The result of my thesis project is a Mobile Learning Toolkit that is designed to empower trainers in Africa and other developing contexts to integrate mobile learning into their teaching.

The 98-page toolkit contains 15 mobile learning methods divided into 4 categories that trainers can choose from depending on their needs – whether they’re looking deliver content; assign tasks; gather feedback; or provide support to their training participants.

These methods have been designed to be as inclusive as possible, with most requiring only low end devices (basic mobile phones with voice calling and SMS capability), allowing interactive learning experiences to be delivered right to the Base of the Pyramid.

In addition to the methods, an overview of mobile learning is included in the beginning of the guidebook and a set of practical tools that allow the methods to be immediately put into practice. 

As well as a general guide, the toolkit includes recommendations for customising the methods for the delivery of the “my.coop” training programme currently being launched by the International Labour Organization to teach the principles of managing agricultural cooperatives in developing regions worldwide. The toolkit offers my.coop participants the chance to experience the benefits of mobile learning themselves while also empowering them to use mobile learning methods to reach their own trainees, thus multiplying the impact throughout the entire my.coop training pyramid.

However, the Mobile Learning Toolkit has been designed to have a value not only within the context of this training programme, but for use in the delivery of all kinds of training within any developing context. Anyone can pick up the toolkit and be inspired to use mobile learning.

The toolkit is an open source resource that is available for download below (please view in "Book" mode):

The format of the book is A5 portrait. To make it easier to print by users on the field, another version is included below with A4 spreads ready for printing. The graphic identity of the book aims to be clear and simple, with the goal that it will look good and be easily readable even after being printed in black and white and photocopied several times.

The toolkit is intended as an open source resource that can continue to be improved and added to with the feedback and collaboration of its users. As such, any feedback, comments and ideas are welcome and can be shared by email, Twitter or SMS:

email: mlearningtoolkit@gmail.com
twitter: @mlearntoolkit
SMS: +447946385199

My final master thesis on Mobile Learning for Africa, presenting every phase of the project, from the initial research to the final design work.

Please view in "Book" mode.

I made this video as an introduction to my master thesis project, Mobile Learning for Africa.

Thanks to Chao Shangguan for the help with Flash!

Printed copies of my master thesis and the resulting product - the Mobile Learning Toolkit, a guidebook for trainers in developing contexts who wish to incorporate mobile learning into their training activity.

After a long journey I graduated on the 20th of July 2011 and I am now the proud owner of a masters degree in Product Service System Design!

My thesis project was very well received firstly by my professors at Politecnico di Milano on the 20th of July and then on the 26th of July at the ITC-ILO when I presented my work to my colleagues there. Almost every department of the ITC-ILO was represented at a 2-hour lunch session on mobile learning and I was delighted by the positive response given by all that attended.

A big thank you to all that contributed to this collaborative project and to those who supported me throughout the project - I couldn't have done it without you!!

I'm now proud to present the final results in the posts that follow - an introductory video on the mobile revolution in Africa, my master thesis, and a mobile learning toolkit for use in developing contexts.

Just came across this video that effectively presents some key statistics about mobile and internet usage in Africa!

As you can see, now that the conclusions of the 'understand' phase have been made, it's time to start designing!

Various ideas have already been generated along the way, so I'm currently bringing these together as well as generating as many new ideas as possible.

At the same time I'm working with my colleagues to develop a mobile learning prototype that will be tested during the my.coop training pilot, due to take place in Nigeria in June.

I'll post the progress on here as much as possible and if anyone has any feedback or ideas, please do share them!

Following my analysis of the user research results I have developed 4 personas representing different target users/beneficiaries of the my.coop training: the coop manager, the field worker, the professor and the director.

Each profile includes the job profile, technology access and training needs of each persona, which I'll now use to inform and inspire the concept generation process.

Above is a summary of the key insights that came out from the research phase, gained from the analysis of the user research results and the customer journey analysis.

Some suprising needs came out - not least of all the unanimous desire from participants to connect and share experiences with other coop stakeholders around the world.

During April and May I've been conducting interviews with potential participants of the My.COOP training by telephone and over Skype. More details of the methodology of this research and the full results are included in the doc above.

It has been one of the most enjoyable parts of the project so far, to speak to some really inspiring people in Africa doing great work. A huge thank you to those who took part, for your time and enthusiasm!

In total I spoke to 9 people in Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia and Tanzania from different organisations within the coop sector at different levels of the My.COOP training pyramid.

Some very interesting results came out of this research, inspiring lots of new ideas for the project!

I'm working on a summary of the key insights from this research and persona profiles of the key users, will post them in the next few days!