Mobile Communication Impact on Education - New Opportunities and Challenges.
TeliaSonera Eurasia International Conference on Mobile Communications for Social Change
November 25, Baku, Gulustan Palace
Qafqaz University’s vision to mobile communication
The Net Generation or so-called digital natives are today’s college and university students seem completely at home in the digital world. They adopt technologies rapidly. When they want information, they just use the Internet to find for themselves. Students are not only consumers of information but also active information creators – including text, images, audio, and video.
Mobile phones are almost ubiquitous with 97% of university students and about 50% of them use smartphones expecting new services and applications. For them the small screen of the mobile phone is ‘a window to an infinite space’ through which they perform following learning processes: searching information, listening, reading, questioning, estimating, practicing, etc. anywhere, anytime.
Qafqaz University’s vision to mobile communication lies on five research directions (are all significant issues in m-learning) and all need to be better investigated:
- extending the ongoing e-learning project to m-learning;
- fostering interactivity on-campus using mobile devices – developing mobile version of existing SIS;
- ubiquitous learning infrastructure – establishing comprehensive wireless network to support mobility;
- m-learning for some disciplines at first stage – creating appropriate content,
- strategies including technical solutions for low-cost connectivity and m-learning use.
TeliaSonera Eurasia International Conference on Mobile Communications for Social Change
Qafqaz University and Azercell joint projects
Qafqaz University was involved to several projects initiated by Azercell as contribution to education. One of them is Barama project. The unique feature of this project is that students get both practical knowledge and case studies on problems companies faced with. According to feedbacks we got from students this research project helped them to get more comprehensive knowledge on problem solving and on the way of transformation a good ideas to the possible projects.
Beautiful Science project was started in Azerbaijan as a result of cooperation between British Council, Azercell and Qafqaz University. Beautiful Science was focused on helping to young scientists to communicate to non-professional audience, as well as to promote engineering education among young.
As initiative towards enhancing mobile technology literacy Azercell and Qafqaz University started a joint educational project. The purpose of the project is to introduce and popularize telecommunication technologies among students; as a result, bridging the gap between the current demand for qualified specialists in the telecommunication market and the number of graduates. As the first stage of the project, a new module “Next Generation Networks” has been added into the curriculum of the Computer Engineering Department as an elective course in 2010-2011 academic year. The course will be offered by several specialists and experts in area of telecommunication from Azercell. As the second stage of project, it is proposed to set up a mobile telecommunication laboratory by Azercell Company. It will give an opportunity for students to implement theoretical knowledge they get as well as to apply new ideas on application development for next generation networks.
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