M-Ubuntu
Literacy Through Mobile Phones
M-Ubuntu uses inexpensive, low-threshold mobile phone technologies to empower teachers to address Africa’s literacy crisis.
M-Ubuntu is applying the Zulu concept of Ubuntu - best translated as "I am because we are." to this challenge. At the heart of the pilot project are two teams of reform- minded teachers and their enthusiastic learners. Spectrum near Johannesburg contends with crime & other social dislocations accompanying urbanization. Ramosadi located near Botswana, struggles to serve orphans. Developed with and for students and fellow teachers, M-Ubuntu is connecting South African teachers with m- literacy coaches in the United States and England to help them open new vistas to learners on the wrong side of the literacy and digital divide.
Through M-Ubuntu teachers are using recycled smart phones to bring the power of handheld computing to their classrooms. Our focus is on project-based learning, access to the best in South African and global literature, and the development of critical reading, writing and thinking skills.
The pilot phase of the project, 2009-2010, involved 20 teachers and 600 learners. Future plans call for expansion to additional teams of teachers in Africa and possibly beyond.
M-Ubuntu is an international partnership connected to:
DeRust Futura Academy, SOUTH AFRICA
Learning Academy Worldwide, SWEDEN, USA