Journal 10 Lessons From the Global South (NETS I and V)

Burns, M., Montalvo, M., & Rhodes, R. (2010). Lessons From the Global South. Learning and Leading with Technology, 37(6), Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=March_April_No_6_1&Template=/MembersOnly.cfm&NavMenuID=4516&ContentID=25441&DirectListComboInd=D

Lessons From the Global South
This article was about schools in developing countries using mobile technology. In Mali, teachers and students are increasingly using mobile technologies for learning and teaching. In the United States, people have debated whether, why, and how to use mobile technologies in class. Many schools in the poorest countries in the world, the so-called developing world or Global South, have quickly taken up the use of mobile technologies despite many obstacles, and the U.S. is not moving forward as quickly. In Mali the Education Development Center implemented a smartphone pilot program for teacher training in 19 Malian schools. Using smartphones equipped with a system that allows for Internet access via a cellular network, teachers accessed science and language arts lesson plans EDC created on a website called Pharekati (http://sites.google.com/site/pharekati). They used the text messaging features of their smartphones to receive synchronous and asynchronous academic and instructional support from EDC's main office in the capital, Bamako, and to report on their use. More than half of the students reported that smartphones made lessons easier to understand, more active, or more fun. Interactive radio instruction (IRI) and its audio sibling, interactive audio instruction (IAI), were developed in California at Stanford University in the 1970s and have contributed to remarkable learning gains to countries like Honduras. Yet these technologies are virtually unknown in the United States. In addition to smartphones and radio, MP3 players have increasingly played an important role in bringing support to teachers in some of the hardest-to-reach places like Zambia. And countries like Indonesia are using portable technology kits.


What can U.S. teachers learn from the Global South? The size, cost, portability, and multifunctionality of mobile technologies provide “just in time” and classroom-based support to teachers and students. Also, when it comes to technology adoption, attitude and resourcefulness trump access and abundance.


Would I use any of these technologies in my classroom? I would use every type of technology this article discusses in my classroom one day. Part of being a teacher today is learning how to use technology and its vast resources in the everyday classroom.