LP/Mobile E- learning

=Introduction=

In developing countries the problem of accessing information poses a major challenge to development.Lack of ICT(Information and Communications Technology) infrastructure hampers the efforts of governments to give citizens some essential services, for example; Effective Training.Mobile E Training is a project which will focus on tackling the problem.

=Problem statement= Lesotho has a terrain that makes it difficult for the governments and Non Governmental organizations to make delivery of training easy.Some places are not easy to reach in the highlands therefore resulting lack of essential basic services as electricity which could be used to power some teaching aids ie Computers.The Mobile E Learning Project focuses on taking these learning to the people in the highlands of Lesotho using Mobile laboratories in a form of converted Trucks,Caravans and Buses. =Methodology=

Marketing
Our project focuses on e-learning that will be provided to the rural high school teachers in Lesotho. The marketing aspect of the topic will cover the following areas

Marketing philosophy
The guiding marketing philosophy is that the project should serve the needs of identified customer, who in this case are the rural high school teachers. The aim is also to assess if an opportunityexists for providing

Electrical section
In this section we are looking at the importance of electricity as part of mobile e-learnig which is aimed at improving accessibility of computers and education in general. We have two types of electricity that we use: Direct Current and Alternating Current that both differ in properties. All electrical appliances need electricity to function, though there are some differences between various appliances which are in the type of electricity they do require to function and also the amount of power they need for efficient functionality.

Looking at the computer it is clear that it is the most important electrical appliance when it comes to education and information access. It is therefore a prime requirement to have enough power before any computer could be used, all these translate to,no power no computer, meaning no access to information. Most of the places in this country do not have any kind of electricity, which makes them more disadvantaged compared to others. Access to technology becomes very difficult to these people and the rate at which the world changes it is clear that soon, computer literacy will be the minimum requirement for entry in any higher institution.

Now in addressing the global requirement, the mobile e-learning will definitely be the best solution. Therefore all these break up to how those Computers are going to be powered and monitored to work efficiently. One now has to look at all alternative measures in place, like solar power, generator, car battery and the car alternator.

Looking at each form of power:
 * 1) Solar power.
 * 2) Generator.
 * 3) Car battery and car alternator.

Mechanical section
The mechanical part of the project is basically concerned with safety transportation of computers from one place to another.e.g from Maseru to mokhotlong. Factors to be considered
 * 1) safe mounting the computers on the bus
 * 2) material to use which will not contribute too much weight.
 * 3) the means of connecting electrical power to the computers.

Methods of delivering content effectively
By Mrs Moeti, Mr Pule and Mr Panyane

The content is going to be delivered in two ways, which will be: Theoretically and practically Theoretically Already LDTC delivers content to learners through radio broadcasting throughout the country Practically As a team we have decided to choose the mobile lab mode to cator for the practical part of content delivery (hands on). The lab will move from one region to another using the resourse centres to impart practical skills to learners.

The following methods have been identified:

Lecture Demostration Step by step Problem solving Group discussion Discovery Lecturing

This is the oldest method teachers use to work with a group of students. It costs less than other teaching methods if textbooks are scarce.Ths method can be used when teachers want to cover as much of a topic as possible. The problem is that it prevents students from learning to discover.

Demonstration method

It is amore practical form of learning by immitation showing how something is done, is a much more effective way of teaching than describing how it is done. Demonstrations are more likely to be successful because of the following:

in teaching manipulative skills developing understanding in showing how to carry out new practices in securing th acceptance of new and improved ways of doing things can be used to show procedures and to explain new techniques to establish stnddards for individual and group work or to incoperate laborqatory lessons that would be too expensive for a large group of students to complete indivedually Step by step demonstration The teacher demonstrates first and let learners to perform after him or her. if class is too large devide class into smaller groups and demonstae insmaller groups. Move to the next step when the former skill has been acquired by majority of learners.

Group discussion It is a technique whereby a group or class under the guidance of a leader examines its views of aproblem by group interaction, then attempts to reach the best solution possible. groups of puples who may not agree on an issue can ineract in a discusion to examine their different views to be able to the best possible solution to the issue.

Problem solving approach It is a sophisticated form of trial and error learning. It provides learners a chance to learn from their successes and failures. Further more because it provides learners with an opportunity to become rearly involved with their learning. Problem solviong may lead to a real understanding in a way that memorisation and drill seldom can. Problem has the following carracteristics: -Pupils or learners experiment and make errors -Pupils learn from what they make correctly and wrongly

Pupils engae intensively in the learning ssituation. Learning takes place more effectively than where memorisation and drill are used. Retrieved from "http://www.wikieducator.org/Lesotho/LCE/Methods_of_content_delivery"

conclusion
by Mrs Letlatsa