Authors:
Masumi Hori
1
;
Seishi Ono
1
;
Kazutsuna Yamaji
2
;
Shinzo Kobayashi
3
;
Toshihiro Kita
4
and
Tsuneo Yamada
5
Affiliations:
1
NPO CCC-TIES, Japan
;
2
National Institute of Informatics, Japan
;
3
SmileNC & Co., Japan
;
4
Kumamoto University, Japan
;
5
Open University Japan, Japan
Keyword(s):
Open Education, Large Scale Online Courses, e-Books, LMS, MOOCs.
Related
Ontology
Subjects/Areas/Topics:
Computer-Supported Education
;
Distance Education
;
e-Learning
;
e-Learning in Developing Countries
;
e-Learning Platforms
;
Information Technologies Supporting Learning
;
Learning/Teaching Methodologies and Assessment
;
Mobile Information Systems
;
Mobile Learning
;
Simulation and Modeling
;
Simulation Tools and Platforms
;
Social Context and Learning Environments
;
Theoretical Bases of e-Learning Environments
;
Ubiquitous Learning
;
Web Information Systems and Technologies
Abstract:
While large scale online courses such as MOOCs are popular in developed countries, their dissemination is difficult in developing countries due to the existing challenges faced by the digital divide such as poverty, internet accessibility, and the low PC ownership ratio. A learning platform for mobile learning was developed for developing countries where people often have no access to the Internet. The platform is called creative higher education with learning objects (CHiLO) and was developed with the aim of solving the problem. As a demonstration experiment, we distributed CHiLO books of the NSA1 series in about one year (from April 2014 to March 2015), 47% of over 20,000 downloaded books were from developing countries. Our experimental results in Japan have indicated the potential effectiveness of CHiLO for developing countries.