Technology has certainly moved ahead by leaps and bounds as it is said that the classrooms of the future could just be mobile phones. The latest collaboration between Ericsson and IGNOU (The The Indira Gandhi National Open University) only seems to affirm this further. Ericsson is all set to create a 3G environment for students to download IGNOU course contents.
SMS alerts can be received by students on their mobile devices. In addition to this, students can also download IGNOU course content easily through this new development.
“Our University is founded on the idea that education should be offered to less advantaged sections of society. With Ericsson’s help, we will create a learning platform that uses mobile devices to build educational excellence and exchange information. Our students will benefit from the flexibility of learning at their own pace, any time, anywhere,” commented Professor V N Rajasekharan Pillai, Vice Chancellor of IGNOU.
Gowton Achaibar, President of Ericsson India, stated, “This partnership is yet another proof point of telecommunication being key for development of society. Education using mobile broadband technology will provide an efficient and economical way to get content to students in distance learning programs. We have a clear opportunity to use India’s rapidly rising teledensity to bring the advantages of broadband to the world of education.”
The government in India has lately started encouraging higher education in the country, where only 15% of students presently attend high school. Likewise, India is facing a scarcity of teachers with higher degrees and about 50% of college professors teach devoid of any master’s degree or a PhD.
This technology should allow students to gain maximum benefits of distant education.