Mobile phones to facilitate connected social learning and work-based practices in marginalized settings. Insights from a research project in rural South Africa

Abstract

This paper outlines the findings of a research project intended to facilitate the learning of health professionals across work-based and formal learning contexts by means of mobile technology. The focus of the educational approach was on the use of digital mobile media, and particularly mobile networking technologies to support social learning practices of professionals, i.e., nurses, in marginalized settings in rural South Africa. The overall project was informed by previous studies from marginalized contexts that pointed to the potential of mobile phones and mobile social networking technologies as a means to facilitate the learners engagement with explicit forms of educational content as well as to allow for their extended participation in professional, work-based communities (Kolko, Rose, & Johnson, 2007; Pimmer, Linxen, & Gröhbiel, 2012; Pimmer, Linxen, Gröhbiel, Jha, & Burg, 2013).