Text2Teach: Empowering Classroom Learning Through Mobile
As we see from recent news about the Global Teenager Project, the use of mobile, and SMS in particular, to enable educational efforts in regions with poor educational and ICT infrastructure is growing. In the Philippines, where the average mobile subscriber sends 25 text messages a day (Portio Research, 2008), great strides have been made in the use of SMS in conjunction with other media technologies to enhance the learning process for the nation’s poorly-funded public schools.
In 2003, a program called ‘Text2Teach’ was launched to enrich the public school educational experience. Made possible by the efforts of development agencies and private corporations, Text2Teach makes over 370 educational videos available to 5th- and 6th-grade English, Math and Science teachers. To access a video clip, the teacher texts the clip’s assigned keyword to a mobile short code, the clip is then downloaded via satellite hookup onto a digital set-top box, where it can be viewed in class on a 29-inch TV.
The Text2Teach program, which has benefited 204 public schools and over 32,000 students (with a further 270 schools targeted), has been declared a huge success by development agencies worldwide. The key to its success, though, doesn’t lie in technological convergence, but in multi-sectoral cooperation.
International agencies such as USAID, the UN Development Program, the International Youth Foundation and SEAMEO-Innotech, as well as for-profit companies like Nokia, Pearson, Kolin and Globe Telecom provided the funding for equipment and content, while project heads worked with the Department of Education to create localized media clips that were integrated into the national curriculum for Grades 5 and 6. These coordinated efforts led to a seamless and interactive solution.
Because Text2Teach material is integrated into the lesson plan, teachers and students actively participate in these video-enriched classes. The content is relevant, since two-thirds of the videos were produced locally and feature images that students are comfortable with. By integrating the videos into their lectures, teachers give a compelling reason for students to attend class, listen attentively and, most importantly, learn. As you can see from this Text2Teach video, no one in the classroom sits staring dully at the television screen.
Technologically speaking, the Text2Teach program isn’t as impressive as having a computer laboratory, an audio-visual room and internet access at school. However, in an industry hobbled by inadequate teaching facilities and poor funding, the Text2Teach program is a cost-effective and sustainable work-around. More importantly, it enriches the learning process by the introduction of interactive media tools into schools that traditionally do not have the budget or the connectivity to go beyond chalk-and-blackboard lectures. Text2Teach is, simply put, a workable solution that is a perfect fit for the needs of Philippine education.
