Context: Cathie and Elliot gave a keynote address at the first Global Learn Asia Pacific Conference held in Penang, Malaysia. While the temperature was a constant 90+ degrees F, and the humidity was a constant 4,000,000%, researchers from across the globe gathered to talk about learning on the Planet Earth. While representation from Asia, no surprise, was considerable, about half of the attendees were from outside of Asia. That said, no longer is the U.S. the center of research on learning and technology. At the conference we met Paul Kim, a researcher from Stanford University, and heard about his exciting efforts in mobile learning.
Elliot: Paul Kim is doing terrific work!
Cathie: Slow down, slow down… you have to explain yourself
Elliot: Yes, you are right but it was so exciting to meet Paul and hear what he is doing.
Cathie: Besides doing world-class research in mobile learning, Paul is on a humanitarian mission – he works in the most challenging situations in the most challenged developing nations.
Elliot: cough, cough, that wasn’t quite PC.
Cathie: Ah yes, at Global Learn we learned that the term “developing nation” is not politically correct. Elliot: Yes, the PC term is “Global South”…
Cathie: … that’s the term for today - and tomorrow it will be something else.
Elliot: Right – though how we refer to it may change, the challenges remain constant.
Cathie: We don’t hear much about the digital divide these days, but it is alive and well both in the Global South and right here in the US of A.
Elliot: But mobile technologies – low-cost, easy to use devices…
Cathie: … are our best chance at eliminating that digital divide.
Elliot: Indeed, by his actions, that is what Paul believes.
Cathie: Paul has taken his “PocketSchool” idea…
Elliot… and his mobile devices…
Cathie: … and gone to Rwanda, Burundi, India, Kenya, Mexico, Costa Rica, Israel, Uganda, USA, S. Korea, Philippines, and El Salvador…
Elliot: .. plus other countries that he didn’t put on the list. That young man has a lot of energy!
Cathie: Paul’s PocketSchool is the modern recreation off the Tuskegee Institutes’ Movable School inspired by Booker T. Washington and implemented by Thomas Monroe Campbell back in 1906, where the school went to where the students were in isolated – and poor – towns, villages, and hamlets in America’s South.
Elliot: And 100 years later, Paul is taking his PocketSchool to the isolated – and poor -- towns, villages, and hamlets in the Global South.
Cathie: But, Paul can leave behind his PocketSchool since the devices are low maintenance, low cost, and easy to use.
Elliot: Folks, check out Paul’s work. He is doing a fantastic job! In the April Issue of Fast Company, Paul’s work was highlighted. Also check out the description of his work in India.
Cathie: 100 years later and all this virtualization and wireless technologies – and educators still must take to the road to deliver education to learners.
Elliot: There’s a lesson lurking there….
Cathie: Right. The more things change the more they stay the same!
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