Can Mobile Phones Improve Learning? Evidence from a Field Experiment in Niger

Abstract

The returns to educational investments hinge on whether such investments can improve the quality and persistence of educational gains. This has been a challenge in adult education programs, which are typically characterized by rapid skills depreciation. We report the results from a randomized evaluation of an adult education program (Project ABC) in Niger, in which adult students learned how to use simple mobile phones as part of a literacy and numeracy class. Overall, students demonstrated substantial improvements in writing and math skills. Students in ABC villages achieved additional literacy and numeracy gains, with test scores that were .20-.26 standard deviations higher than those in non-ABC villages. There are persistent impacts of the program: seven months after the end of classes, average math test scores are still higher in ABC villages. These effects are driven by the effectiveness of mobile phones both as an educational input and as a motivational tool. Mobile phones increase educational outcomes most for students with the worst teachers, thus providing evidence of their usefulness as an educational tool. We also provide evidence that mobile phones increase motivation because they increase the value that students attach to the skills learned in class. These results suggest that simple and cheap information technology can be harnessed to improve educational outcomes among rural populations.

Adult literacy programs in developing countries

“…In Niger, for example, a field experiment randomly allocating mobile phones (and providing instruction in their use) to a subset of participants in a more traditional ALP led to substantial impacts on (writing) literacy and numeracy among the mobile phone recipients [1]. Specifically, students in mobile phone receiving villages (the randomization was at the village level to avoid contamination between treatment and control groups) achieved test scores that were between 0.19 and 0.26 standard deviations higher than those in the standard adult education classes, and their standardized mathematics test scores (though not their writing scores) remained higher seven months after the end of the classes.…”

“…For example, the Ghanaian NFLP seems particularly successful, as does a more recent ALP from Niger [1], [4], [5]. By contrast, many other ALPs have not been successful, especially in terms of increasing participants' literacy and numeracy skills (e.g.…”

“…But this is both expensive and time-consuming, and so "state-of-the-art" evidence along these lines is only recently starting to emerge (as a prime example, see [1]). …”

The Design of Mobile Application for Teacher and Parents Communication in Indonesian School

“…Recent studies and developments of mobile application in education are educational game (Zhang and Loeb, 2013), mobile learning system (Petrova, 2007;Sung, et.al., 2005) and interactive learning table (Wilson, 2011). Studies show that mobile applications give better result than desktop applications in language learning (Jarvis and Achilleos, 2013), help to get better skills in math and writing (Aker, Ksoll and Lybbert, 2011).…”

Inventing and re-inventing identity: Exploring the potential of mobile learning in adult education

“…The potential of mobile devices to support adult learning has been explored in a variety of contexts. Several studies have investigated the impact of mobile phones on learning outcomes in adult learning programmes among rural populations and poor communities in developing countries (Aker, Ksoll, and Lybbert 2012;Balasubramanian, Thamizoli, Umar, and Kanwar 2010). Others have examined the use of mobile devices to support intentional informal learning among experienced users (Clough, Jones, McAndrew, and Scanlon 2008) or the delivery of micro-contents through very simple mobile phones to fulfill the learning needs of lifelong learners (Gu, Gu, and Laffey 2011).…”