An interesting example on how ICT can be integrated into flexible and self-directed education:
In mobile technology, it is often the developing world that leads the way – by using mobile phones to teach people a foreign language, for example.In Bangladesh, more than 1m English lessons have been downloaded to mobile phones as part of the BBC‘s Janala sercvice, the corporation announced today at the World Mobile Conference in Barcelona.
Offering hundreds of three-minute audio lessons and SMS quizzes for less than 4p, Janala – meaning “window” – provides low-cost education through handsets – in a country where English is not as widely spoken as elsewhere in Asia.
The service is very simple: by dialling “3000″, mobile users access classes ranging from “Essential English” to the more advanced “How to tell a story”. The BBC has also set up a website giving learners free access to content.