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PURDUE UNIVERSITY
GRADUATE SCHOOL Thesis/Dissertation Acceptance
This is to certify that the thesis/dissertation prepared By Neha Gupta Entitled MOBILE COMMUNITIES: IMPORTANCE OF MOBILE LEARNING IN INDIAN
EDUCATION SYSTEMS

For the degree of

Master of Science in Electrical and Computer Engineering

Is approved by the final examining committee:

K. Roy, co-chair
Chair

J. Strobel, co-chair

M. D. Zoltowski

To the best of my knowledge and as understood by the student in the Research Integrity and Copyright Disclaimer (Graduate School Form 20), this thesis/dissertation adheres to the provisions of Purdue Universitys Policy on Integrity in Research and the use of copyrighted material.

K. Roy Approved by Major Professor(s): ____________________________________

____________________________________ Approved by:

M. R. Melloch
Head of the Graduate Program

12/1/08
Date

Graduate School Form 20 (Revised 10/07)

PURDUE UNIVERSITY
GRADUATE SCHOOL Research Integrity and Copyright Disclaimer

Title of Thesis/Dissertation:
MOBILE COMMUNITIES: IMPORTANCE OF MOBILE LEARNING IN INDIAN EDUCATION SYSTEMS Master of Science in Electrical and Computer Engineering For the degree of ________________________________________________________________

I certify that in the preparation of this thesis, I have observed the provisions of Purdue University Executive Memorandum No. C-22, September 6, 1991, Policy on Integrity in Research.* Further, I certify that this work is free of plagiarism and all materials appearing in this thesis/dissertation have been properly quoted and attributed. I certify that all copyrighted material incorporated into this thesis/dissertation is in compliance with the United States copyright law and that I have received written permission from the copyright owners for my use of their work, which is beyond the scope of the law. I agree to indemnify and save harmless Purdue University from any and all claims that may be asserted or that may arise from any copyright violation.

Neha Gupta ________________________________

Signature of Candidate

11/24/2008 ________________________________
Date

*Located at http://www.purdue.edu/policies/pages/teach_res_outreach/c_22.html

MOBILE COMMUNITIES IMPORTANCE OF MOBILE LEARNING IN INDIAN EDUCATION SYSTEM

A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of Purdue University by Neha Gupta

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Electrical and Computer Engineering

December 2008 Purdue University West Lafayette, Indiana

UMI Number: 1469668

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To all the children who seek educational support but our constrained by poverty and lack of resources to pursue their dreams. This is a step towards providing Education in my hand for every individual in my country, INDIA.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

My special thanks to Prof. Johannes Strobel who supported me and guided me through my educational objectives with Mobile Communication. I would like to thank Prof. Kaushik Roy for accepting the difficult task of overseeing this work to completion. I was fortunate to get to work with Prof. Michael Zoltowski who supported me for this research study. I thank all the members of my Advisory Committee for taking time out of their busy schedules to consider this work.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................ vii LIST OF FIGURES .......................................................................................................... vii ABSTRACT........................................................................................................................ x 1. INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................... 1 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Technological advancements in education ............................................................... 2 Mobile technology in education ............................................................................... 5 Purpose of the study ................................................................................................. 6 Motivation for study ................................................................................................. 9 Research objectives ................................................................................................ 11

2. LITERATURE REVIEW ............................................................................................. 13 2.1 Virtual Communities .............................................................................................. 13 2.1.1 Origin........................................................................................................... 14 2.1.2 Rationale ...................................................................................................... 15 2.1.3 Role of virtual communities in education ................................................... 16 2.1.4 Future trends ................................................................................................ 18 2.2 Technology in India ................................................................................................ 21 2.2.1 Telecom Sector in India ............................................................................... 22 2.2.2 Need areas for mobile practices in India ...................................................... 25 2.2.3 Mobile communities in India ....................................................................... 29

Page 3. THEORY AND FRAMEWORK.................................................................................. 31 3.1 Mobile teaching communities ................................................................................. 31 3.1.1 Human Performance Technology (HPT) Model .......................................... 31 3.1.2 Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) ....................................................... 34 3.2 Proposed Mobile Teaching Community (MTC) Model ......................................... 37 3.2.1 Performance Analysis .................................................................................. 39 3.2.2 Cause Analysis ............................................................................................. 40 3.2.3 Design .......................................................................................................... 41 3.2.4 Evaluation .................................................................................................... 41 3.2.5 Intervention .................................................................................................. 42 4. METHODOLOGY ....................................................................................................... 43 5. DATA ANALYSIS ....................................................................................................... 48 6. LIMITATIONS ............................................................................................................. 52 7. RESULTS & DISCUSSION......................................................................................... 53 8. CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................. 65 LIST OF REFERENCES .................................................................................................. 68 APPENDICES A. INSTITUTIONAL REVIEW BOARD (IRB) GUIDELINES ................................. 83 B. SURVEY INSTRUMENT ........................................................................................ 84

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LIST OF TABLES

Table 5.1 7.1 7.2 B-1 B-2 B-3 B-4 B-5 B-6 B-7 B-8 B-9

Page Codes and Themes from Qualitative Data ............................................................. 52 Performance Analysis ............................................................................................ 67 Cause Analysis ....................................................................................................... 78 Daily Usage of mobile phones ............................................................................... 88 Mobile Handset Vendors Rating............................................................................ 89 Service Providers Rating ....................................................................................... 89 Purpose of messaging on mobile phones ............................................................... 90 Mobile based applications ..................................................................................... 93 Benefits from mobile education in India ............................................................... 94 Kind of information and services on mobile phone ............................................... 94 Ranking of services on mobile phones health care and medicine ......................... 96 Bottlenecks for Mobile Education in India ............................................................ 97

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LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1.1 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 3.1 3.2 3.3 7.1 7.2 7.3

Page Content Delivery Model vs. User Intraction based Model ..................................... 4 Future directions of virtual learning ..................................................................... 20 Demand and Opportunity for mobile and wireless market in India...................... 22 Changing regulations in wireless and mobile services in India ............................ 23 Impact of Policy change on Indian Telecom Industry .......................................... 24 Market share of mobile & wire line service providers in India ............................ 25 Graphical representation of HPT model ............................................................... 34 Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) ................................................................ 35 Proposed Mobile Teaching Community (MTC) Model ....................................... 39 Current mobile phone usages in India .................................................................. 56 Types of messages shared among the mobile phone users in India ...................... 57 Socio-cultural aspects for building mobile communities in India ........................ 58

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Figure 7.4 7.5 7.6 7.7 7.8 7.9

Page Mobile Developments and Support in India ......................................................... 59 Current mobile information accesses in India ...................................................... 59 Future interests in mobile information access in India ......................................... 60 Bottlenecks in mobile access in India ................................................................... 61 Types of content delivery for mobile education in India ...................................... 61 Interest in Mobile Health care and Medicine services in India ............................ 62

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ABSTRACT

Gupta, Neha. M.S.E.C.E., Purdue University, December, 2008. Mobile Communities: Importance of Mobile Learning in Indian Education System. Major Professors: Johannes Strobel and Kaushik Roy.

When the United States thinks about developing an 'iPhone University', developing economies envision a 'Mobile University'. Technology in Education has rippled from Distance-learning to e-Learning and now to m-Learning. Going forward into the 21st Century, emerging markets are witnessing a substantial rise in the use of handheld mobile devices. Convergence of Mobile Technology and Education, therefore, is a potential breakthrough in the art of Teaching and Learning. This thesis aims to extend the concept of Virtual Communities in the web space to build Mobile Communities in the mobile space. The author proposes Mobile Teaching Community (MTC) model that streamlines the basic steps in designing an application that can simulate Mobile Campus and University. The focus is on education in the field of Public Health Care and Medicine in India. However, such a Mobile Teaching Community model can also be used as the prototype for building mobile communities in various areas including education, banking, trading, mass communication and commercialization.

1. INTRODUCTION

No technology has traversed geographical boundaries, such as Mobile. Apple sold 270,000 iPhones in the first 30 hours, says Endgadget [1]. The news is less surprising and more affirmative of the technological trends to conclude that the cell phones are indeed the lifeline of the next generation [38]. According to Google Vice President, Vinton Cerf, mobile phones are the future of the Internet [2]. Everything that was once on Internet/WWW has broken grounds into the mobile world and we can see a variety of mobile embedded applications that simulate the web space on that tiny screen of a mobile phone [3, 4]. Although web and mobile technologies originated in the West, the emerging markets like India, China and other countries in South East Asia have started adopting these technologies very rapidly over the past few years [5]. A survey by LIRNEasia 2006 reveals that the mobile phones have impacted the emerging markets with over 94% of Indian population having accessibility to mobile phones [5]. This also indicates that India, a fast growing economy has embraced mobile technology and can potentially accept new embedded applications being developed everyday based on this budding mobile technology [6, 7, 8]. Education Industry has seen a sea change from the traditional classroom coaching to the use of high technology, with audio and visual modes of teaching and learning [9]. This has been made possible with the emergence of highly competent business models and the use of new kinds of online and infrastructural resources [168]. The communication medium or the access channels can have a huge impact on building community spaces [23]. The nature of the medium both facilitates and constrains social networking [26].

Computer mediated communication employs many aspects of information exchange that can collectively be termed as Virtual Communities [13, 14,169]. Some eLearning solutions like ENEA have laid the foundation of Teacher-Technology-Student interaction in the virtual world [10, 11, 12]. Virtual communities are primarily based on interaction among the group of users using online and web based tools [13, 169]. With the increasing use of mobile phones for voice and data exchange worldwide, mobile communities have started to surface enabling knowledge sharing, information retrieval and social networking [25]. Just as virtual communities, mobile communities are real world leisure communities that constitute virtual world on an Information and Communication Technology (ICT) supported platform [24]. Mobile communities allow interaction among the users while they are on the move, providing the flexibility and comfort to interact at any place and at any time [25]. Mobile communities eventually coordinate actions of groups of people in geographic space and supplement social arenas in the mobile world [26].

1.1

Technological advancements in education Nowadays, the universities aim to teach students not only the factual knowledge

but also the social and communication skills that are important for effective learning [27, 37]. The students should be able to work in a team, learn to cooperate and be able to communicate with fellow students [27]. Group interaction and collaborative learning helps in building their team skills and interpersonal skills that are beneficial for the acquisition of knowledge and also a prerequisite for later employment [27]. According to Pinheiro, Collaborative learning is defined as... the process of students working in teams to pursue knowledge and learning. In collaborative learning, information, ideas, and problem solving are actively shared among the team. [...] Collaboration can also be asynchronous, where students log onto a network at different times and locations leaving their contributions for others to see and discuss. [28]. Working together and collaborative learning is a good way of building educational communities that tend to be thinking or developing ideas with a common objective of knowledge sharing [25].

Over the past few decades, the use of information technology has revolutionized the pedagogical approaches of teaching and learning [9]. E-Learning via digital electronic tools and web-based media has enriched the whole online learning experience for the educators and the learners [169]. Most schools have distance education programs and online courses along with their traditional course offerings [27]. M-learning has emerged for imparting educational content through wireless and mobile devices [170]. Both the learning paradigms vis. e-learning and m-learning can facilitate education through content-delivery and through interaction between users [38, 171]. A pure content-delivery model facilitates learning by delivering learning content over the communication medium [41]. Online courses with downloadable learning material, questionnaires, access to learning database, handbooks and assignments are the common ways of disseminating education through World Wide Web [41, 172]. Most educational institutions now have courses that are telecasted through web streaming for live access to distance learners or uploaded videos for future reference [114, 172]. Content delivery through mobile devices involves accessing learning material through internet enabled mobile phones or sending the material to the mobile phones via SMS (Short Message Service) e.g. BBCs GCSE Bitesize [39, 173]. Bitesize has been a great success in providing learning material through SMS to mobile phones. Content delivery model exemplifies a client server paradigm where the learner acts like a client accessing the learning material provided through different channels and resources [174]. Such a delivery oriented model ensures good quality of service with continual time, space and digital media support to the client but restricts the learners from collaborative learning and reflective knowledge sharing [38]. As indicated in Figure 1.1 below, there are clients (range from 1 through n) as the learners and there is a content provider (potentially the instructor of the course). In the content delivery model, the instructor provides all the information into a content database which is accessed by the learners on demand. In the user interaction model, the learners not only extract information from the content database but they are also able to interact among themselves for any exchange of content of knowledge sharing.

Fig. 1.1 Content Delivery Model vs. User Interaction based Model Thus, user interaction based model enable discussion based learning through active participation and exchange of thoughts among the learners [42]. Learning with user interaction gives an opportunity to share user produced content with the community. It allows obtaining feedback and discussing on ideas build within the group of people which might not be provided by the instructor. Thus, this form of learning is more productive, generative and gives scope to active learning [176]. Discussion boards and blogs provide an open playfield to the educators and learners to interact among themselves embracing creativity and participation from a group of people. Mobile communities are based on interaction between the users that enables learning and developing on ideas from the entire community [24]. In the modern education system, the technological advancements have enabled the use of web and mobile tools for course instruction, exchanging content and collaborative learning [38]. Instructional technologies can greatly enhance the user interactive based learning providing a virtual environment for collaborative learning [176]. Interactive learning improves the group participation and collaborative dynamics, allows reconstruction of roles, facilitates engagement in learning activities, enhances communication and builds interpersonal relations among the users in the community [38, 176]. However, interactive learning is challenged by the lack of pedagogical models for

integrating technology for group learning [176]. Technology enabled interactive learning greatly suppresses the delivery of users nonverbal cues and emotional tones. Interactive models can get complex with the increasing number of participants and learners leading to complex systems of user interaction which may lose the benefits of collaborative learning [176, 177].

1.2

Mobile technology in education Mobile and Wireless hand-held devices are emerging as the promising

technologies for supporting learning, particularly in collaborative learning scenarios [175]. These devices allow the learners from moving away from the stand-alone computer, thus allowing interaction with several devices and making information accessible through a wireless connection. This also offers new opportunities for individuals who require mobile computer solutions that other devices cannot provide [176]. The inherent ubiquity and mobility in the use of mobile phones and wireless hand held devices facilitates learners in both end-to-end content delivery and interaction based models for collaborative learning [177]. Many researchers, academic and industrial practitioners, are currently exploring the potential of mobile and wireless devices for collaborative learning [43-48, 177]. For example: A group of researchers in Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University have proposed MOOsburg++ for interactive learning using mobile devices like cellular phones, pagers and PDAs. MOOsburg++ is a multi user domain object oriented environment that supports collaborative activities [43]. Vetter and Varshney at Georgia State University use Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) for enabling mobile commerce [44]. There are many Japanese websites that offer learning materials through i-mode, a Japanese mobile internet service, to about 30 million of i-mode users in Japan [48]. Mobile learning has often been termed as the harbinger of the future of learning [46]. Mobile phones provide a personal sense of belonging and privacy allowing the learners especially the teenagers to build network and grow friendship [49]. Group messaging; gift giving and sharing over mobile phones are indicative of current use of

mobile phones for collaborative learning [50]. Mobile learning has more often assisted students motivation, help organizational skills, encourage a sense of responsibility, help support both independent and collaborative learning act as reference tools to track students progress and deliver assessment [163]. Researchers are designing new models to enhance the collaborative mobile learning environments. WAN2lrn and BBCs GCSE Bitesize are examples of how learners are now able to download information to mobile phones for examination preparation and revision purposes [47]. Although it has been pointed that SMS and text messaging have adversely affected the writing habits of young learners leading to incorrect spelling and grammatical errors, it has been observed that learners have considerably improved verbal skills while chatting on mobile phones [51]. Thus, mobile phones have proved to be helpful in improving literacy and collaborative learning especially using the visual and literary expression opportunities through advanced camera and smart phones [47, 49]. While several wireless and mobile applications are being developed for collaborative mobile environments, the challenges in development and acceptance of wireless technologies are manifold [177]. Some of them include difficulty in adapting the technology for learning in a way consistent with learning goals and principles [43]; appropriating organizational techniques [103]; setting up and testing of prototypical applications and scenarios; the development of specific software tools and architectures; and improving the ease of use [45, 103]. It is, therefore, essential to investigate the collaborative mobile environments in terms of a model that incorporates a step by step development and evaluation process for mobile designs and the significant factors that contribute to the mass acceptance of mobile technology for collaborative learning.

1.3

Purpose of the study Clearly, a lot has been done in the past on mobile education and researchers

continue to work on various aspects of the use of mobile technology for teaching and learning. The pace of research, development and adaptation of mobile technology in education industry is very high in the western world [178]. It has been observed that most

of the work on Mobile learning is initiated in US, Europe and UK [47]. However, the notion of mobile education is still new and rare in the developing countries. Mobile learning or m-learning is not yet popular in India, China, Bangladesh, Bhutan and other south East Asian countries. Although the mobile technology has penetrated the east to a great extent, most developing nations are still not able to reap the benefits of the technological advancements in the field of mobile education. Owing to the rapid adoption of mobile technology over the past decade, cell phones are the most easily accessible, affordable and often the first computer technology in the hands of the people in the developing countries [56, 164]. While the widespread use of internet and wireless broadband services in the developed countries allows people to gain online access to learning material and online education; online facilities and World Wide Web have not penetrated all parts of the developing nations [165]. Most of the emerging countries are still struggling within their socio-cultural, political and technological boundaries [178] and do not have nationwide internet and broadband services leading to the lack of access to online resources. This greatly affects the adoption of e-learning and distance education in such parts of the world. In several regions of developing countries, mobile phones seem to be the only viable means of communicating with the rest of the world [164]. Mobile education, therefore, has a great potential to be the platform of instruction and accessing learning resources and educational material in developing countries. Apple holds big plans for 'iPhone University' on college campuses - first of several baby steps towards a much larger goal to establish the company's brand in educational sector [55]. Apples iPhone and other mobile phones from vendors like Sony Ericcson, LG and Samsung have seen a world class market with millions of customers in the east [74]. Back in India, Mobile Technology has revolutionized the life styles of majority of Indians [165]. Often termed the lifeline [164], mobile phones have undoubtedly grown into the veins of modern India connecting people in urban as well as remote areas at an extremely low price. According to the recent research by Gartner, India is expected to overtake U.S. to become No. 2 [mobile phone] market by 2010 [56]. People from all sections of the society including dabbawalas, dhobis, chaparasis,

8 bhangis and bhikharis1, own mobile phones with cheap connection plans that provide both voice and data services. The purpose of the study is to survey the current status of mobile education and investigate the need of building mobile communities in pursuit of improvising mobile learning in India. I try to understand the requirements to build mobile communities that can bring about nationwide acceptance of mobile learning. For this purpose, I refer to the Human Performance Technology (HPT) Model and Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). Human Performance Technology model has been envisaged to bring about changes in the system in such a way that the system is improved in terms of the achieving it values [52]. It is a step by step process model to analyze, design, evaluate and improve organizations to meet certain goals and objectives. Technology Acceptance Model has been widely identified for understanding application usage behavior [53]. It helps to evaluate the ease of use and usefulness of technology. Based on the combination of the Human Performance Technology (HPT) model and Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), I propose a Mobile Teaching Community (MTC) Model that suggests the step by step process to build sustainable mobile communities. MTC model incorporates the essential components that are important for developing a community, an objective-driven organization that uses mobile technology with the common interest of teaching and learning. It considers the basic steps involved in development and acceptance of technology. Such a Mobile Teaching Community model can help in mobilizing the community network to achieve educational objectives using mobile phones [47]. While the entire cycle of Performance Analysis, Cause Analysis, Design, Evaluation and Intervention in the Mobile Teaching Community (MTC) Model is outside the scope of this thesis, I will accomplish the following elements of MTC model in this research study:

1.

Performance Analysis: Through this study, I will be examining the various elements of performance analysis in the proposed mobile teaching community

Commonly used for the lowest sector of people in Indian society, usually below poverty line

model that include organizational and environmental factors affecting the building of sustainable mobile teaching communities. From my research questions, I try to identify the gaps in popularizing mobile education in India. As a pilot study for building mobile teaching communities, I intend to investigate the current status, basic requirements and potential areas of research for building mobile teaching communities. However, I do not delve into assessing the performance of the mobile communities in this study.

2. Cause Analysis: In this study, I seek answer to my research questions in order to present the status of environmental support and behavioral aspects in the Indian community for mobile teaching and learning. This identifies the various bottlenecks in building mobile teaching communities.

To summarize, in this research study I aim to propose a Mobile Teaching Community model for sustainable mobile communities in India. I perform a qualitative and quantitative study to answer my research questions that correspond to the first two elements of MTC model namely; Performance Analysis and Cause Analysis. Empirically, I focus my research questions in the domain of mobile education in Health Care and Medicine in India.

1.4

Motivation for study Education in India is currently categorized into two major forms of teaching and

learning; namely traditional classroom training and online courses [182]. In traditional classroom training, the students are able to study through pedagogical learning models [183]. Students attend lectures by the instructors, take assignments, perform laboratory work, submit reports, and take examination within the school facility. Students can have group discussion within the class and share ideas with their teams. This form of community building and collaborative learning is limited to the students who are enrolled in the same class. Classroom teaching is often restricted to the students and learners who

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are able to be physically present at the school [182, 183]. That also means that schools located in urban areas are attended by the students residing in urban areas and people in rural areas are limited to educational facilities in their proximity. This leads to a geographical divide in terms of classroom teaching in the traditional education system in India. Over the past decade, the geographical divide has been greatly reduced due to introduction of online education courses by institutions within India and abroad [182]. With the advent of computer technology and internet access, students are able to enroll in online courses in many urban and rural regions in India. Online and distance learning programs are useful for students who are unable to make it to school due to distance, time and infrastructural constraints [184]. Students are able to post their ideas on news boards, have online discussion boards, blogs and upload content on websites for knowledge sharing. This form of virtual and online communities has greatly affected the literacy rate and lead to the modernization of Indian education system. While many regions in India are able to benefit from online education programs, there are still remote regions which are not connected due to unavailability of internet and lack of access to computer systems [183]. In such regions, people are highly affected by the quality of education being limited to schools and facilities that are available in their local areas. Higher education particularly is a problem as local schools do not conduct specialized courses in all fields. This results in low education level of people in this region and adversely affects the economy of India [182]. Efforts are being made by the Ministry of Information Technology to make India a wireless broadband country by 2013 [185]. However, this seems to be a distant dream for most of the people who have no access to computer and internet connection and regions where internet service providers have failed to penetrate. It has been observed that there exist regions that have mobile connectivity but lack access to computer networks. Also, many times computer networks seem to be less affordable in various region of India. With the availability of cheap data and voice plans and low mobile phone prices, it is not surprising that people prefer to use mobile phones over internet [44].

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Mobility and ability to access information from anywhere at any time is also one of the motivation for need of popularizing mobile education in India. Mobile education, however, has not been adopted in the urban and rural areas in India [47]. Even if mobile phones are widely in use for communication and entertainment, people lack the understanding of mobile education and the use of mobile phones for learning purposes [44]. People are not aware of the potentials of mobile education in India. Mobile phones are used to supplement classroom and online training where people exchange messages to get quick responses from their team members [174]. SMS and mobile phone calls are limited to personal information exchange and coordination purposes. On the contrary, mobile communities are groups of people who interact primarily via mobile phones. They perform each of the tasks like discussions; knowledge sharing and information access using mobile phones. Although the concept of mobile education is gaining visibility, efforts need to be made particularly to spread awareness among people about mobile education and mobile educational resources. Highlighting the benefits and improvising continual learning and teaching through mobile phones can lead to sustainable mobile communities for education in India.

1.5

Research objectives

While mobile phones have already penetrated the banking, trading, commercial and entertainment businesses in India [157], there has been very little use of mobile technology in the education industry [166]. Mobile phones have immense scope for potential breakthrough into educational sector in India, disseminating educational services nationwide [7]. Offering educational services through mobile technology presents opportunities with high commercial and societal impact potential. Mobile education can not only serve the apparent needs of identifiable customers, but also make the people aware of the latent needs of technological advancement in traditional Indian Education System. In this research study, we look at this big pedagogical picture through the lens of the innovative mobile learning. I propose to use the Mobile Teaching Community model for building sustainable mobile communities for mobile learning in India. The focus of

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our research is on mobile learning in the field of Health Care and Medicine [186]. As far as the empirical part of this thesis goes, I will address the following research questions: (1) What do people perceive as the bottlenecks in widespread use of mobile phones for educational purposes? What are the technological and socio-cultural problems that need to be addressed to advance the current education system into the mobile world? (2) What are the potential areas of interest for mobile education with respect to the demographical, sociological and economical need of the community? (3) What kind of services and applications may be appreciated by mobile communities for the advancement of mobile teaching and learning? (4) What are the most common uses of mobile technology in India? (5) Is there a demand for mobile based healthcare in India? What kind of health care services are needed by the community? I intend to obtain answers to the research questions in light of conducting performance and cause analysis in the proposed mobile teaching community model.

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2. LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1

Virtual Communities

A virtual community is a persistent, sustained [socio-technical] network of individuals who share and develop an overlapping knowledge base, set of beliefs, values, history and experiences focused on a common practice and/or mutual enterprise [14]. An online community network of people interact within themselves via multiple modes of communication media like email, chats, blogs, wikis, etc. rather than direct face to face interaction for sharing views and exchanging information for social, professional, educational or other purposes [123]. Virtual communities have started to supplement communication between people who know each other primarily in real life. Many means of communication are used in social software separately or in combination, including text-based chat rooms and forums that use voice, video text or avatars [57]. Considerable changes have taken place with regard to the socio-technical aspects which have been impacted by virtual communities. This is attributed to the proliferation of Internet-based social networks [23]. With the increasing use of online knowledgesharing resources like Wikis, Blogs, Chat rooms, Internet Forums, Electronic mailing lists, Newsgroups; community building has been rapid and shaped into a ubiquitous way of communication [15]. Virtual communities, therefore, seem to cultivate a sense of recognition, efficacy and community that is capable of exchanging information through the various available web resources. However, online communities grow slowly partly due to the fact that the motivation to contribute to the community is proportional to the size of the community [15, 16]. This coupled with the fact that the organizational culture does not change overnight are the inherent reasons for slow building of virtual community. Bass Diffusion Model describes the process of how the new products get

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adopted as an interaction between the users and potential users [16]. Applying the same to the context of Virtual communities, one can visualize how virtual communities are built and grow over a period of time with the continual interaction of groups of users in the community. Virtual communities are one of the models of education which involves building communities for learning [17]. An internet based administration model for virtual learning communities provides a prototype for a web-based education system like EduCities [18]. 2.1.1 Origin

Online community are as real and as much a mixed bag as any physical community one where people talk, argue, seek information, organize politically, fall in love, and dupe others [58]. Many a times, people have received online emotional support [124] during devastating illnesses or to cope with common issues like alcoholism, and depression, valuable suggestion for investment deals and reviews before making an expensive purchase [125, 126]. A survey by iCrossing Inc. has found that about 40% of Americans [126] use customer reviews and 32% use expert reviews to conduct research before a purchase decision. It has been found that especially in case of mass market products; consumer reviews are an important part of the purchase decision [127]. This shows the potential uses online communities have; People react to online discussion in the same way as they would to a physical interaction [23]. Virtual communities usually grow out of people who often interact with each other through computer networks and involve into discussions over common subject of interest. These people tend to share their knowledge over several issues to seek advice from their online fellowship which continues to grow as part of constant participation and expansion in the web sphere [14]. Although building a community is not the motivation for such an interaction, the continuous growth of knowledge sharing and communication over the internet among a set of people with a sole purpose of virtual interaction eventually forms a virtual community space [14, 58]. A community usually consists of people that can relate to each other sharing a cosmology, a common cultural and historical heritage, social interdependence, and a reproduction cycle [59]. In order to foster online learning and encourage virtual interaction among students and teachers, many educators have started to introduce new courses for professional development creating online communities that support learning

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[60]. Developing an online forum or discussion board is very simple given the readily available advanced web-based conferencing system and technology [13]. The challenge in creating an online community is to attract a group of people and maintain continued interest in online discussion with the service of learning. Very often, people visit and leave without posting messages and many others stay and only read public messages acting like a passive learner in the community [61]. Unmoderated online discussion can flame into hostile wars that can very easily go out of control [62]. Nonetheless, many online discussions have been very productive and informative with sustained civil online groups, some of which have important communal dimensions [60, 63]. 2.1.2 Rationale

Computer Networks have presented a huge opportunity for communication and collaboration in networked organizations [130]. Social networks are formed when computer networks form the platform to link people as well as machines. Such networks which link people, knowledge and organizations are called computer-supported social networks (CSSNs) [132]. Literature categorizes CSSNs into three forms, which is based on the members needs and research agendas [23]. The first category - the members of virtual community; desire to link with likeminded people for information sharing, social support and companionship from their PCs and workstations [23, 133]. This format of networking is totally voluntary and research classifies it into two forms small groups (like the Harley Owners Group and networks based. While the small groups have socially close relationships and high interactions, the network based groups are socially dispersed, and driven by utilitarian needs [134]. Research has shown that the informal network of collaborators, colleagues and friends is one of the most successful communication channel for information gathering and knowledge management in an organization [131].This category the white-collar workers seek computer-supported cooperative work (CSCW) independent of spatial distances[23]. From an employee point of view, cooperative working not only helps achieve work objectives, but also provides a psychological and social satisfaction to employees [128]. From the organizations viewpoint, such networks reduce the burden of coordinating the complex organizational levels of hierarchy, reducing cost and time. The final category is the workers who want to telework from their homes, establishing a work-life balance [23]. From the organizations viewpoint, this means a reduction in real estate, building rents and other overheads like

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electricity and greater levels of productivity. More employees participate in the private organizational networks using either CSCW or teleworking, than on the Net. Subsequent changes in technology, along with increased security should bring about this change. In the text mode, communication is restricted primarily to emails and computerized conferences, while video conferencing, video walls, video hallways are other modes that have been utilized in the corporate context [100,135]. Recent trends in community conferencing provide features like graphics and sounds, animations like smileys and avatars, and videos in addition to the text mode of communication [135]. Other modes of communication used have been systems like video hallways [104, 105] allow the members to check availability of others. The concept of video walls that link spatially separated lounges using large screen videos that promote an informal environment for conversation [23, 100] have also been explored. While these systems provide an increased social presence through personalization, they require substantial costs to ensure good hardware supports these communication modes [135]. The avenues that have been explored in the formation of virtual communities have been File Transfer (FTP), broadcasting and Podcasting, electronic newsletters, blogs, and the exchange of data on-line [135,136]. 2.1.3 Role of virtual communities in education

Educational institutions are investing large amounts of money on computer laboratories, for workstations and other infrastructural needs. There has been an increasing use of IT in instruction and courses using internet and multimedia resources are commonplace [86]. From the user perspective both the student and the instructors have become more sophisticated or technology savvy [137,138,139,140]. This has provided an excellent opportunity for institutions to use internet as a platform for establishing a link between educators and students and in the process simplifying interaction between different parties. Another factor which has supported the heavy investments is the grants that most universities are receiving from the governments and corporate [143, 145]. In the Indian context, University Grants Commission (UGC) disburses funds to top universities in the country for investment in technology [141, 142, 144]. Recent trends have shown a migration from just internet based support towards mobile technology. Mobile technology has provided an opportunity for instructors to deliver course content efficiently, for interaction among students and in facilitating a

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student-lecturer interaction. This mode of instruction is fast gaining popularity and has generated considerable amount of interest from researchers and practitioners alike [86]. Educators and student both benefit from the opportunity that virtual communities provide to interact with each other in a more comprehensive manner, encouraging transparency and continued learning in the process. The individual attention that was missing in the classroom methodology of teaching has been addressed through the use of virtual communities and technology at large. Wachter, Gupta and Quaddus describe in their paper the characteristics of virtual communities and their contributions toward the educational process [106]. They explain about the implementation of virtual communities including considerations for design, management issues, and requirements of resources. It is interesting to learn how virtual communities grow and proliferate in a technically advanced environment with people sharing their information over the internet. However, sometimes, management of such virtual communities can be problematic due to online malpractices by the people. We look at the current literature on virtual communities and their potential development using networked technology and remote collaboration, specifically with respect to World Wide Web (WWW) communication tools. Most of the findings indicate that online communities are becoming increasingly important in todays world. The virtual communities meant for education and learning is the need of the current educational system. Given the constantly changing demands and expectations of both instructors and student communities, there is an increased pressure on institutes of higher learning to offer more flexible modes of learning. This is augmented by the fact that many universities offer courses in the distance learning mode. Online learning has been put forth as a viable option for colleges and universities to address this demand gap [102]. One of the options employed by colleges and universities are to meet this demand is online learning. An insight into online learning and development of online courses has been given by Marguerita McVay Lynch, faculty member - Educational Instruction and Research at Portland State University in Oregon in her book The Online Educator: A Guide to Creating the Virtual Classroom. The book deals with the academic environment and its changing landscapes and of how virtual learning has contributed to these changes in the 21st century [102]. The growth of the internet has spurred the introduction of collaborative tools like chat, P2P networks, video conferencing, news boards, and webcasts which have significantly enhanced the academic delivery mechanisms (other than just classroom delivery or lecture mode) and given the ability to interact, train and educate on the go.

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The web provides a platform for transmission and exchange of information whether the materials are a purely stand-alone tutorial or fully fledged on-line workshops [109]. Mobile technology enabled with Podcasts are also finding large acceptance in view of better portability. Integration with tools such as Usenet newsgroups, listservs, and annotation facilities has meant an increase in students level of involvement in the learning experience. Examples of wireless classroom response systems being integrated into classroom interactions have been explored in literature [86]. Such tools help in gathering student responses as well as providing timely feedback and have been found to improve classroom interactivity, enhance teaching effectiveness, and promote student learning [86, pg2]. The Web makes the integration of such tools possible, enabling the development of an effective learning platform and a single knowledge interface. Thus, the Web is able to provide increased opportunities for leaning through alternative formats of information dissemination. Virtual classrooms are being created today for educating scientists, engineers and mathematicians, both researchers and faculty that provide experience and basic knowledge for use with other student populations in the near future [110]. Online education is being offered in many forms, across many topics. Studies are being carried out to assess the impact of such offering both from a technical perspective to the sociological aspects of learning. Like, take the case of distance learning. While this mode of study presents an optimal utilization of scarce resources, ensures a fair and timely distribution of knowledge, its effectiveness is largely dependent on the levels of motivation of the student [31]. Also, from an instructors perspective, one needs to adjust quickly to changing trends, which may take some time in case of instructors. Also, the electronic course should have limited enrollments for the students to actually reap benefits of the one on one interaction with the lecturer through electronic means. In conclusion, while many benefits exist for online education and virtual communities, some disadvantages exist and such systems need to be evaluated on basis of the relevance of the pros and cons in the context of the educational institution. 2.1.4 Future trends

Distance education and online learning are providing many opportunities for colleges to exploit [147]. The demand for the electronic mode of education has been

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rising at a rapid rate [146]. This is not only because of the efficiency of electronic information dissemination, but also due to the comparatively lower costs involved from both the user and the service provider perspective [148,149,150]. The demand though has picked up only in the last decade though, with the realization that technology could be used to provide greater opportunities for learning at lower costs than was possible in traditional educational practices, and of course with the development of better technologies [112]. Both private and public institutions have been trying to tap into this demand by establishing a presence in the electronic marketplace (151) of online learning and exploit the potential of the industry. This is true even in the Indian context where many private and public players are offering courses through distance education [152]. The proliferation of various virtual learning needs necessitates the institution of required curriculum and regulations to examine the needs of the online learner and respond accordingly [112]. Other areas of research may be assessing the impact of media upon the educational process, the equity of access of these systems and the ever transforming roles of teacher, and the student in the distance learning process [113]. Newer technologies are hitting markets at regular intervals. These have not only necessitated the educators to learn their usage but also have increased the resources available at the disposal of a lecturer. Currently, the focus is shifting towards the opinions of these educators regarding the goals and methods of the technology. While some view this change as a secular shift in learning trends, others view technology as a support and argue for a proper prioritization of educational goals. The view of the social and educational needs of the changing society has also been expressed as an important factor influencing the educators standpoint [112]. While many fields of study are being impacted by the introduction of newer technology, a few challenges exist. A primary challenge is to develop strategies that focus on planning, student understanding, interaction and teaching to ensure a successfully delivered course [114]. Another challenge that needs to be addressed is regarding the technical aspects. When a group is interacting in real time, limitations in synchronous communication possibilities hinder the interpersonal experiences that one associates with classroom teaching and learning. While real time video conferencing and voice messaging have advanced to better levels, some of the technical concerns still remain to be addressed [112, 113]. To overcome these limitations, it has been suggested that the next developments in communication would focus on opportunities for more interpersonal interaction between participants through synchronous voice, data and visual imagery, which will

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simulate the real time learning through the virtual experience. Creating a lifelike virtual learning environment will be the next challenge to be addressed through research. Incorporation of presence and personal interaction will be crucial to the development and acceptance of the virtual learning environment [112, 115]. Some aspects of the future direction of virtual learning have been captured below.

Redefining the student and instructor roles

Assessing the impact of student characteristics

Addressing operational issues, management and regulatory issues

Ensuring equity and accessibility for learners across the globe

Assessing the cost benefit tradeoffs between virtual learning programs and classroom learning

Continuously developing technology and adapting to changing needs of student and instructors

Adapted from: Sherry L, Issues in Distance Learning and Planning and Implementing Open and Distance Learning Systems: A Handbook for Decision Makers

Fig. 2.1 Future direction of virtual learning A set of criteria has been developed by the Western Governors which would characterize the future virtual university [116]. Some of the parameters that they envision for a virtual university are: market oriented, client centered, degree-granting, accredited, competency based, non-teaching, high quality, cost effective, regional and quickly initiated [112]. While they recommend that initially, tech-savvy faculties teach online courses, that is, those who are comfortable with computers and genuinely enjoy spirited interaction and expecting the unexpected [116]. At a later stage though, advancement of technologies has been sought in the field of smart systems so as to do away with the need for a technocratic faculty and participants. Faculty would be contracted by the universities on the basis of factors like expertise, experience, and availability without worrying about the location of the faculty which is currently the case. Learning and teaching would turn to the desktops from the classrooms. Development of intelligent

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systems would ensure that research by both faculty and participants becomes much easier and less time consuming with the availability of information being just at a click away. Secondary issues such as time, payment, credentials and class size can also be addressed along with the concerns raised earlier to establish a virtual university [112]. 2.2 Technology in India

India has a rich tradition of Science and Technology that is over 5000 years old [65]. India has moved to becoming a technology hub attracting talent, ideas and technologies from around the world. The reasons for this are obvious. With the second highest population worldwide, India produces graduates (2.5 million per year in IT, engineering and life sciences) at an undefeatable rate every year [66]. As newer technology hits the market, Indians have increasingly shown interest in early adoption of high quality niche technology. India has witnessed increased usage of broadband internet wireless technology.

Demand
4.57 million broadband users in India Worlds 2nd largest wireless market 40 million Mobile internet users - 2007

Opportunity
Low tele-density of India - Only 28.33% Mobile penetration 14 times that of broadband internet Low prices Internet enabled phone at $ 11
Courtesy: Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI)

Fig. 2.2 Demand and Opportunity for mobile and wireless market in India The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has reported 4.57 million broadband users in the country, a figure which has doubled in the past year [67]. India

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has also surpassed US to become the worlds second largest wireless market, a TRAI report said [68]. The potential can be visualized from the low tele-density of the country which stands at only 28.33% [69]. The service providers are providing more data bandwidth and increased data speed in rural and urban areas. While internet may not be the best way of connecting people in India due to cost and limited resources, mobile technology has certainly become the lifeline of the people in India. Mobile phones have access to regions where internet connections have found penetration difficult. TRAI put the number of mobile internet users at 40 million at the end of 2007, a figure which was 14 times the penetration levels achieved by broadband internet [70]. With rapidly dropping mobile handsets prices and internet equipped mobiles available for as low as $11 per piece [71], the growth potential of the wireless market in India is immense. 2.2.1 Telecom Sector in India

A study by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) shows that the Indian Telecom sector is one of the most rapidly growing telecom markets in the world with a monthly addition of 6 million connections. With the highest FDI inflows in the country, the sector is all set to ensure India becomes a telecom manufacturing hub [72]. In the context of making mobile based learning and healthcare a viable option in a developing economy like India, it is important that mobile usage be cheap in the country so as to have a wider reach. The massive growth in the telecom sector has been fueled by the positive regulatory framework adopted by the government [153]. Thus, an analysis of the regulatory framework bears relevance to this paper because the changes introduced in the regulations have ensured a competitive market, thus making mobile usage cheaper in India. India has adopted a phased approach to the reform process in the sector. Initially, privatization was introduced in the Value Added Services (VAS) segment, which was followed by the liberalization of cellular and other services [73]. A few highlights of the changing regulations have been presented below:

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Introduction of the National Telecom Policy (NTP) in 1994 Independent Regulator, TRAI established in 1999 NTP 1999 Revenue Sharing Model Established Additional Licenses and License Fee Reduction-2001 Introduction of CDMA Technology and Internet Telephony - 2002
Elimination of Specific Licensing; Unified Access Licensing (UAL) established - 2003 Broadband Policy 2004 Formulated Target 20 million broadband users by 2010

FDI Limit raised from 49% to 74% - 2005 Number Compatibility Issues Addressed, 3G Guidelines Issued - 2008 Introduction of WiMax Data and Voice Services - 2008
Adapted from: Telecommunication - Market & Opportunities: An IBEF Report, July 2008

Fig. 2.3 Changing regulations in wireless and mobile services in India The telecommunications sector has witnessed a lot a transformation in recent times through regulatory changes as depicted above. The foundation was laid by the introduction of the National Telecom Policy (NTP) Act in 1994. Subsequently, TRAI was established to ensure the development of a competitive environment. The preamble of the TRAI Act shows the commitment towards developing the telecom sector and protecting consumer interests [155]. The next step taken was the New Telecom Policy, 1999, which was set up to create an environment that would encourage investment in the sector and to develop communication infrastructure by implementing the latest technology [155]. The next major development in the regulatory environment came with the issuance of additional licenses which ensured a migration from a state owned monopoly to a duopoly in each region [76]. Subsequently, many players being allowed to operate in a single region (called circle in Indian Telecom parlance). Both these steps helped in achieving the broader objective of providing affordable telecom services to all. By increasing the FDI limit from 49% to 74% in 2006, a more competitive environment was created which would benefit the consumers [156]. The impact that these policies have had on the Indian telecom sector; both on the subscriber base and the tariff rates has been shown below [76].

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Source: Telecommunication - Market & Opportunities: An IBEF Report, July 2008

Fig. 2.4 Impact of Policy change on Indian Telecom Industry The lower tariffs have ensured a large growth in the customer base as can be observed from the graph. Another factor that has propelled this growth is the considerable reduction in the cost of mobile handsets, information about which has been already shared. The large accessibility that mobile communication has achieved in India is important in the context of developing a mobile learning system so that a broader base can have access to it. India is the third most deregulated telecom markets in the world [72]. Private participation has been allowed in all services like international long distance (ILD), domestic long distance, basic, cellular, internet, radio-paging, and a number of valueadded services [73]. Recently, mobile phone connections in India have crossed the 250-million mark, which means about 1 in 4 Indians have a mobile phone [74]. There are two different technologies deployed by the mobile operators in India namely GSM and CDMA. The GSM service providers are Bharthi Airtel, BSNL, Vodafone, IDEA, Aircel, Reliance, Spice, and MTNL whereas the CDMA service providers are TATA Indicom, HFCL, Shyam, and Reliance. Figure 2.5 shows the market share of each service provider in India [75]. Reliance India had come out with a Rs. 480 ($10) priced internet enabled mobile

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phone. With mobile phones getting so cheap and consequently pervasive, India is around the corner for implementation of mobile technology for the benefit of consumers, operators, content providers and government. It promises to be a USD 1 billion industry by 2010, if roadmaps are created and implemented properly [76].

Courtesy: Academic Open Internet Journal, Volume 21, 2007

Fig. 2.5 Market Share of mobile & wire line service providers in India

2.2.2

Need areas for mobile practices in India

Mobile technology has been embraced equally in all parts of India [157]. The sheer number of mobile applications that are currently being used by the people is astounding. The mobile phones are being used for several kinds of application in a wide range of fields. Mobile Commerce is the field which deals with adapting mobile applications for commercial purposes. Tiwari et al define Mobile Commerce as business with ubiquitous mobile services is commonly referred to as Mobile Commerce, which in a simplified definition may be regarded as an extension of Electronic Commerce to wireless mediums [77]. Some of them are illustrated below. The list is not exhaustive but can be thought of as a primer that discusses applications of mobile technology.

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(a) Banking and Trading Mobile Banking refers to provision and availment of banking and financial services with the help of mobile telecommunication devices. The scope of offered services may include facilities to conduct bank and stock market transactions, to administer accounts and to access customized information [78]. The paper by Tiwari et al categorizes mobile banking services into three broad categories Mobile Accounting, Mobile Brokerage, and Mobile Financial Information. Mobile Accounting includes activities like money remittances and transfers, changing operative accounts, blocking lost cards, check book requests etc. Mobile Brokerage broadly includes services like selling & purchasing financial instruments like securities. Mobile Financial Information like balance inquiries / latest transactions, foreign exchange rates, interest rates, stock and commodity prices, other account/bank related information [78]. In the Indian context, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has recently come out with guidelines regarding the implementation of mobile banking in India [79]. Many Indian banks like ICICI Bank, Axis Bank are offering mobile banking solutions to their customers [80, 81]. Currently, there are several micro-financing applications that are developed by nationalized and private sector banks for facilitating people to access account information over mobile phones. In southern part of India, there are villages that are running mobile trading businesses, purchasing and selling stocks over their cell phones. In a collaborative effort with University of California, Berkeley, Tapan Parikh has proposed a mobile banking system [82] that uses integrated camera cell phones for capturing information and sending via mobile phones to banks and financial institutions to perform transactions on personal bank accounts remotely. (b) Agriculture In the rural sections of the Indian society, very few people have access to internet [158]. Due to limited wireless and wired internet services, people are deprived of online and distance learning programs that are popular in the urban areas. While most people are not able to afford a computer and internet services, many people these days own a cheap mobile phone with affordable monthly tariff plans that connect them to other parts of the country. Indian service providers like Airtel have already partnered with agencies like Indian Farmers' Fertiliser Cooperative Limited (IFFCO) to set up communities like

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IFFCO Kisan Sanchar Limited (Farmer Communities) in states like Rajasthan [83]. In the international context, mobile technology is being used in precision agriculture, and data surveying used in crop production and horticulture [84]. In the Indian context, opportunity exists in providing agricultural services like updates on prices and weather, pesticides and insecticides information, subsidy allotment etc. (c) Education Mobile education or m-education is the use of mobile technology in education [85]. Mobile technology has provided an opportunity for instructors to deliver course content efficiently, for interaction among students and in facilitating a studentlecturer interaction. This mode of instruction is fast gaining popularity and has generated considerable amount of interest from researchers and practitioners alike [86]. In the Indian context, a service provider Tata Teleservices, a part of the TATA conglomerate, has started an initiative called Mobile Education (M-Education) in the country. This was done to aid learning in remote rural areas and to support the physically challenged [87]. In this model, the mobile is being used to offer educational content and take mock tests on the move. (d) Commercialization Software giants and mobile application vendors are considering numerous applications for mobile phones that can be used for advertising and commercialization purposes. Cisco Systems and Apple together have started a project to design a Mobile Concierge for guest services in a commercial complex that can provide and one stop portal for accessing all the information about the shops and services available within a commercial complex plaza [159]. Another such example is that of the Japanese departmental store Mitsukoshi which has introduced a mobile concierge service using active RFID tags to improve customer service and access purchase histories [88]. (e) Public Health and Medicine In the healthcare domain, mobiles have made an astounding impact. They have been found to be useful for services like Mobile Telemonitoring, supporting working

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processes in hospitals, solutions for doctor calls and IT prosthetics among many others [89]. Mobile Health Care Services provide a good alternative to people living in remote locations and for those with little time. In the Indian context, this technology addresses the larger issues of delivering healthcare solutions to the millions in inaccessible regions. Mobile major Ericsson has teamed up with Apollo Hospitals in India and introduced a mobile healthcare platform [160]. Telemedicine is being delivered using technology like HSPA which is expected to help in providing affordable and accessible healthcare to many [90]. A study by Dr. Surya Bali et al found that Indians were quite receptive to the idea of mobile healthcare even in rural regions. The authors suggest the use of mobile enabled services for prescriptions, doctor appointments, and emergency mobile services among other benefits [91]. Recently, ZMQ Software Systems, a mobile gaming company, also launched system that would help rural women in prenatal care through SMSs and send tips on nutrition and food to ensure good health of the baby [92]. (f) Transportation Mobile technology can be used in a wide range of applications such as enabling paperless travel, self-service, online payments and check in, in flight entertainment, and facilitating passenger flow management. Other applications include using mobile devices as a channel for one to one marketing [93]. Many passenger support systems based on mobile technology have been developed recently [94]. In the Indian context, mobile based services like the eBusGuide which aims at improving public bus occupancies and user satisfaction have been suggested [95]. The positives of using mobile technology in transportation in the Indian have been documented in the Mobile Development Report released by the Centre for Knowledge Societies (CKS) and commissioned by Nokia [96]. Another significant addition to this domain is through the use of Google Maps. Accessing such services through mobile phones would make them ubiquitous; enabling ease of navigation through local traffic updates and alerts. (g) Linguistic Interfaces SDL, the world's leading provider of translation services and technology solutions, has implemented the Volantis Intelligent Content Adaptation solution to make FreeTranslation.com available to any mobile browser that can access the Internet

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[161]. The most popular language translation portal, FreeTranslation.com provides mobile subscribers and international tourists with translations over a wide range of languages [97]. Even Nokia has developed an application shoot-to-translate that translates one language to another using image recognition mechanism. The application translates text from one language to another using a photo taken by the mobile phone camera. This shows another potential market for the use of mobile technology [98]. India is a multi-lingual country with over 30 different languages and each with several dialects. There is immense need for portable translation services to enable people from different regions to interact with each other. Linguistic mobile interface is a concept that can be introduced to address this gap. Users can get mobile support for translation into local languages. Such an application can be developed with a custom module of local language word processor that can provide a known language conversion and assistance on mobile phones. 2.2.3 Mobile communities in India

As discussed in the previous sections, the rapid acceptance of mobile phones and equally fast development of mobile applications in several sectors in India clearly indicates that mobile phones have become the most common mode of communication among the people of India [157]. The wide use of cheap SMS and Voice calls by the people for exchanging work and personal information over phones is routine among the people of all generations. Students discuss class homework and examination material, working professionals exchange business items and others share personal information using mobile phones sitting in cars, buses, schools, hospitals, offices and homes. Just as virtual communities are formed by the online interaction of people, mobile communities are formed by the people who use their mobile phones for information exchange. In India, various types of mobile communities are being formed that hold discussions on mobile phones in the form of SMSs, voice based chat rooms and mobile forums [161]. In the past year, mobile communities like TSKBreakingNews, MutualFundGuru and LIAFI have been created on the smsgupshup community site [162] and have gained prominence. They currently have large active user lists and such instances show the potential for mobile communities in urban India. A common thread found across all these communities has been that these are primarily need based groups and have been started

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by people passionate about the community topic [161]. While such success has been seen in urban India, rural India presents many challenges. Regardless of the fact that mobile technology has been embraced in all parts of India [157], rural people still lack the understanding of mobile communities and their significance in everyday life [179]. Owing to the regional, economical, sociological and demographical diversity in India, some areas utilize mobile technology more than the others. Inherent advantage of quick accessibility of information, connectedness and efficient communication has been a primary motivation for mobile phones use in urban areas. Some people like school and college students have started using mobile phones for socialization but the talks are limited to personal messages and chats. Although this is one form of mobile community, people interact over mobile phones with no intentions to build any kind of mobile discussion forum. In order to widely accept a mobile culture in Indian democracy, it is important to emphasize the need of building mobile communities in various sectors of the society. With the advent of ubiquitous mobile applications and services, India can be a mobile economy in the coming future. Mobile communities can result into new business and enhance existing businesses with low infrastructural costs. Such communities can provide a good platform for teaching and learning, a way to gain social and emotional support anytime and anywhere. It is, therefore, important to explore ways of building sustainable mobile communities in India.

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3. THEORY AND FRAMEWORK

3.1 Mobile teaching communities

In this study, I research some of the barriers for the acceptance of mobile phones for developing mobile communities for education in India. I define a model that incorporates various aspects of building mobile communities and use it for educational sector in India with the focus on educational communities in Health Care and Medicine. It has been observed that even if a community is built, which itself is a very slow process, it might not remain as productive and informative over a period of time. Sustainability is therefore a major concern for online communities as well as mobile communities. Using a Mobile Teaching Community (MTC) model, I suggest ways of building sustainable mobile communities dedicated for teaching and learning. This model uses the Human Performance Technology (HPT) model and Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) to design a step by step approach to build mobile teaching communities. A brief overview of Human Performance Technology model and Technology Acceptance Model is provided in the following sections. 3.1.1 Human Performance Technology (HPT) Model

Educational technologist often associate education technology with performance technology [103]. Tiem, Moseley and Dessinger envisage a Human Performance Technology (HPT) Model that uses several aspects of instructional system design. In this model, they describe a systematic approach in identifying and overcoming all the barriers in performance by an individual or an organization [101]. It takes a systemic view of an organization the success of which depends on the effective functioning of each unit and how they fit into the whole. It takes into consideration all the environmental parameters and constraints to lead to an outcome that is in line with the organizational goals,

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objectives and vision of the system. It focuses on the procedures that achieve desired productivity, efficiency and quality with the required workforce skills [101]. In a business or an organization, HPT requires assessing the intermediate goals such as quality improvement, customer retention and cost reduction as well as the final outcome like sales, profits and market share. The performance improvement is critical for HPT and is measured in terms of its level of meeting the intermediate and business outcomes based on a collaborative effort of all the partners, clients and specialists. An organizational improvement is highly based on collaborative working and sharing responsibilities [101]. Like the ADDIE Model [167] that consists of five phases; Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation and Evaluation/Control for Instructional Systems Design, Human Performance Technology model also goes through similar rigor for any project that aims to meet performance based on organizational behavior. HPT model is, therefore, applicable to a system which aims at continual performance improvement. Mobile teaching communities also aim to develop and build mobile based educational communities with a vision to improve teaching and learning in the society which is why HPT process model is inherent to any model for building mobile educational community.

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3.1.2

Technology Acceptance Model (TAM)

Many researchers have used Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) to validate their theories on application usage and acceptance behavior of users [108]. TAM considers parameters such as ease of use and usefulness as perceived by the user for evaluating the acceptance of a technology. It is a behavioral model that analyzes several factors for gauging the ease of use and usefulness to predict applications usage [107]. Lederer, Maupin, Sena, Zhunag et al have demonstrated that ease of understanding and ease of finding information predict ease of use; information quality and availability predicts usefulness of a technology. In order to find out how acceptable a technology may be, it is suggested to investigate the factors that confirm the ease of use and usefulness of the technology by the underlying factors in Technology Acceptance Model. As a result, the investigation can help educators, researchers, developers, and managers to understand antecedents to users decisions to accepting a technology. Figure 3.2 shows the graphical representation of Technology Acceptance Model as below [117].

Fig. 3.2 Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) In this section, we describe the TAM for World Wide Web that evaluates the acceptance of a website based on several parameters [108]. We consider all the related factors for analyzing the perceived ease of use and usefulness of the website. Factor A: TAM ease of use items [107] How easy is it to get the information I want from the site? How easy is it to learn to use the site? How easy is it to become skillful at using the site?

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Factor B: Antecedent ease of use items Evaluation of Web prototypes [118]: Does the site use terms familiar to me? Does the site make it easy to recognize key information? Is the site visually pleasing? Is the site well organized in terms of providing topic wise display content? Do the display pages link to pages containing more detailed information? Does the site provide for more than one method of navigation? Is it easy to determine one's relative navigation position on the website? Does it allow easy return to previous display pages? Are graphics on the website consistent? Are terms on the website consistent? Web user survey [119]: Does the site take too much time to load? Can the required information be easily found on the site? Is the site easily navigable? Usability testing criteria [120]: Does the site use standard/understandable graphics? Are the display pages within the site are easy to read? Does the site use understandable terms? Can the required information be easily found on the site? Is the site is easy to navigate? Factor C: TAM usefulness items [107] Does using the site enhance your effectiveness at job? Does using this site at your job increase your productivity? Does using this site improve your job performance? Factor D: Antecedent usefulness items Characteristics of useful information [121]: Do you use this site for accurate information related to your job? Do you use this site for thorough information related to your job? Do you use this site for timely information related to your job?

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Do you use this site for relevant information related to your job? Task environment information [121]: Do you use the site for information about your companys owners? Do you use the site for information about your companys competitors? Do you use the site for information about your companys suppliers? Do you use the site for information about the companies that work with your company? Do you use the site for information about your companys customers? Do you use the site for information about labor? Do you use the site for information about the government regulators of your company? Strategic areas for corporate decisions [121]: Do you use this site for strategic information required for your job? Strategic areas for corporate decisions [122]: Do you use this site for managerial information required for your job? Do you use this site for operational information required for your job? Functional area information [121]: Do you use this site for research and development related information required for your job? Do you use this site for human resources related information required for your job? Do you use this site for marketing information required for your job? Do you use this site for production information required for your job? Do you use this site for financial information required for your job? TAM for World Wide Web has been validated by researchers to study the acceptance of website by users [108]. Understanding the acceptance of web technology, I extend this TAM to mobile community space to study the acceptance of Mobile Teaching Communities. I, thereby, investigate the factors for ease of use and usefulness for mobile technology. This helps me identify the perception of people regarding the usefulness and comfort in using and building mobile communities. The above mentioned list of questions is particularly applicable for WWW but same parameters need to be evaluated for mobile applications built specifically for mobile teaching communities. Just as TAM is applicable for WWW, users satisfaction and perception on usefulness and ease of user

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are important for evaluating the mobile communities which is why TAM needs to be part of the evaluation phase of MTC. 3.2 Proposed Mobile Teaching Community (MTC) Model

Mobile Teaching Community (MTC) model is a systematic process of building sustainable mobile communities. I modify the Human Performance Technology (HPT) model forming a basis for building mobile communities and then evaluating human acceptance of technology based on the various outlining principles in Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) together. Essentially, a mobile community can thrive in an environment where the user is actively using their mobile phones for specific purposes and continue to do so. MTC guides through the formation of educational communities with sole objective of teaching and learning from each other using mobile phones. MTC ensures a sustainable mobile community by gearing through all the phases of mobile community life cycle ensuring all the educational goals is pre-defined, objectives are met, gaps are filled, human performance is improved and there exist a sense of responsibility among all the members interacting in the community. To ensure the continual improvement of the mobile community, it is essential to retrospect the mobile community background, features and usefulness factors with the lens of technology acceptance model. It is an iterative process, which in turn leads to continual growth and development of mobile teaching communities. Figure 3.3 shows an adapted model from HPT and TAM into a proposed Mobile Teaching Community (MTC) model that can be used for building mobile teaching communities [101, 117].

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Mobile Teaching Community Model cycles through the performance analysis, cause analysis, design, evaluation and intervention phases. In the performance analysis, it is important to understand the environmental conditions that are applicable for building mobile teaching communities and performing the feasibility test. Gap analysis is done to identify any gaps that exist in the current mobile communities. In the cause analysis, we understand the lack of variables and how to fulfill them for sustainable mobile teaching communities. Design includes the building mobile communities applications followed by evaluation by the user. Any new changes are introduced in the intervention phase [101]. I discuss each of the phases in detail as below: 3.2.1 Performance Analysis

In the performance analysis, we try to investigate what might be the reasons for investigating a technology to an extent that we want to build on it [101]. I consider mobile education as one of the need area or opportunity for further research in Indian setting. In my research, I try to answer the research questions with the perspective as to why this may be a useful research piece for introducing mobile education in India. What kind of opportunities do we have in the areas of mobile learning in India? To answer this, I collect opinion from the people who represent the section of educated Indians who are aware of mobile technology and may be able to answer rationally about the social and technological status of mobile learning in India in the current times. The perceived usefulness and ease of use are some of the factors that are analyzed to conclude with a well comprehended analysis of the need of the technology. Performance Analysis involves judging the need of the research based on different criterions like: 1. Organizational Analysis: In an Organizational Analysis, we often study the outlining principles and the structure of the project [101]. What are the aims and objectives of the research? What kind of short and long term goals that it envisages and how it can be met in due course? Answering these questions, we may understand the ways of building on the concept that is intended for research. It is like a stepping stone to the in-depth research that is projected on the subject.

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2.

Environmental Analysis: In an Environmental Analysis, we investigate all the external variables that may be affected the research and building on the technology [101]. We study the structure of the society, in which the technology needs to thrive, and the stakeholders or the people who are going to invest or benefit if and when the technology comes into use. This helps to understand the target audience and the utility of the research for the people it is intended for. We also analyze the work force or resources that may be required on account of designing and implementing the system. What kind of social, political and cultural challenges that the research projects might face as a result of the use of the technology? We try to consider the ergonomics and the procedures that might be involved in various phases as we move through the development and production cycle. We also need to find if we have enough knowledge base, technical skills and expertise in the capacity that is required for the design and development of the technology considering their expectations out of the successful completion of the task. We analyze the attitude toward the use and behavioral intention of the people to use the technology. Feasibility Analysis: By Feasibility Analysis, we aim to investigate in detail all the internal and external variables that are involved in the research, design and implementation of the project [101]. We consider all the mechanical and human constraints that we may run into during any phase of the project life cycle.

3.

4.

Gap Analysis: By Gap Analysis, we mean to understand the actual workforce performance and the desired workforce performance for the development of the project such that we are able to figure out the need areas of work requiring extra work in terms of resources like time, money and man-hours [101]. We also analyze how environmental factors combined with underlying constraints may affect the project life cycle. We try to address some of the gaps and finding out appropriate solutions to take of the problems in early phases of the project design. Cause Analysis In Cause Analysis, we collect data and feedback from the range of people so to

3.2.2

complete the initial research about the project by considering opinions from external

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resources [101]. We analyze the environmental conditions and resources and tools that may be employed for the project. We project the consequences for such research work and set the incentives for the participants and rewards from the projects. We study the existing and required skills and knowledge for the development of the project. We discuss the motivations for proceeding the research and expectations from the project.

3.2.3

Design In the Design phase, we particularly involve into design of the project at the high

level and then at low level [101]. By this time, we have already analyzed the feasibility and requirements of the project. We employ the resources and tools for envisaging a model for implementation of modules of the project. In the high level design, we structure the project design into building blocks without getting into details at the implementation level like giving a big picture of the overall design. In the low level design, we try to drill down to the level that can clearly indicate the major steps to be taken to implement a module. We include the specifics of the structure and the hierarchy of the content in the project development cycle.

3.2.4

Evaluation

In the Evaluation phase, we employ formative, summative and confirmative processes to evaluate the project design with an aim to enhance the design by making updates and changes to the current design [101]. We study the effectiveness of the design and analyze the return on investment on the project. Here we discover any roadblocks or unexpected hurdles for the successful usage of the system. We try to assess critically looking at the environmental variables and the constraints to understand that the design is indeed responsive giving the due results. Based on any lessons learned in this process, we try to modify the design and reassess for the better effectiveness of the design for a desired solution.

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3.2.5

Intervention

By intervention, we aim to incorporate all the changes that may be identified in the project development cycle and fix all the research pieces together for an appropriate design for the final implementation of the project [101]. We consult about the process and design with external sources and pull in consent/feedback from other knowledge sources that may be considered before implementing the system for use.

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4. METHODOLOGY

In this section, I would explain my plan of engagement for the collecting the data for the study. I performed a quantitative study by collecting data from a population sample that includes people from several classes and sections of Indian society. I seek answers to the research questions by collecting public experiences on mobile phones, knowledge about m-learning and their perspective on the future of mobile education in the field of health care and medicine in India. The research questions being addressed in this study are: (1) What do people perceive as the bottlenecks in widespread use of mobile phones for educational purposes? What are the technological and socio-cultural problems that need to be addressed to advance the current education system into the mobile world? (2) What are the potential areas of interest for mobile education with respect to the demographical, sociological and economical need of the community? (3) What kind of services and applications may be appreciated by mobile communities for the advancement of mobile teaching and learning? (4) What are the most common uses of mobile technology in India? (5) Is there a demand for mobile based healthcare in India? What kind of health care services are needed by the community? In order to investigate the current status of mobile learning in India and what factors can contribute to future advancement of mobile technology in the education industry, I followed through the basic steps involved in the process of research. A research process involves obtaining permissions, selecting participants, deciding the type of data to collect, and recording and administering the data collection [180].

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4.1

Obtaining permissions to conduct a survey

For this study, I went through a comprehensive Institutional Review Board (IRB) training (refer to Appendix A). According to Purdue Universitys Education Policy, all research personnel conducting research with human subjects are required to take education [181]. Education Policy for Conducting Human Subjects Research was reviewed. Collaborative IRB Training Initiative (CITI) web-based education program certifies the individual to research on human subject research at Purdue University. A set of training modules for Human Research and Responsible Conduct of Research were undertaken and passed (ID: 875317) before taking IRB approval for education research with human subjects. IRB approval application for non-exempt review was submitted along with the survey instrument; survey request e-mail template and the research participant consent form (refer to Appendix B). After receiving the IRB approval, the survey was circulated among the participants in the form of web link in an e-mail. 4.2 Participant selection

The research participants were selected based on the non-probability sampling strategy for quantitative analysis [180]. Since the participation was voluntary, the survey participants were broadly selected based on Convenience sampling, participants willing and available for study; and Snowball Sampling, participants were open to identify other participants to become members of the sample population. In this study, I do not aim to generalize the findings to the entire population in India. Instead this study identifies the initial factors, which then still need to be tested over a larger population sample. However, the participants were identified such that the research includes responses from participants from all regions of India including varied professions, age and gender and economic status in the society. 4.3 Sample Size

Based on the non-probability sampling strategy, 252 participants were reached out with the survey instrument. In selecting the participants, I identified the sample population based on the contact information available to me and also seeking for contact information of more people in India from other participants in the study. Out of the 252 participants, 148 respondents volunteered to fill out the research participant consent form

45

and provide their responses through the online survey instrument. So, this quantitative research study includes responses from the number of respondents (Sample Size, N=150) who agreed to provide their inputs for the survey. There were several limitations in reaching out to the larger group of people in India in this study. The sample size, N=150 is small for the participant selection from the worlds second highly populated country, India. The sample size was highly affected by the geographical location of origin and conduct of research study. The study is being performed in United States, which makes it difficult to reach out to the people in India due to the limited contact information of the research personnel in India. An online survey can potentially reach to the participants who have access to internet services and possess basic computer skills. Thus, the sample included the professional workers and students at large. 4.4 Instrumentation

With the literature review and the reading for the research study, it was not possible to locate an instrument that would address my research questions in the form of a quantitative survey. So, as a part of this research study, I developed an instrument following the steps such as planning, construction, quantitative analysis and validation [180]. In the planning phase, I specified the purpose of the survey and its target audience. I identified and defined the domain of the survey. After considering the variables of interest, I designed open ended questions (research questions) for the target audience. In the construction phase, I developed the specific questions to be answered by the participants. In the quantitative evaluation phase, I prepared the survey instrument for first pilot test in the web tool (e.g. esurveypro.com). I administered the survey and got it evaluated by the research faculty. In validation phase, I run the survey through a final pilot testing and incorporate final revisions in survey questions. After validation, I circulated the survey to research participants which also involved debriefing the subjects about the survey and the purpose of the study. In this study, I developed the survey instrument for mobile education in Health Care and Medicine in India. Based on the proposed Mobile Teaching Community model, I designed the survey instrument to address the research questions pertaining to mobile communities for teaching and learning for health care and medicine in India. The research questions are primarily focused on the performance analysis and cause analysis in the MTC model. The survey instrument obtained participant responses about the current state of mobile technology in India, the use of mobile phones for building mobile

46

communities for education, the need areas for mobile application for teaching and learning and the demand of mobile education in the field of health care and medicine. Lastly, I invited comments from the participants to provide me with feedback on how to popularize mobile communities for teaching and learning in India. The variables for research study were identified from the research questions and used for locating demographic, sociological, cultural and economical data about mobile communities for teaching and learning in India. An introductory page with research participant consent form was followed by number of multiple choice questions was designed to collect participants demography and current uses of mobile technology in India. To collect participants responses on the idea of mobile communities and impact of mobile phones on social circle, I designed survey questions on use of mobile phones for user interaction within a community. To identify the bottlenecks and potential need areas of research on mobile education, the participants were questioned about the problems that face with their mobile phones and the information that they are interested in accessing over the mobile phones. To familiarize the participants with mobile learning jargon, I designed questions on the participants awareness about mobile learning. For complete survey instrument, refer to Appendix II for complete survey questionnaire. 4.5 Procedure

The research participants were invited to fill out the survey that was circulated in the form of e-mail. The survey instrument was a web based link that included multiple type responses for quantitative study and text based responses for qualitative study. The research participants were notified that their identity will be kept undisclosed in the research participation consent form and they were able to quit the survey at any point of time during the survey. Participants were informed about the confidentiality, risks involved and benefits of filling out the survey. Participants were provided with contact information of the research personnel and were open to sending queries about the survey in need of clarification. Oftentimes, the respondent reverted through chat or mail about the survey. Most common questions that the participants had about the survey were: 1. How useful the information that they submitted might be for the research study? 2. Can you clarify the purpose of the research study? 3. How long would it take to implement such a system in India? 4. Can you share the analysis and results of the research study on completion?

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4.6

Recording and administering the data collection

The survey instrument was developed on a standard web based tool (esurveypro.com) and the link was sent out to the participants in e-mail invitation. Therefore, a standard procedure was followed for recording the data and extreme care was taken to collect data ethically and confidentially. Users identities were undisclosed and no information specific to the users was stored in our database. The data was collected over a period of three months and the survey remained open through that duration. After three months of data collection, the number of incoming surveys sharply declined. The data collection was completed and the survey instrument was closed for reporting and analysis. The analysis of the collected data is established in the following section.

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5. DATA ANALYSIS

After the data was collected and recorded by the survey instrument, I maintained the data in the form of an excel sheet with each participant response associated with a respondent ID. To maintain complete confidentiality of users identity, I registered all the responses in a sequential order with the corresponding responses. The questions in the survey and the data could be divided into two parts: quantitative data and qualitative data. 5.1 Scope of the study

For the clarity of the research objectives for the audience, I would reiterate that the data collection and analysis is limited to the performance and cause analysis in the Mobile Teaching Community model. The quantitative and qualitative collected in this study is therefore limited to addressing these two blocks of MTC model. More research work and additional research instruments for other blocks such as evaluation and intervention are required to perform an exhaustive survey for the applicability of MTC model for mobile communities for teaching and learning in India which is outside the scope of this study. 5.2 Quantitative Data In the survey instrument, the quantitative data formed all the questions that collected numerical data from the respondents. To answer my research questions, I performed frequency analysis for the quantitative data that was collected through the survey. The Sample Size, N is 150 which include responses from all the participants that attempted to answer the survey completely.

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All the incomplete survey responses (about 40%) were not considered for the study. In order to collect the quantitative data to address the research questions, the survey instrument questions were broadly categorized as:

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

What does I am Mobile mean to you? Can mobile phones build Mobile Communities? Do you know what your mobile phone can do? Have you heard about Mobile Learning? What do you think India would like to learn? You can Make a Difference!

The themes were essentially set to aware the audience in short about what kind of questions they are going to answer in the survey. This was helpful to make them understand the research objectives and make them think over the use of mobile phones for building teaching communities. In follow-up e-mail and feedback, very useful comments followed into discussions with research participants that met helped in spreading the knowledge of mobile education among the participants. In the sample size, N=150 under consideration, the participants answered all the survey questions indicative of their perspective about the current status of mobile education in India, their usage of mobile phones, problems faced in mobile usage and future needs in mobile applications in India. After collecting all the participants responses, I performed frequency analysis for all the numerical data that was collected through this survey. The analysis incorporates the frequency distribution of the sample population, N=150 for different research questions addressed in this study. 5.3 Qualitative Data

In the survey instrument, one question was left as an open form question Please give us your suggestion on how to popularize Mobile Education in India. for the participants to provide with feedback, questions that were not met in the quantitative section and suggestions. This question was analyzed as the qualitative data collected in

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the survey. From about 40 responses to this open form question, 97 codes were generated that captured all the data from the respondents useful for this study. From these 97 codes, 8 major and 2 minor themes were identified that uniquely represented the respondents answers to this open ended question. For inter-rater reliability and validity of these themes, the data, codes and the themes were presented to fellow students for comments and feedback. In order to recognize that the themes were strong and saturated for the data collected for this research, the feedback from the fellow students and researchers were incorporated within the pre-identified themes for the data set.

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Following are some of the codes that were obtained: Table 5.1 Codes and Themes from Qualitative Data Codes Reachable to rural India Easy access Theme Accessibility Codes Lower tariffs Higher bandwidth Faster data access 3G connectivity Regional language support Symbol based education Institutions & faculty Network providers Phone vendors Proper channels to give out Mobile literacy Mobile comprehension Messaging skills Theme Improved Features

Cheaper phones Cheaper plans Promotional offers Affordability Popularity Broadcasting Advertisement Highlight benefits Health care Women health Agricultural Emergency services Bill payments Mobile maps Absurd for masses Classroom teaching is better Cant replace classroom teaching, Money minting

Cost Effectiveness

Services

Awareness

Collaboration

Content

Mobile language

Degenerative ideas

Electronics can enrich Productive learning experience ideas Adds value in learning Learning over mobile is exciting

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6. LIMITATIONS

For the readers interest and future work, I would like to state the limitations of this research study. The research study was constrained by several limitations that have been identified below: 1. Nature of study: Since the research study is for Masters thesis, the scope of the study and time duration was smaller. The data was collected in the limited time period and does not represent the larger population of India. Further work with longer period of time for data collection and survey may help in collecting more responses and hence better represent the sample population in India. 2. Sample size: Due lack of availability of research participants, the sample size was very small. Future work based on more number of participants may be more representative of the population of India. 3. Research participants: Due to the nature of web survey, the responses reflected the sample population that had internet resources for taking the web based survey. So, the research population does not have inputs from weaker and remote sections of society where internet is scarcely available. In future, such population can be reached out through a paper based survey instead of web survey. 4. Location of study: Since the research study takes place in United States and the research participants were from India, it was difficult to reach out to the Indian people in rural and urban sector equally.

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7. RESULTS & DISCUSSION

This research study primarily involved quantitative analysis of participants response (Sample Size, N = 150). Qualitative analysis was performed using one of the survey questions that allowed participants to provide input and open feedback about the proliferation of mobile education in India. 7.1 Demography of the participants (N=150)

In order to appropriately assess the data collected through his survey instrument, I had included some questions to collect the demographic information of the participants. This was primarily to understand the socio-cultural and economic background of the respondent. Nationality: The survey identified about 140 participants as citizen and permanent residents of India which equals to 93.33% of the sample size. So, the responses represent significant amount of Indian population which is required for this study. Profession: About 59.18% of the participants were working professionals and 36.73% were students which represent the two largely distributed professions in India who have access to internet and web services and were able to fill out the survey. Region: About 79.91% of the participants had stayed in either Northern or Southern part of India for more than 10 years. It is important to note that most of the information technology services are available and used in the northern and southern part of India. Bangalore is the hub of IT research and development. Most of the IT companies are situated in Gurgaon. So, the students and professionals from these regions represent the

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people who are learned possess at least minimal web skills and can more readily adopt emerging IT services than the rest of the regions in the country. 7.2 Current mobile usage in India (N=150)

This study aimed at collecting the data from an audience who have used mobile devices for some time and are aware of the basic functionalities of mobile devices so to be able to answer the questions appropriately. It was not surprising to find 100% of the participants had used mobile devices in the form of mobile phones, PDAs, laptops, etc. About 61.71% of respondents indicated that they use mobile phones and 32.43% reported that they use laptops or tablet PCs as the most common mode of communication. 86.90% of respondents confirmed that they have been using mobile devices for over 2 years. It is indicative of the fact that mobile devices have indeed become the most common medium of communication in India over the past few years. About 91.83% of the respondents use mobile phones for up to 6 hrs a day with 35.37% of them use the mobile phones at least an hour per day. This indicates how heavily the mobile phones are being used by the people in India. For most of the participants, almost 1/4th of the day is occupied by using mobile phones for accessing mobile information and services. It has been observed that the mobile phones are being used for several purposes. The participants responses on some of the purposes identified in this survey instrument are as indicated in Figure 7.1:

Fig. 7.1 Current mobile phone usages in India

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Clearly, the use of mobile phones is basically for voice calls (incoming and outgoing) and SMSs (sending and receiving). However, it can be observed that the over two-third of the participants use their mobile phones for more than just voice and messaging. Over 75% of the respondents used other features provided by their mobile phone vendors and service providers. This is indicative of the level of the interest in the people for making the best of the services provided to them. The participants rated Nokia to be the top mobile handset vendors followed by Sony Ericsson. Amon the network service providers, the participants ranked Airtel at the top, followed by Vodaphone, TATA Indicom and Reliance India in terms of usage, satisfaction and service reliability. Over 79.05% of the participants showed complete satisfaction with their mobile phone usage, handset and service provider. While all the service providers provide both pre-paid and post paid (contract based) services to the customers, the participants did not show any strong opinion on what kind of carrier services were more suited over the other. About 52% of the participants had pre-paid services and 48% used post-paid services on their mobile phones. Most of the participants maintained a single connection with their service providers (72.11% owned one SIM at a time). A significant number was indicated for roaming profiles with almost 24.49% of participants possessing more than one SIM card at any given point of time. 7.3 Building Mobile Communities in India (N=150)

I try to investigate the purpose and content of the messages that were exchanged over mobile phones by the users. According to the data collected, the types of messages exchanged among the users include for leisure, business or emergency purposes. Figure 7.2 depicts the frequency distribution of all the responses as the type of messages shared among the mobile phone users.

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Fig. 7.2 Types of messages shared among the mobile phone users Here, about 48% of the participants indicated the use of messaging for chatting and forwarding interesting information. This is endorsed by about 50% of the participants responding positively to messaging being useful for building mobile forums, news and discussion boards. While most of the users indicated interest in chatting and forwarding mobile messages, their response to Would you like a Mobile Friend? was contradictory. About 42% of people rejected the idea of having mobile friends. It is possible that many participants would not be interested to communicate with new people over mobile phones owing to additional costs of messaging and calls. This indicates that the participants do not find mobile friends and exchanging information over SMS and phone calls as economical. This is also indicative of India as a conservative society and the socio-cultural structure resists building community for unknown purpose.

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Fig.7.3 Socio-cultural aspects for building mobile communities in India About 43.26% endorsed that mobile phones are very useful for building social circles and approximately the same number indicated the usefulness of mobile phones for building social circles in future. This indicates the interest of users in using mobile phones for just more than work. This also confirms that the people are interested in adopting mobile phones for other purposes like social networking, community building, etc. 7.4 Identifying the bottlenecks for mobile education in India (N=150)

Over 65% of the participants sample indicated interest in searching for information, services and using other application on their mobile phones. That brings to notice that if new applications for mobile education were present, the people in India will be interested in adopting them. Clearly, there is a need of new and useful applications for mobile education in India. Non-existence of mobile education is primary factor for the current level of mobile awareness in India. About 43% of participants showed interest in information search and 30% wanted more services on their mobile phones.

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Fig. 7.4 Mobile Development and Support in India The participants showed current interest in entertainment related downloads with a shift to informational downloads in future. Only 16% of the participants actually use mobile information for educational downloads.

Fig. 7.5 Current mobile information access in India

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A significant change is observed in interest accessing mobile information in future. About 32% of participants would like to access educational information over their mobile phones.

Fig. 7.6 Future interest in mobile information access in India 7.5 Bottleneck in mobile education in India (N=150)

The participants indicated high tariffs (22%) to be the major reason for mobile information, services and application access. This is possibly one of the big hurdles for adopting mobile education in India. 21% of the participants were not satisfied with the speed for information access over mobile phones followed by 17% people saying lack of connectivity in several regions in India.

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Fig. 7.7 Bottlenecks in mobile access in India To understand what kind of contenct delivery may be useful for mobile education in India, I tried to get the participants responses on their interest in different delivery medium for mobile based education. About 28% of the respondents would like to access text based educational information and about the same were interested in audio information. This indicates that data and voice can be equally appreciated for mobile education in India.

Fig. 7.8 Types of content delivery for mobile education in India

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7.6

Potential areas of mobile learning (N=150)

Over 60% participants responded negatively to current use of mobile learning in India. This is potential both the cause and effect for low awareness about mobile learning. About 25% of participants indicated that they were not aware of mobile learning. However, over 44% of the people showed interest in using education and informational services on mobile phones in future. 7.7 Need of Health care and Medicine mobile educational services (N=150)

It is interesting to note that even if people are conservative in making mobile friends, people show interest in mobile networking and building social circles over phones. Also, people show interest in accessing several kinds of mobile information services including business, technology, geographical and health care. About 71% of participants showed interest in accessing mobile based Health care and medical information using their mobile phones.

Fig. 7.9 Interest in Mobile Health care and Medicine services in India

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The participants showed high interest in different kinds of information related to heath care and medicine including mobile consultation and mobile doctors appointments. Qualitative data helped us answer our research questions more subjectively and evidence with people opinion on research problem making the observations and results more comprehensive for this research study. Based on the open form question that aimed to collect participants suggestions to popularize mobile education in India, I was able to form 8 major themes and 2 minor themes that address my research questions. The themes are discussed as below: 1. Accessibility According to the participants response, it appeared that mobile education has an advantage in rural India. Mobile services have penetrated regions where internet facilities are still not available. Mobile services are easy to access in the remote parts and come very handy. Mobile applications with low cost and low power are required to have long battery life and for using mobile education at large. 2. Cost Effectiveness Mobile education can be very useful if the mobile applications for teaching and learning are available for access on cheaper phones with cheaper network plans. In order to enhance the cost effectiveness, one can introduce exchange offers and promotional offers for mobile learning plans in collaboration with service providers or handset vendors. 3. Awareness

Mobile education takes time to flourish in India primarily because there are very few people who are aware of the concept of mobile learning. In order to increase the popularity of mobile education, one should mobile broadcast, advertise about mobile education, highlight educational benefits, get information across through services about what else can be done other than fun and texting. One could provide free trial basis

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mobile courses, free mobile education and try educating people with mobile educational camps and workshops. 4. Content

Mobile education on health care and medicine is highly useful for people in India. Other areas for mobile education applications could be women health and agricultural sector. Service like emergency services, bill payments, mobile maps, information for professionals and read techies can be useful for the public in general. 5. Features Mobile education cannot kick off without improved features on mobile hand held devices. Lower tariffs, higher voice and data bandwidth, faster data access, 3G connectivity, technologically advanced features on mobile phones are intrinsic to fully fledged working of mobile education in India. Moreover, reduction of harmful radiations is important to avoid health hazards due to extended usage of mobile phones for mobile learning. 6. Services

Services like regional language support, symbol based education, important information broadcasts may be helpful for promoting mobile education. At the same time, it is advisable not to overwhelm the users with free messages of promotions for mobile educational services. Primary education, free mobile education, innovative social messages with mobile education, more menu items from the providers, free example courses, free public trial courses, multi-lingual texting, simplified voice messaging, news and message boards, directional learning programs, etc. are also interesting services that can be used for publicity of mobile education in India. 8. Collaboration

Mobile education needs close collaboration of education institutions and faculty, network service providers and mobile phone vendors. Proper channels for mobile education must be planned for content delivery over mobile phones. Mobile education

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should be part of school and colleges. Indian Government should intervene with educational institutions and network providers for introducing mobile based education in urban and rural areas. 8. Mobile Literacy Mobile learning can become more popular only if we have enough mobile educational services. Moreover, it is important to improve mobile literacy, mobile comprehension and messaging skills among people so they may be able to adopt mobile education in India. 9. Productive ideas

Technological advancements in mobile electronics can enrich the learning experience. It can add value in learning as learning over mobile phones is exciting for both kids and adults. Westernization and adoption of new technology for education is the need of the time. Mobile education is good for factual information and knowledge sharing over mobile phones and therefore more appropriate use of mobile devices than fun games and messaging. It is important to keep in mind that every technology can be used destructively so mobile educators should be cautious before introducing mobile education and be aware of the consequences of mass mobile usage for mobile education in a particular field. Mobile University could be a very good way for educating people in India especially because maximum people use mobile phones as the communication medium and remaining connected with the world. 10. Degenerative ideas Mobile education sounds absurd for masses. Classroom teaching is better for all ages and mobile teaching cannot replace classroom education. Mobile University is a money minting project. For most of the mobile education part, browsing internet on phone is good enough. At present, people don't listen in classrooms so it is difficult to comprehend what they can learn using mobile phones. There cannot exist one common standard for mobile education for entire nation. Regional standards are required and so there is no universal formula for mobile education in India.

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9. CONCLUSION

Having collected and analyzed the numerical and qualitative data required to answer the research questions in this research study, I summarize the Mobile Teaching Community model in terms of my findings in this research. In this research study, I aimed to address the Performance Analysis and Cause Analysis in MTC model for mobile education on Health Care and Medicine in India. In order to perform the Organizational Analysis for Mobile Teaching Communities in India, I investigate the potential areas of interest for mobile education in India. It is not surprising to find that people are interested in applications like mobile maps and mobile banking. Additionally, mobile IT education, mobile health care and linguistic support seem to be some of the need areas for building mobile communities in India. As an Environmental Analysis, I researched about what are the common uses of mobile technology in India in the current times. Staying connected, emergency messaging and calling remain to be the most popular uses of mobile phones in India. Moreover, people like to browse internet, play mobile games, and do instant messaging over mobile phones. With regards to Feasibility Analysis of mobile teaching community for health care and medicine, I find that people are interested in mobile consultation, setting up doctors appointment, tracking body changes periodically, using emergency services like prescription and hospital services over mobile phones. People would rather pay case by case basis for the mobile educational services they use than monthly subscription.

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To understand the causes for lack of environmental support, I study the bottlenecks in using mobile communities for varied applications. With the increasing demand of mobile applications, it is apparent that there is lack of mobile services to cater to the needs and interests of the people. Availability and accessibility are major issues for building mobile communities in India. Moreover, it seems highly important to take initiatives for mobile awareness and provisioning cost effective mobile services within and across states in India. People are demanding advanced features on mobile phones, 3G connectivity from service providers in order to better utilize varied mobile services on their mobile phones. The technological and socio-cultural aspects of Indian community indicate the lack of repertory of behavior for building mobile communities in India. It is important to formalize a process for spreading mobile literacy in India. In addition to that, collaborative efforts for building mobile community for educational purposes must be taken by institutions, mobile vendors and service providers in India. The tables below succinctly connect the applicability of MTC model for mobile health care services. Table 7.1 Performance Analysis Element Research Question Results

Organizational Potential areas of interest Mobile Maps, Mobile Banking, Mobile IT Analysis for mobile education Education, MobiCare & Linguistic support Environmental Common uses of mobile Connectivity, emergency messaging & Analysis technology in India calls, browsing internet, games, chatting Feasibility Analysis Gap Analysis Demand and type of Mobile consultation, doctors appointment, mobile based healthcare body tracker, emergency tracker, medical services prescription & hospital services Services and applications Case by Case payment for educational that may be appreciated downloads and services

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Table 7.2 Cause Analysis Element Research Question Results Unavailability of Mobile based courses, Cost effectiveness, Awareness, Mobile handset features, 3G Connectivity, Accessibility Mobile literacy, Collaboration among educational institutions, service providers and handset vendors

Lack of Bottlenecks in widespread Environmental use of mobile phones for Support educational purposes Lack of Repertory of Behavior Technological and sociocultural aspects of Indian community

Potential outcomes of this research include a deeper understanding of the factors that are inhibiting the success of mobile learning in India and the need areas of mobile education. The research model for building mobile communities may be used in varied contexts in the identified need areas for mobile learning. The research calls for future work such as design and implementation of mobile education module for health care and medicine, e.g. MEDICARE in collaboration with mobile service providers that can assist people with dietary, health related and medical information on their mobile phones. Other mobile business applications in Health Care and Medicine can be developed for making doctors appointments, seeking prescriptions, getting updates on availability of drug at a local pharmacist, requesting emergency medical services, tracking calorie intake, etc. Mobile Teaching Community model can be used for developing mobile communities for teaching and learning in India in various potential need areas for mobile education as discussed in the research study. Being a preliminary research study for mobile health care and medicine, it is recommended to use the model and the research findings for in-depth analysis for building mobile communities for health care. The researchers are advised to use this model as the basic process for building mobile teaching communities and further design, implementation and evaluation of mobile applications developed for educational purposes.

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India.India eNews, Jan. 25, 2008. [167] The Systematic Design of Instruction Dick, W., & Carey, L. (1996). (4th Ed.). New York: Haper Collins College Publishers. [168] The use of mobile-wireless technology for education. Hasan, A. (2002). US: George Mason University. [169] Virtual communities: computer-mediated communication and communities of association, Braddlee (1993). Indiana University, 1993. [170] Alternative learning arenas-pedagogical challenges to mobile learning technology in education, Mifsud, L. (2002). Proc. IEEE Int. Workshop Wireless Mobile Technologies in Education, Aug. 2002, pp. 112-116.

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[171] User acceptance of computer technology: a comparison of two theoretical models. Davis, F. D., R. P. Bagozzi, et al. (1989). Sci. 35(8): 982-1003. [172] Evaluating ADAPT: a hybrid instructional model combining Web-based and classroom components. Tuckman, B. W. (2002). Computers & Education, 39(3), 261-269. [173] Introduction to the special issue on wireless and mobile technologies in education. Roschelle, J., Chan, M. S., T. W., (2005). Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 21(3), 159-161. [174] Mobile learning: A framework and evaluation. Motiwalla, L. F. (2007). Computers & Education, 49(3), 581-596 [175] The design of personal mobile technologies for lifelong learning. Sharples M. (2000). Computers and Education 34, 177193. [176] Applying wireless technologies to build a highly interactive learning environment. Tzu-Chien, L., Hsue-Yie, W., Jen-Kai, L., Tak-Wai, C., & Jie-Chi, Y. Paper presented at the Wireless and Mobile Technologies in Education, 2002. [177] "The effects of wireless computing in collaborative learning environments," G. Gay, M. Stefanone, M. Grace-Martin, & H. Hembrooke, International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction, 13(2),2001, pp. 257-276. [178] Asynchronous Adoption Patterns of Mobile Services. Carlsson, C., Hyvonen, K., Repo, P., & Walden, P. (2005). System Sciences, HICSS '05. [179] The 'poor man's mobile telephone': access versus possession to control the information gap in India, O'Neill, P. D. (2003). Contemporary South Asia: Routledge. [180] Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative Research (3rd Edition) John W. Creswell [181] Human Research Protection Program HTTP://WWW.PURDUE.EDU/RESEARCH/VPR/RSCHADMIN/RSCHOVERSI GHT/HUMANS/EDU.SHTML

[182] "Children and the Internet: experiments with minimally invasive education in India." Mitra, Sugata, and Vivek Rana. British Journal of Educational Technology 32.2 (Mar. 2001): 221. Professional Development Collection. EBSCO. 13 Oct. 2008

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[183] "Preparing teachers for the universalizing of education, Taylor, W.H. Journal of Education for Teaching 17.2 (June 1991): 129. Professional Development Collection. EBSCO. 13 Oct. 2008 [184] Web-based Learning and Teaching Technologies, Anil Aggarwal Published by Idea Group Inc (IGI) [185] 2007 Asia - Telecoms, Mobile and Broadband in India Paul Budde Communication Pty Ltd. June 14, 2007 [186] mHealth: A Potential Tool for Health Care Delivery in India, K. Ganapathy Aditi Ravindra July 13 - August 8 2008 http://www.comminit.com/en/node/277163

APPENDICES

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A. INSTITUTIONAL REVIEW BOARD (IRB) REGULATIONS

In accordance with federal regulations, the Institutional Review Boards are composed of members with expertise in science, ethics and non-scientific areas. The IRBs strive to ensure diverse representation from the many fields of study on campus. Additionally, the IRBs have members from the local community who are unaffiliated with Purdue University. This diversity fosters a comprehensive approach to safeguarding the rights and welfare of subjects involved in Purdue University research activities. The purpose of the IRB is to protect the rights and welfare of human subjects. This is done by reviewing all human subject research engaged in by Purdue University. Additionally, we assist Purdue administrators, faculty, staff, and students in aligning their research protocols with this purpose. A protocol that has been approved by the IRB is further reviewed and approved or denied by the institution. The IRB and the institutional representative must approve human subject research before it is undertaken. The IRBs are a unit of the Human Research Protection Program (HRPP), which is housed within the Office of Research Administration (ORA).

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B. SURVEY INSTRUMENT

The survey that was circulated among the participants was 7 pages in length for duration of 5 to 10 mins. The first page of the survey was the Research Participant Consent Form which gave the participant the brief overview of the study and confidentiality agreement. The survey was not mandatory and the participants could quit the survey at any page of the survey.

Page 1 RESEARCH PARTICIPANT CONSENT FORM Application of Mobile Technology in Education in India

Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN - 47906 USA

Johannes Strobel, Assistant Professor, Engineering Education & Educational Technology

Neha Gupta, Graduate Student, Electrical & Computer Engineering

Purpose of Research: This study is to investigate the scope of Mobile Applications for Education Industry in India. It involves collection of complementary information about the current trends on the use of mobile phones for educational purposes and disseminating Health Care Information/Services over Mobile Phones in India

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Specific Procedures to be used: The subject answers the survey prepared by the investigators. They do not need to disclose their identity. Duration of Participation: 5 to 10 minutes Confidentiality: The project's research records may be reviewed by the departments at Purdue University responsible for regulatory and research oversight. Risks to the individual: The survey requires no personal information or identification. The risks you encounter are no greater than those you experience in everyday life. Benefits to the Individual or Others: There are no direct benefits to the subjects. You may learn about Mobile Education in India and possible Mobile Applications that are underway in Indian market. Voluntary Nature of Participation: The study requires voluntary participation with no identification information disclosure. You may not necessarily participate in the research project. If you agree to participate, you can withdraw your participation at any point of time without any question by the investigators or any penalty. Contact Information: If you have any questions about this research project, please contact: Neha Gupta at gupta56@purdue.edu If you have concerns about the treatment of research participants, you can contact the Institutional Review Board (IRB) at Purdue University, 610 Purdue Mall, Hovde Hall Room 300, West Lafayette, IN 47907-2040. The IRB's phone numbers is (765) 494-5942 and email address is irb@purdue.edu By clicking "Next", I agree to participate in this research survey.

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Page 2 What does "I am Mobile" mean to you?

1. What kind of status do you hold in India? * a. Citizen and permanent resident b. Non-resident Indian c. Visitor or Tourist d. Other (Please Specify) 2. Which of these categories do you find yourself a best fit? a. Student b. Working Professional c. Housewife d. Senior Citizen e. Other (Please Specify) 3. In which part of India have you stayed for more than 10 years? a. North b. East c. West d. South e. Central f. I have not stayed in India for more than 10 years g. Other (Please Specify) 4. Do you use any mobile device? a. Yes b. No 5. Which of these mobile devices do you use the most for communication? (Tick whichever apply) a. b. c. d. Mobile phones Personal Digital Assistants (PDA) Electronic notebooks, laptops or tablet PCs Other (Please Specify)

6. For how long have you been using these devices? a. Less than 6 months b. 6 months - 1 year

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c. 1 year - 2 years d. 2 years or more 7. For how long do you use your mobile phone in a day? a. Less than 1 hour b. 1 - 2 hours c. 3 - 6 hours d. 7 - 12 hours e. 12 - 24 hours f. I do not use a mobile phone 8. What purposes do you use your mobile phone for? (Rank depending on your usage: 1-Most Frequent, 10-Least Frequent) a. b. c. d. e. f. g. h. i. j. Incoming and outgoing calls Sending and receiving SMSs Sharing photos and multi-media Playing games Maintaining calendar, to-dos and alerts Listening to music, podcasts and radio Sending and receiving IMs, e-mails Browsing the internet, news and reading e-books Accessing other network provider services For in-built handset features

9. How often do you use the following features of your mobile phone per day? Table B.1 Daily Usage of mobile phones

Frequently Occasionally Messaging (Text / Multimedia / Instant) Internet Access (Browsing / Downloads / E-mail) Subscriptions (News alerts / RSS Feeds / Podcasts) Network Service provider applications

Rarely

Never

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10. Please respond with your overall rating on the following mobile handset vendors in India. (1 - Best, 7 - Worst) Table B.2 Mobile Handset Vendors Rating

Handset Provider Nokia Sony Ericsson Motorola LG Samsung Reliance TATA Indicom

11. Please respond with your overall rating on the following service providers in India. (1 - Best, 8 - Worst)

Table B.3 Service Providers Rating

Network Provider Airtel Vodafone Reliance India CellOn Idea TATA Indicom

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BPL Mobile Trump

12. Are you satisfied with your mobile handset, network provider and mobile usage? * a. Yes b. No c. Don't know d. Undecided 13. Which of these carrier services do you prefer? a. Pre-paid b. Post-paid (contract based) c. Other (Please Specify) 14. On an average, how many of network connections/SIM cards do you possess at a time? a. One b. 1 to 5 c. More than 5 d. I do not change my provider e. Other (Please Specify) Page -3

Can mobile phones build "Mobile Communities"?

1. For what purpose do you use messaging on your mobile phone? Table B.4 Purpose of messaging on mobile phones

Purpose

Strongly Agree

Agree

Neutral

Disagree

Strongly Disagree

Sharing important personal information Forwarding

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interesting content messages Chatting with friends or staying connected For business or work related information For emergency purposes only For other reasons

2. What type of messages do you receive on your mobile phone? a. Important personal information b. Forwarded interesting messages c. Chat with friends d. Business or work related information e. Emergency information only f. Other (Please Specify) 3. Do you think messaging can be used for Mobile Forums, News Centers and Discussion Boards? a. Yes b. No c. May be d. Other (Please Specify) 4. Would you like a "Mobile Friend" (with whom you interact through mobile phone only)? a. Yes b. No c. May be d. Sounds absurd! e. Other (Please Specify) 5. How useful are mobile phones in building your social circle? * a. Very useful b. Fairly useful c. Not useful d. No comment

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e. Other (Please Specify) 6. How useful can mobile phone become in building your social circle in future? a. Very useful b. Fairly useful c. Not useful d. No comment e. Other (Please Specify) Page 4

Do you know what your mobile phone can do?

1. Would you like to search for information, services or other applications on your mobile phone? a. Yes b. No c. May be d. Other (Please Specify) 2. Which of these do you think mobile based applications would best support? a. Information search b. Services c. Applications d. Other (Please Specify) 3. Which of these do you access on your mobile phone? a. Entertainment related downloads (wallpapers, games, music, videos, etc.) b. Educational downloads (e-books, articles, etc.) c. Informational downloads (News, emergency alerts, RSS, etc.) d. Other (Please Specify) 4. Which of these would you like to access on your mobile phone? a. Entertainment related downloads (wallpapers, games, music, videos, etc.) b. Educational downloads (e-books, articles, etc.) c. Informational downloads (News, emergency alerts, RSS, etc.) d. Other (Please Specify) 5. What are the problems you face in accessing applications on your mobile phone? a. Low speed

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b. c. d. e. f. g. h.

Lack of proper connectivity Lack of range of available services/applications Lack of requisite technical knowledge to operate the service Lack of ease of access High tariffs Unsolicited services Other (Please Specify)

6. Which group of people in India are mobile based applications most suited for?

Table B.5 Mobile based applications

Purpose

Strongly Agree

Agree

Neutral

Disagree

Strongly Disagree

Children College going students Working professionals Business persons Housewives Senior Citizens

Page 5

Have you heard about Mobile Learning?

1. Do you use Mobile Learning? * a. Yes b. No c. I don't know what it is d. Other (Please Specify)

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2. Do you envision using educational, information services and applications on your mobile phone? a. Yes b. No c. May be d. Other (Please Specify) 3. What content do you think may best support mobile based education? a. Text b. Audio c. Images d. Video e. Other (Please Specify) 4. What group of people may benefit the most from mobile education in India? Table B.6 Benefits from mobile education in India

Purpose

Strongly Agree

Agree

Neutral

Disagree

Strongly Disagree

School children College students Working professionals Business persons Non-working women Elderly and senior citizens

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Page 6

What do you think "India would like to learn"?

1. What kind of information and services would you like to access on your mobile phone? * Table B.7 Kind of information and services on mobile phone

Purpose

Strongly Agree

Agree

Neutral

Disagree

Strongly Disagree

Business (finance, marketing, sales, banking, trading, etc) Technology (computer, IT, electronics, communication, networking, engineering, etc) History (Indian culture, heritage, religions, etc) Astrology (Horoscope, Oracle, Palmistry, etc) Geographical (Maps, locations, quick routes, traffic updates, etc)

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Medical and Health Care (calorie counter, health consultation, medical prescription, emergency services, etc) Linguistic (language translator, dialect evaluator, etc)

2. Would you like an application offering Medical and Health Care information/services on your mobile phone? * a. Yes b. No c. May be d. Other (Please Specify) 3. Which of these regarding Medical and Health Care would you want to access on your mobile phone? (Rate on need of these services: 1 - Most Important, 10 - Least Important)

Table B.8 Ranking of services on mobile phones health care and medicine

Service Consultation (health pyramids, diet, symptoms, diseases, cure, etc) Appointment set-up and alerts (doctor availability, personalized scheduling, etc.) Medical prescription (dosage alerts, quick consultation, etc)

Ranking

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Body Tracker (quick calorie check, weight, blood pressure, sugar count, etc) Emergency Tracker (nearest hospital, dispensary or blood bank, etc) Insurance Tracker (insurance updates, suggestions, news board, etc) Home remedies (homeopathic, ayurvedic practices, etc) Pharmaceutical updates (nearest pharmacy, stock availability, consultation, etc) Hospital Services (advertisements, regional updates, etc) Payment Services (medical bills, fees and charges, etc) Free value added services (unpaid informational, educational, research material, etc)

4. Do you find Medical and health Care services and information so valuable that you would prefer to subscribe for it on your mobile phone? a. Yes b. No c. May be d. Other (Please Specify) 5. What kind of payment option would you prefer for the information and services on your mobile phone? a. Case by case payment b. Subscription based payment c. Other (Please Specify)

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Page 7 You can "Make a difference" ! 1. What in your opinion are bottlenecks for Mobile Education in India? * Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree Table B.9 Bottlenecks for Mobile Education in India Purpose Most mobile handsets are incapable of supporting mobile based learning Low data bandwidth by network service providers People in India are unaware of what mobile based education is Lack of sufficient knowledge to operate/use the functions of a mobile Only few people who can afford expensive mobile handsets that support mobile based learning Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree

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2. What changes would you suggest for Mobile Education to be commonly accepted in India? * a. Lower network tariffs b. Larger displays c. Larger memory compatibility d. Faster data access and transfer e. Standardization of technology and services f. Better proliferation g. Other (Please Specify) 3. Did you think India can have "Mobile University" (you could take courses, take exams and possibly graduate with a professional degree on mobile phones? * a. Yes b. No c. May be d. Sounds absurd! e. Other (Please Specify) 4. Please give us your suggestion on how to popularize Mobile Education in India

Mobile Education in India

Thank you for your valuable time!