Utilizing Multimedia Capabilities of Mobile Phones to Support Teaching in Schools in Rural Panama

Providing good education is one of the major challenges for humanity. In many developing regions in the world improving educational standards is seen as a central building block for improving socio-economic situation of society. Based on our research in Panama we report on how mobile phones can be used as educational tools. In contrast to personal computers mobile phones are widely available and in Panama over 80% of the children have access to phones. We report on four different studies building on one another. We conducted surveys, focus groups, and group interviews with several hundred teachers and pupils to assess opportunities, needs, and threads for using phones in teaching and learning. Based on the feedback received we created a set of use cases and finally evaluated these in a field study in a rural multigrade school in Panama. Our findings suggest that current phones with multimedia capabilities provide a valuable resource for teaching and learning across many subjects. In particular recording of audio and video, programs for drawing, and taking photos were used in very creative and constructive ways beyond the use cases envisioned by us and initial skepticism of parents turned into support.