CELLULAR PHONE TECHNOLOGY AS A TOOL FOR DISTANCE

LEARNING IN BANGLADESH

Presented by:
Mohammad Rayan Sharif

Student of
Master of Science in Computer Science

INDEPENDENT UNIVERSITY, BANGLADESH

May 2005
Outline
 Background
 Proposed solution
 Design of System
 Conclusion
Distance Learning (DL) in Bangladesh
 Bangladesh Open University.
 Formal and Non-formal programs
 Flexible and need based education, training to the rural
groups like
rural women, agricultural workers,
unemployed youths, uneducated adults,
health and family planning workers
 Delivery medium: TV/radio broadcasts, video cassettes,
audio cassettes, newspapers & print media.
 The main criterion was providing access to educational
materials
Problem with Distance Learning (DL) in Bangladesh

 Pre-recorded telecast
 No feedback
 No-interaction
 No record of attendance
 No feedback on effectiveness
 Students have to be highly motivated to complete a
course independently
 Major barriers for education system
Lack of educational institutions in Bangladesh
Primary Education: Only 76% students can join the school

Secondary Education: Only 63% students can join the college

Tertiary Education
• Only 6% students join the university level
• 43% of them join the Bangladesh Open University

 High illiteracy rate

 Lack of Qualified & Experienced Teacher
In public universities the teacher student ratio is 1 : 80
 Most of area are behind from all types of development as
education, technology and communication

Source: Pocket Book on Educational Statistics (BANBEIS, 2003)

What can we do?

 Video Conferencing
 Conference Calls
 Chat Rooms
 Email
 Bulletin Boards
 LAN/WAN based solutions
 Other online/web based solutions
Are these solutions appropriate for us?
 5m mobile users vs. 1 m PC users
 Current infrastructure of Bangladesh
 Need a simple and cost effective solution
 Of the easily available technologies
 Television
 Mobile phone
 Use of both of these available technologies, it would be
much more feasible in the context of Bangladesh.
Concept of the proposed system

LIVE Lecture
Presenter on
National Questions
Television Distance
Learning
Verbal
Server
communication
with student
SMS
SMS
2 way communication
Using SMS

Participants distributed over rural country side

M-Learning

 To provide proper education to a large number of

students with in a short time
 Just in time Learning
 Real Time interactivity
 Process of acquiring knowledge and skills through
instruction
 Less expensive and Cost effective
How does participant interact with the server

Student request

Inbound Messages
Queued in inbox • Check the Messages
• Prepare
corresponding reply
SMS
• Send reply

Request reply Cellular phone Server

network
The major process areas to create this Distance Learning System

Course information
system

Student attendance system

Student
Teacher
Multiple Choice Q
uestion and answering system

Class
Notice system

Detail Question system

Transmission
LIVE lecture &
Controller telecast system
Students class
performance
system

Use case diagram of interactive DL system

Setup required

Connection
Potential Uses

 Country wide interactive course delivery

 Country wide training
 Teachers
 Health workers
 NGO workers
 Country wide participatory meetings
 Country wide data collection
Conclusion

 Virtual Interactive Class room can spread the light of

education to a large number of students of our country.

New area of research

• Examination system
• Grade and Report card system
• Grouping students question and
model answer system
 Thank You

Questions?
Attendance
Cellular
Phone
Network

Live Broadcast
System

Live test picture

Date: 11-May -2005
Time: 4:30 PM
Question Answer Session

Live test picture

Date: 11-May -2005
Students ID #
Time: 4:55 PM
Direct Conversation

Phone

Live test picture

Date: 11-May -2005
Time: 4:30 PM
 VITA
This work is done by Mohammad Rayan Sharif, student of Master of
Science in Computer Science from INDEPENDENT UNIVERSITY,
Bangladesh. He has completed his B.Sc. in CIS (Computing and
Information System) from London Metropolitan University, UK as an
external degree. He completed his H.S.C from Dhaka College and
S.S.C from Govt. Laboratory High School, Dhaka. Now he is working
as training manager in a Software Development Company at
Dhanmondi, Dhaka.