Mobile Phone Learning Games for Rural Chinese Children -The MILLEE Project

I'd like to share an article about the use of mobile technology to support literacy learning among students in rural China:


In Rural China, Students Use Phones to Learn to Read
Tim Carmody, Wired, 10/19/10

"Scholars from Carnegie Mellon, UC-Berkeley, and the Chinese Academy of Sciences worked with children in Xin’an, an underdeveloped region in Henan Province, China, using two mobile learning games, inspired by traditional Chinese children’s games. MILLEE later repeated these studies with young children at a privately run school in urban Beijing. Both runs suggest that phone-based games could be a useful tool in teaching literacy." -Carmody


Mobile learning is not a new concept. It has been the focus of scholarly research for much of the present decade.  The 2011 International Mobile Learning Conference (MLearn 2011) will be held next October in Tokyo, Japan.  A quick look at the conference's "call for papers" provides a good overview of mobile learning trends. 


MILLEE REFERENCES AND RESOURCES
MILLEE Website
Mobile and Immersive Learning for Literacy in Emerging Economies (Big Ideas at Berkeley)
MILLEE Team Bios

Below is the list of publications from the MILLEE project:

An Exploratory Study of Unsupervised Mobile Learning in Rural India. Anuj Kumar, Anuj Tewari, Geeta Shroff, Deepti Chittamuru, Matthew Kam, and John Canny. To appear in Proceedings of ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI ’10), Atlanta, Georgia, April 10-15, 2010. Best Paper Honorable Mention.

Let's Play Chinese Characters - Mobile Learning Approaches via Culturally Inspired Group Games. Feng Tian, Fei Lv, Jingtao Wang, Hongan Wang, Wencan Luo, Matthew Kam, Vidya Setlur, Guozhong Dai, and John Canny. To appear in Proceedings of ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI ’10), Atlanta, Georgia, April 10-15, 2010.

Improving Literacy in Rural India: Cellphone Games in an After-School Program. Matthew Kam, Anuj Kumar, Shirley Jain, Akhil Mathur, and John Canny. In Proceedings of IEEE/ACM Conference on Information and Communication Technology and Development (ICTD ’09), Doha, Qatar, April 17-19, 2009.

Designing Digital Games for Rural Children: A Study of Traditional Village Games in India. Matthew Kam, Akhil Mathur, Anuj Kumar, and John Canny. In Proceedings of ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI ’09), Boston, Massachusetts, April 4-9, 2009. Best Paper Honorable Mention.

Involving Local Undergraduates in Fieldwork. Matthew Kam. In ACM interactions, July-August 2008 issue. (article in English; translated into Chinese by uiGarden for practitioners in China.)

Designing E-Learning Games for Rural Children in India: A Format for Balancing Learning with Fun.Matthew Kam, Aishvarya Agarwal, Anuj Kumar, Siddhartha Lal, Akhil Mathur, Anuj Tewari, and John Canny. In Proceedings of ACM Conference on Designing Interactive Systems (DIS '08), Cape Town, South Africa, February 25-27, 2008.

The Social Complexities of User-Centered Design in ICTD: Experiences from Four Schools in India’s Villages and Slums. Matthew Kam, Siddharth Bhagwani, Anuj Kumar, Siddhartha Lal, Akhil Mathur, Anuj Tewari, and John Canny. In Proceedings of IEEE/ACM International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies and Development (ICTD ’07), Bangalore, India, December 15-16, 2007.

Mobile Gaming with Children in Rural India: Contextual Factors in the Use of Game Design Patterns.Matthew Kam, Vijay Rudraraju, Anuj Tewari, and John Canny. In Proceedings of 3rd Digital Games Research Association International Conference (DiGRA '07), Tokyo, Japan, September 24-28, 2007.

Localized Iterative Design for Language Learning in Underdeveloped Regions: The PACE Framework. Matthew Kam, Divya Ramachandran, Varun Devanathan, Anuj Tewari, and John Canny. In Proceedings of ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '07), San Jose, California, April 28-May 3, 2007.

Social Dynamics of Early Stage Co-Design in Developing Regions. Divya Ramachandran, Matthew Kam, Jane Chiu, John Canny, and James L. Frankel. In Proceedings of ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '07), San Jose, California, April 28-May 3, 2007.

Practical Considerations for Participatory Design with Rural School Children in Underdeveloped Regions: Early Reflections from the Field. Matthew Kam, Divya Ramachandran, Anand Raghavan, Jane Chiu, Urvashi Sahni, and John Canny. In Proceedings of ACM Conference on Interaction Design and Children (IDC '06), Tampere, Finland, June 2006.

Designing Educational Technology for Developing Regions: Some Preliminary Hypotheses. Matthew Kam, Divya Ramachandran, Urvashi Sahni, and John Canny. In Proceedings of the 3rd International Workshop on Technology for Education in Developing Countries (TEDC '05), Kaohsiung, Taiwan, July 2005.

The Case for Technology for Developing Regions. Eric Brewer, Michael Demmer, Bowei Du, Kevin Fall, Melissa Ho, Matthew Kam, Sergiu Nedevschi, Joyojeet Pal, Rabin Patra, and Sonesh Surana. InIEEE Computer, Volume 38, Number 6, pp. 25-38, June 2005.

Link: Mobile Learning in the UK: MoLeNET Research Article "Modernizing Education and Training: Mobilizing Technology for Learning"

I've been following the research about learning and mobile/handheld devices since 2003,  and can now say with confidence that the era of mobile learning has arrived.   Netbooks, smartphones, e-readers, and iPads are in the hands of people of all ages, and more people are spending time learning "on-the-go" - for informal learning as well as learning that is attached to a formal course of study.


Thanks to the hard work of researchers around the world, there is a growing body of scholarly research that supports this trend.  The following article, published this year (2010), focuses on research in the UK, but is worth reviewing by educators (and learners) in the US and other countries:


MODERNIZING EDUCATION AND TRAINING: MOBILIZING TECHNOLOGY FOR LEARNING
http://www.moleshare.org.uk/molehole/7032BFB756/100103.pdf


Authors: Jill Attewell, Carol Savill-Smith, Rebecca Douch, Guy Parker
Mobile Learning (MoLENET) Program

Summary
"In recent years there have been amazing advances in consumer technology. The Mobile Learning Network (MoLeNET) initiative has enabled colleges and schools to harness some of this technology in order to modernise aspects of teaching, learning and training. The result has been improvements in learner engagement, retention, achievement and satisfaction. This publication draws on the experiences of the 11,253 learners and 2261 teachers involved in the 2nd year of MoLeNET. It also reports the findings of research which sought evidence of the impact of introducing handheld and wireless technologies for learning. This evidence has been collected and analysed by LSN Technology Enhanced Learning Research Centre researchers and by practitioner researchers trained and supported by LSN. The handheld technologies used by MoLeNET 2 learners included mobile phones, MP3/MP4 players (e.g. iPods), iPod Touch, netbooks, gaming devices (i.e. Nintendo DS and Sony PSP) and various tiny cameras and specialist scientific technologies. 


Positive reactions from practitioners include one teacher commenting that the introduction of mobile technology has had more impact on their teaching than anything else in the last 10 years adding 'there is no doubt that mobile technology has a place in the classroom'. Another reported that 'learners in outreach centres or work-based environments felt better supported' and a senior manager told researchers 'it has transformed teaching and learning in some areas. It's opened up a world of new possibilities'."

Jill Attwell is the Research Manager and Carol Savill-Smith is the Development Officer at the Research Centre for Technology Enhanced Learning  Both have been involved in research about mobile learning for many years. Below are a few links to some of their previous work:

The use of computer and video games for learning – a review of the literature for the m-learning project.  Carol Savill-Smith, Alice Mitchell, published in September 2004

Learning with Mobile Devices   Papers from the MLEARN 2003 conference, Carol Savill-Smith Jill Attewell, published in May 2004

The use of palmtop computers for learning – a review of the literature for the m-learning project.  Carol Savill-Smith, Phillip Kent, published in August 2003

Computer games and simulations for adult learning – case studies from practice, Carol Savill-Smith,  Sara de Freitas and Jill Attewell, published in December 2006.


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Universities and Libraries Move to the Mobile Web  
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