McGraw-Hill is building a mobile-phone platform to teach English and college test preparation to people in India, which the publisher hopes will help it tap into rapidly expanding cellphone use in emerging markets.
The platform, mConnect, comes as textbook publishers are jockeying to supply learning materials on digital devices. If the software is successful in India, McGraw-Hill plans to offer it in other developing countries in Asia and Africa.
The service will initially teach subscribers through text messaging and automated voice response, said Bruce D. Marcus, McGraw-Hill’s executive vice president. For instance, automated software will give Indians feedback on their English-speaking abilities, and a text-message service will offer test-preparation questions and grade the responses.
The platform is being built in parternship with Wipro, a Bangalore-based technology company, and will launch to limited audiences this summer. Mr. Marcus declined to say how many people McGraw-Hill intends to reach, and he said the details of how the software will be delivered have not been finalized.
The software could help teach millions of rural cellphone users who lack access to education, he said. And it would open up new audiences for McGraw-Hill and help it establish a broader reputation, he said.
“Once people get some exposure to our content and learn about what we provide, they’ll be more interested in using options from us,” Mr. Marcus said. “We think there’s an opportunity to sell to this market at very reasonable prices.”
8 Responses to McGraw-Hill to Provide English Instruction and Test Prep Through Cellphones in India
11147066 - August 9, 2011 at 6:49 am
This study (as described here….I
have not read the original)is ridiculous. We have no contextual basis
for evaluating these numbers. Maybe it is
overall human nature to have child regret (make decisions about child
bearing at each stage based on economic and social realities, and then
at the next stage wish you had had more). Maybe, in fact, there is MORE
child regret among blue-collar workers than among academics. I think
most thinking people (or at least most progressives) would agree that we
need ALL working places to be more family-friendly. Many of us think
that we need a more family friendly SOCIETY (e.g., government subsidized
day care, socialized medicine). But this study tells us nothing about
academia.
haohtt - August 9, 2011 at 9:04 am
I actually HAVE read the study, so I disagree with your opinion that it says nothing about academia. It has a lot to say about the condition of academic scientists and the correlation between life satisfaction and job satisfaction and the attrition of academic scientists. Now, having said that, your observation that these effects are not unique or limited to an academic setting is absolutely correct. Any person found in the same situation as these academics will likely suffer similar results. However, if we are looking for answers to address the issue of highly trained academic scientists leaving prior to tenure, this study has some useful findings.
grward - August 9, 2011 at 11:49 am
I just read (albeit quickly) the original study, and I just don’t see why it would be a ridiculous study because it doesn’t address whether “…there is more child regret among blue collar workers than among academics” or whether “…it is overall human nature to have child regret…” Perhaps I’m just unintelligent (or at least more unintelligent that I thought I was) but the study seems to provide some information about just how widespread is the discontent among academics regarding having to choose (or at least the perception of having to choose) between family and career and whether that discontent affects decisions (which will have to be explored more in future research, obviously).
digiwonk - August 12, 2011 at 8:40 am
This is perhaps not the most professional response I’ve ever left on an article but the truth is this: this article, and this findings it reports, have left me just incredibly sad. Incredibly sad.
To be forced to choose between a career and a family is not only heartbreaking, but … well … the idea that such a choice is necessary, natural, part of life is ridiculous. An academic career is a long thing, as is parenthood, and each has ebbs and flows.
I had a child while on the tenure track: despite my very generous Canadian leave, I was a basket case for a good 18 months or so. But I did some great teaching nevertheless, and now my research is really going places and my daughter is five. As it turns out, it is possible to do both: the problems that make it impossible (long hours, funding structures, six years up or out) are structural and cultural and can, and should, in the name of simple humanity, change.
butteredtoastcat - August 12, 2011 at 6:32 pm
God bless Canada.
Please don’t follow the US into the abyss.
maryza - August 15, 2011 at 11:29 am
On-campus high quality affordable childcare is part of the solution.
dale1 - September 17, 2011 at 7:49 pm
Would that we had it. Sadly, austerity means it can cost literally hundreds of dollars a week, have insane waiting lists, or both.
One might ask whether it’s an institution’s responsibility to provide and subsidize this activity. I would say that it is, if they want to attract and retain quality employees. Sadly, the ROI on such programs is incredibly difficult to measure.
mkt42 - February 13, 2012 at 2:20 pm
I’ve still got my copy of “Bored of the Rings” … apparently it’s still in print. Some of the humor was based on brand names which no longer exist or are obscure: Goodgulf the wizard, Moxie and Pepsi the bumbling boggies, etc. But some of it is still current: “‘Aiee!’ cried Legolam. ‘A Ballhog!’”