Bridgeit: Using Mobile Technology to Improve Educational Opportunities
From Shareideas
Through BridgeIt, teachers in remote areas in developing countries receive training and are able to access state-of-the-art learning materials. Through sending a simple text message, a satellite is triggered to deliver digital content to a classroom television set.
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Imagine the look on a child’s face when he or she has the chance to see – and understand for the first time – how the solar system operates or how a coral reef is formed. And what if that child lives in a rural community in the developing world, where up until now, educational resources were limited, and often outdated?
Bringing ideas and learning to life for such children is at the heart of Bridgeit. Through the program, teachers are able to access an extensive library of science, math, and language videos simply by sending an SMS message via a mobile phone. The message signals a satellite, which delivers digital files to a video recorder connected to a television in the classroom. The technology allows high quality content to be delivered in remote areas at the cost of a cell phone call.
The program, part of a unique collaboration that includes the International Youth Foundation, Nokia, Pearson plc, the United Nations Development Programme, and local partners in individual countries, was launched in 2003 in the Philippines under the name text2teach. Within one year's time, the program demonstrated that academic performance had improved when compared to the study’s control group. The positive impact went beyond the classroom, as the project motivated school officials, parents, and community leaders. Over the last two years, text2teach has benefited more than 122,000 5th and 6th grade students, and trained 920 teachers.
Steps are now underway to implement the program in Tanzania, where 20,000 rural and urban primary school boys and girls are expected to benefit, along with 1,000 primary school teachers. Bridgeit Tanzania is being carried out through a partnership between the International Youth Foundation, the Tanzanian Ministry of Education and Vocational Training (MOEVT), Forum for African Women Educationalists, Nokia, and Pearson plc.
How it was done
Teachers access the content that they need on demand by punching a number on a cell phone, which sends a signal through a satellite used by a cell phone provider, and delivers digital content during off-peak hours to a local terminal at the school (DVB set-top-box and TV). The material can then be uploaded and viewed on the TV generated either by electricity or a car battery, and can introduce subject matter content and guidance for interactive learning that the teacher and students would not have had otherwise. The classroom terminal, with its easy-to-use interface, stores the retrieved material for further use by the teacher.
