IEEE Explore – Literature Study

For my Ph.D. research I am looking for the use of following keywords: “diffusion of innovations,” “e-learning,” “m-learning,” “Telecenter,” “Secondary education,” “Middle School,” “Bangladesh,” “e-readiness”, “e-preparedness”

Today I was searching for research publications about Bangladesh in IEEE explore. I needed empirical study or exactly where the context is Bangladesh. So I search using “Bangladesh” as the search keyword.

Interestingly in IEEE Explore “Bangladesh” relate article result from 1973 to 2010 was as per following:

• 770 Conference papers
• 107 Journal Articles
• 3 Early Access Papers

Among these I could select a total of 18 paper which are also associated with other above mentioned keywords.  I shall publish the details of those below sometime later.

United Nations E-Government Survey 2010: About Bangladesh

SOURCE: http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/UN-DPADM/UNPAN038853.pdf

“e-government development remains a distant hope for many of the least developed countries due to the cost of technology, lack of infrastructure, limited human capital and a weak private sector. A paucity of public sector resources clearly imposes a drag on government innovation. Small ad-hoc and stand-alone projects are the norm in least developed countries, which often lack a well-thought e-strategy within their national development plans. Once initial funding for these projects ends, they are usually at high risk of simply shutting down. However, there are a few notable exceptions, such as e-education in Bangladesh and Ethiopia, and m-health in Rwanda. The experiences of these three countries demonstrate that significant gains can be realized in the least developed countries where there are enabling legal and regulatory frameworks in place, including specifically an e-government strategy with clearly identified sectoral priorities aligned with national development goals” (p. 4).

“The overall impact is too early to assess, yet there is a sense of real danger that some developing countries, which have made progress towards the Millennium Development Goal of universal primary education, will suffer setbacks as result of the financial and economic crisis. Countries such as Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Mali, Rwanda and Senegal are at particular risk “[21] (p.47).

“Mobile technology is becoming an important aspect of educational services, and it is a noticeable trend in the field of student education and teacher training. In the Philippines, the mobile phone and SMS are being used as the primary means for interactive learning and for providing information to students. In the United Republic of Tanzania, the BridgeIT project used mobile phones to provide support for teacher training.28 Mobile technology has rapidly gained in importance across the educational sector. Some even say that the current state of mobile education technology, or m-education, may be at the stage where mobile health, or m-health, was just a few years ago. In Bangladesh, more than 50 percent of the population gained access to mobile phones in the past decade. Mobile applications for English-language teachers in Bangladesh enable them to access training materials including audio and video at all times [29]. Soon the mobile applications will be linked to the Government’s school curriculum, textbooks and assessment procedures [30]” (p. 48-49).

In Southern Asia region, “most portals and websites have remained stagnant since the 2008 Survey in terms of developing new features. As a result, the region as a whole has regressed in the 2010 Survey and remains far below the world average. Maldives (0.4392) continues to lead the region because it gained the highest scores for infrastructure and education indices. Nevertheless, its online services received very low scores and made very limited progress in overall e-government development. Iran (0.4234) and Bangladesh (0.3028) are the two exceptions, both having significantly improved their government development scores and global rankings in 2010 Survey” (p. 70).

According to E-government Index, Bangladesh Ranks 134 in 2010, with an index value of 0.3028, of which “online service component” 0.1209, “telecommunication infrastructure component” 0.0109, “human capital component” 0.1710.

According to online service index, Bangladesh Ranks 60, with index value 0.3556, where she scored 48 points for emerging information services scores, 44 points for enhanced information services, 5 points for transaction services, 15 points for connected approach. (p.116)

According to Telecommunication infrastructure index and its components, Bangladesh ranks 161, with index value 0.0330, Estimated Internet users per 100 inhabitants 0.32, Main fixed telephone lines per 100 inhabitants 0.84, Mobile subscribers per 100 inhabitants 27.90, Personal computers per 100 inhabitants 2.25 and Total fixed broadband per 100 inhabitants 0.03. (p. 120)

According to Human capital index Bangladesh ranks 157, with index value 0.5182, adult literacy rate 53.50%, Combined gross enrollment ratio for primary, secondary and tertiary schools 48.46% (p.123).

According to E-Participation index Bangladesh ranks 102, with index value of 0.1000.

E-government development in Southern Asia

E-government development in least developed countries

“Least developed countries have no real e-services, nor are they providing citizens with transactional opportunities, as presented in table 4.39. The vast majority of the sites surveyed primarily contain e-information and the beginning stages of citizen engagement with polls and feedback forms. The top two positions among least developed countries in the online service assessment went to Bangladesh and Angola”(p. 82).

Online service levels in least developed countries

Selected Citations from the Report:

• Pouezevara, S. Lucas and R. Khan. 2007. “Innovative Information and Communication Technology in Education and Its Potential for Reducing Poverty in the Asia and Pacific Region: Summary of Findings ‘Learning Communities Enabled by Mobile Technology: A Case Study of School-based, Inservice Secondary Teacher Training in Rural Bangladesh’”. Prepared by RTI International for Developed for the October 2007 International Conference on ICT for Education, under Asian Development Bank, TA No. 6278-REG. Manila: Asian Development Bank.
• The Guardian Weekly. 2009. “Bangladesh Gets Mobile Lessons”. http://www.guardianweekly.co.uk/?page=editorial&id=1342&catID=18. Accessed November 2009.