Mlearning

in India - Whitepaper
India as the field of MLearning Apps and Education
Vridhi Tuli vridhi@gmail.com

India - The Field of Elearning and Mlearning Apps

India has a population of 1.22 billion, as of 2012. Out of these 1.22 billion people, 50 per cent are under the age of 25. Additionally, the female-to-male ratio is 964 females for 1000 males. These statistics show two trends a) There is a fountain of youth in India and most of the people were born post 1988 (hence, they would be under 25 this year) and b) The male-to-female ratio is almost equal, showing that there are as many females as males in the country. Since more than fifty percent of the population has been born post 1988, the decade preceding the boom of the Internet and mobile Internet, most of the young Indians have been "born with a phone." However, our country still suffers from a lack of literacy. While mobiles are penetrating the villages, urban education is still backwards. Most of our education system is focused on churning out robots - people who can recite what is written on a piece of paper but cannot critically think about an issue. Ask a fifth grader what pi stands for and he will say 3.14 but ask him what he thinks about the rape issue and he will have no words. THEORY OF MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCES Howard Gardner has come up with a theory of multiple intelligences. He says human IQ is not determined by grades but by the seven inherent intelligences which each person possesses. These seven intelligences are: visual, verbal, interpersonal, intrapersonal, bodily, logical and natural. This means that each of us has an inherent intelligence and we might be not good in school, but definitely intelligent. So I think school systems in India should promote all different kinds of intelligences. The school curricula should be designed to introduce all different kinds of intelligences and not just paper based or computer based tests. SCHOOLS INTEGRATE ELEARNING AND MOBILE LEARNING IN CLASSROOMS There are various applications on the iPad and Samsung apps that promote learning. A) FlashCardLet, Apple IPad, FlashCardLet is a tablet-based application that allows students to make flashcards. It is a very novel application, which has a simple user interface. As soon as you login, you can create your own flash cards and even import them from Dropbox. I used the application while creating interview questions to help me in my job search.

 Source: http://4.bp.blogspot.com/- nkwLzdwaAfU/T1pGPMo2idI/AAAAAAAAAYs/KCAzBF0AHjw/s1600/FlashcardsFl ashcardlet1.png B) Resum8, Apple IPad, Resum8 is an innovation in elearning industry and is a great application for job seekers. The application can be downloaded for free on your IPad and has an easy to use template where you insert your details like your career objective, strengths, personal details and employment history and the application generates a document of the features in a very crisp template. The application can be used by companies and colleges to create a standard resume format.

Source: http://a5.mzstatic.com/us/r1000/075/Purple/v4/47/59/6a/47596aef- 187d-200a-348f-60034ccf7285/mza_8506881670627939805.175x175-75.jpg C) Ted.com, Apple IPad, Ted.com has come up with an amazing IPad application that allows users of Ted to browse videos from their tablets.Ted's strength lies in their high resolutions videos and very easy to use interface. A great talk is Steve Job's famous Stanford commencement speech, while I was at college - "How we live before we die." Source: http://solsie.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/image30.png RESEARCH & ASSESSMENT These days there are a large variety of resources for information on any topic. Say, in school the students need to learn about Psychology. Apart from the textbook, there are many ebooks and resources online and on phones which students can use to get more information on a topic. Hence, schools should encourage students to bring their mobile phones and research more on the topics being taught in schools. Additionally, students should be encouraged to 'chat' with each other at home on various topics in science, mathematics and even history at home. Since students these days from 9th grade onwards usually have a mobile phone and with Samsung and Apple come up with new phones, these can be integrated in classroom teaching. Students should be encouraged to bring their phones to class and at the end of the class, when there are 15 minutes left, students should be asked to take out their mobile phones and assess themselves. There are many assessment applications out in the market. ADVANTAGES OF USING MOBILE PHONES IN CLASSROOMS Hence, I think there is a huge potential for schools to use mobile phones and computers to encourage classroom learning. There are five advantages of using

computers, mobile phones and tablets: 1) It saves the teacher time to explain every concept to the student. 2) It helps the students learn on their own and psychologically speaking, when a student learns on his/her own self then he develops confidence in his abilities. 3) Students can tell the teacher and their friends about newer advancements in various topics and thus, act as teachers and mentors. 4) Students can develop more knowledge on subjects and thus be better prepared for higher classes. 5) Students can even speak to their parents and cousins online about the various topics and thus gain knowledge from more experienced people on the same. Technology in classrooms is picking up all over the world. Since technology is here, why not integrate it and modernise the Indian education system.