Culture Aware M-Learning Classification Framework for African Countries

Abstract

African countries are currently experiencing proliferation of mobile phone subscriptions but no prevalence of personal computers or electricity (Parker, 2011). It is estimated that, by the end of 2015 in Sub-Saharan Africa, the percentage of people with mobile network access will surpass that of access to electricity in homes (Rao, 2011). This phenomenon is also experienced in learning institutions, particularly universi- ties, where almost every student owns a mobile phone (Kashorda & Waema, 2009). Although there is a great potential for Mobile Learning (M-Learning) in education, the formal integration of M-Learning in the education systems is in its infancy since there is limited number of M-Learning projects in the region. This is in contrast with the rapid increase and integration of mobile phones in the daily lives of the population in the region (Isaacs, 2012). According to Olaniran (2009), online learning needs to be culturally aware and investigate the dimensions of cultural variability as well as its influence on learning within global education. In an attempt to address this need, this chapter focuses on the African region in describing dimensions of cultural variability and proposes four categories for M-Learning projects as well as their influences on dimensions of cultural variability.