Abstract
The Pacific island communities face challenges such as digital divide, shoestring budgets, and escalating costs in the delivery of quality education to the people. In addition, the widely scattered nature of islands and communities requires proper communication infrastructure for the learners to access education. This chapter heralds the emergence of mobile learning (mLearning) initiatives in higher education in the Pacific region. It focuses on the introduction of mLearning at a University in the Pacific islands, which developed a fit-for-purpose mobile-learning infrastructure that primarily utilized the short message service (SMS). The university hosts an in-house setup open source SMS gateway that facilitates its custom-made SMS services. The SMS services developed serve the purpose for notifying students with important course information, exam timetable information, course mark information, and library book due dates, and students could also attempt quizzes in their courses via SMS. These SMS services are mostly provided as support services to overcome the challenges faced by the learners in the Pacific community.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Azid, S., and Sharma, B. 2012. A SMS based flood level monitoring system. Advances in Computer Science and Engineering, 8(2):69–83.
Brasher, A., and J. Taylor. 2004. Development of a research plan use of ambient technology to test mobile learning theories. In Mobile learning anytime everywhere: A book of papers from MLEARN 2004, eds. Attewell, J., and C. Savill-Smith, 33–37. Learning and Skills Development Agency, London, UK.
Brown, J., B. Shipman, and R. Vetter. 2007. SMS: The short message service. Computer 40(12): 106–110. doi:10.1109/MC.2007.440.
Budvietas, S. 2014. Technology intrinsic to Samoa’s development. Samoa Observer. http://www.samoaobserver.ws. Retrieved from 1 Sept 2014.
Dashboard and Business Intelligence System. USP. 2014. https://planning.usp.ac.fj/pnq/Web/Login.aspx. Retrieved on 27 Oct 2014.
Finiasi, R., B. Sharma, and S. Chand. 2013. Exploration of mobile technology: Transforming learning & services in the pacific region. In 12th pacific science inter-congress 2013. Suva, Fiji: The University of the South Pacific.
Information & Communication Technologies Overview. 2014. http://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/ict/overview. Retrieved from 28 Sept 2014.
International Telecommunication Union. 2014. Mobile cellular subscriptions. http://www.itu.int/en/ITU-D/Statistics/Pages/stat/default.aspx. Retrieved from 5 Sept 2014.
Jokhan, A., and B. Sharma. 2010. Distance and flexible learning at University of the South Pacific. In Accessible elements: Teaching science online and at a distance, eds. Kennepohl, D., and L. Shaw, 235–246. Athabasca University Press, Alberta, canada
Kannel. 2014. Kannel: Open source WAP and SMS gateway. http://kannel.org/. Retrieved from 15 Sept 2014.
Kumar, R., B. Sharma, V. Rao, and A. Jokhan. 2013. Introduction of Tablet Learning in the Pacific Region. In 12th pacific science inter-congress 2013. Suva, Fiji: The University of the South Pacific.
MobiMOOC. 2011. Examples of Mlearning projects compiled by participants. http://mobimooc.wikispaces.com/Examples+of+Mlearning+project+compiled+by+participants
Motiwalla, L.F. 2007. Mobile learning: A framework and evaluation. Computers & Education 49: 581–596.
Oller, R. 2012. The future of mobile learning. Vermont: Marlboro College Graduate School, Centre for Applied Research.
Sharma, B., A. Jokhan, and A. Prasad. 2011. Online learning environment in mathematics via a pedagogical progression model of MOODLE. In Proceedings of global learn 2011, eds. Barton, S., et al., 2241–2251. AACE.
So, S. 2009. The development of a SMS-based teaching and learning system. Journal of Educational Technology Development and Exchange 2(1): 113–124.
Traxler, J., and A. Kukulska. 2005. Mobile learning in developing countries. Vancouver: Common Wealth of Learning.
Tsinakos, A. 2014. State of mobile learning around the world. In Global mobile learning implementations and trends. eds. Tsinakos, A., and M. Alley, 4–44. China Central Radio and TV University Press, Beijing, China.
Ulfa, S. 2013. Implementing mobile assisted language learning in rural schools for enhancing learning opportunity. In The Asian conference on education 2013, Osaka, Japan.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2015 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this entry
Cite this entry
Sharma, B., Jokhan, A., Kumar, R., Finiasi, R., Chand, S., Rao, V. (2015). Use of Short Message Service for Learning and Student Support in the Pacific Region. In: Zhang, Y. (eds) Handbook of Mobile Teaching and Learning. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-54146-9_9
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-54146-9_9
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-54145-2
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-54146-9
eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and Law