Mitigating the urban-rural educational gap in developing countries through mobile technology-supported learning: Mitigating urban-rural edu gap

Sharifullah Khan, Gwo-Jen Hwang, Muhammad Azeem Abbas, Arshia Rehman

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

One form of educational inequality is the disparity that exists between urban and rural settings. Equal distribution of quality education is a challenge for developing countries due to the unavailability of resources. Various approaches to equal distribution are distance learning, telecast learning and e-learning; however, these approaches cannot achieve the desired objectives due to their limitations. This research aimed to investigate the interesting question of whether mobile technology can bring urban and rural settings closer together. A mobile application for learning Urdu grammar was designed to measure the learning gains of fourth-grade students at two different schools from urban and rural settings. A quantitative technique, the quasi-experimental pre-test and post-test method, was used to measure the effectiveness of the mobile application. The comparison of the students’ performances at the urban and rural schools illustrated the role of mobile technology in mitigating the educational gap. The present study provides evidence that children from different social backgrounds may benefit equally from mobile technology.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)735-749
Number of pages15
JournalBritish Journal of Educational Technology
Volume50
Issue number2
Early online date2 Sept 2018
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2 Mar 2019

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