Mobile Maths project grades up

Nokia's Mobile Maths 2010 project in SA saw a 14% increase in competency in its case study sample of 513 learners.

Nokia and its partners - the SA-Finland Knowledge Partnership on ICT Programme, the Department of Education, MXit, Cell C, Maskew Miller Longman and MTN - launched a mobile initiative for mathematics learning in February 2009.

The initiative, which was targeted at grade 10 learners, enabled them to study mathematics on their mobile phones through an embedded social media application on MXit.

Riitta Vanska, project manager for the initiative and senior manager of mobile and learning solutions in sustainability operations at Nokia, says the initiative allows learners to study mathematics anywhere and at anytime, which in turn gives them the chance to empower themselves.

The partnership announced the results of the project to the South African market yesterday.

In 2009, 260 learners in Gauteng, the North West and the Western Cape provinces, who formed part of the test project, were encouraged to use their own handsets to access the collaborative learning service via MXit, says Nokia.

It adds that during 2010, a total of 4 000 learners, from 30 schools in the three provinces, had access to the service to practise mathematics, to test their skills by competing with other learners, and to collaborate in maths-related problems with their friends.

Since its activation, the initiative has shown that 82% of the usage happened outside of school hours and, in 24 weeks, 62 849 mathematics exercises were attempted by these learners, says the company.

“The case study sample of 513 learners saw a 14% increase in competency at the end of the test period.”

Nokia says its future plan is to integrate the “MoMath” service into the larger learning environment of SA and guarantee a sustainable implementation model for the country.

“We believe that mobile technology can play a significant role as a tool for teaching and learning, as well as closing the digital divide. The Mobile Maths learning pilot programme is an innovative solution,” notes Mercia Maserumule, corporate social investment manager for Cell C.

Earlier this year, the Department of Science and Technology encouraged uptake of the Dr Math programme, an initiative of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research's Meraka Institute.

The project links primary and secondary school pupils to tutors in mathematics.

“The pupils use the popular MXit chat client on their cellphones. The tutors use full-size computer workstations connected to the Internet,” said the department.

Any student, up to matric level, can contact Dr Math via Mxit and other chat protocols, such as Gmail, and MTN's Nok Nok. It is not limited to MXit or any specific schools.

Steve Vosloo, 21st Century Learning fellow at the Shuttleworth Foundation, says only around 10% of people in SA have access to a PC with Internet connection, while this percentage is much higher for mobile access.

For this reason, he says, cellphones are effective learning tools.