Use of Short Message Service for Learning and Student Support in the Pacific Region

Abstract

The Pacific island communities face challenges such as digital divide, shoestring budgets, and escalating costs in the delivery of quality education to the people. In addition, the widely scattered nature of islands and communities requires proper communication infrastructure for the learners to access education. This chapter heralds the emergence of mobile learning (mLearning) initiatives in higher education in the Pacific region. It focuses on the introduction of mLearning at a University in the Pacific islands, which developed a fit-for-purpose mobile-learning infrastructure that primarily utilized the short message service (SMS). The university hosts an in-house setup open source SMS gateway that facilitates its custom-made SMS services. The SMS services developed serve the purpose for notifying students with important course information, exam timetable information, course mark information, and library book due dates, and students could also attempt quizzes in their courses via SMS. These SMS services are mostly provided as support services to overcome the challenges faced by the learners in the Pacific community.