/andhra-pradesh/netonthego.html) (http://www.rcom.co.in/Rcom/personal/internet/wireless_internet.html).

On the basis of the above two reasons, I think m-learning is not a good learning option for the developing country, at least for India.

Reference

Fozdar, Bharat Inder & Kumar, Lalita S. 2007, June). Mobile learning and student retention. International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning. 8(1). (Note: article apparently was moved from IRRODL to ERIC: http://eric.ed.gov/PDFS/EJ800952.pdf)