An audio MOOC framework for the digital inclusion of low literate people in the distance education process

This work introduces an innovative audio massive open online courses (MOOC) framework which enables distance learning through mere phone calls, leveraging the existing telephony infrastructure as an alternative to internet connectivity, for the illiterate/semi-literate population. It has been conceived to open up access to learning materials to the unreached and the have-nots usually hindered by barriers such as language, literacy, culture, connectivity and distance. While existing MOOCs are being developed for higher-end phones and tablets having internet access, we are proposing a framework for lower-end mobile phones by exploiting VoIP and IVR technology over existing telecommunication infrastructure to enable access to audio learning materials. This work formulates 47 requirements for an audio MOOC framework, which comprises three layers, namely the application, the interfacing and the telephony layers, each having their respective functionalities. As proof of concept, we derived two (2) architectures, namely the configuration-only and the plugin architecture. From thereon, several systems were implemented on varying case scenarios and tested on controlled groups of 267 semi-literate participants both in Mauritius and India, respectively. Very conclusive and promising results were obtained in terms of infrastructure setup under various scenarios, usability and ease of use of the system, learning effectiveness through the pre- and post-test carried out. The framework proved to be reliable, robust and performed as per its requirements.