The primary aim of this research was to study how mobile technology shapes, changes, and develops informal learning outside the classroom and school environment. In this study we provided each of the 30 Kenyan elite runners with a simple Android smartphone and free Internet for one year. This research project was a developmental intervention with a participatory action research approach, and aimed to facilitate innovation and examine how the runners developed their training, informal learning, and economic opportunities using a smartphone. Logs and tracking of smartphone usage recorded quantitative data, and interviews and participatory observations gathered qualitative data. Key findings were that the smartphone improved the runners’ training and race performance and created business opportunities. Second, a smartphone with an Internet connection empowered marginalized groups and augmented informal learning opportunities. Third, that a smartphone was not a significant technological hurdle for impoverished or uneducated individuals. Fourth, the participants were able to learn with little or no guidance or scaffolding. Fifth, the tracking log data indicated both a breadth and depth to individual learning. This participatory action research made a significant impact on the participants’ lives and the most common statement from the interviews was the statement “it helps us a lot”.

This paper argues for new ways for Kenyan elite runners to use smartphones. The study focused on everyday use in social and professional practices to understand the interaction between smartphones, learning, and running. Thus, it was a specific example of how mobile technology can become integrated in existing practices, develop them, and become absorbed in daily routines. Thirty elite runners between the ages of 19 and 34 were provided with a simple smartphone in an intervention study that used a participatory action research approach (PAR) for a period of one and half years. The analysis was based on multiple sources of data and the Silverstone et al. (1992) Domestication of Technology Framework. The Kenyan runners in this study had limited educational background and low incomes, but smartphones with internet connectivity became a powerful catalyst for change. This project showed a distinct example of mRunning; considering the runners’ intensive use of the smartphones and their applications for running. The smartphones had an impact on their professions as runners and acted in a practice-building capacity. The runners were armed with better information about their own training, training programs, rehab information, health, race calendars, race venues, courses profiles, etc. Therefore, most of the runners in the study performed better in competitions. Smartphones were a substantial resource that made a significant impact on the Kenyan  runners’ daily practice and became an important and supportive tool for the runner to get out of poverty.

This paper analyzes how a group of Kenyan elite runners used smartphones in their daily activities for one year. This study used a participatory action research approach to explore 30 young Kenyan runners’ appropriation and day-to-day use of smartphones. The runners lived in two different low-income areas in Nairobi and were not accustomed to smartphones. The research focused on how the participants utilized the smartphone, its applications, and the Web to improve their learning, training, living conditions, and social interactions. To investigate the participants’ progress, every smartphone was tracked and its usage was analyzed according to Koole’s (2009) FRAME model. Findings highlighted that new activities arose through frequent usage of the Web and smartphone applications. 180,000 different visits to websites were made and the most popular usage was searching with Google and Yahoo, entertainment, social media, news, and sports related websites. In total, 346,832 applications were used and the phone, launcher and contacts were the primary applications. However, the findings showed a significant use of communication, camera, native applications and applications for running. A concluding remark is that the smartphone acted as a powerful tool for real-life improvement such as improved learning, current events awareness and social interactions for poor people in a developing country.

The research goal of this project was to explore the use and effects of non-formal education and incentives in the context of a developing country. The practical aim of this project was to create, implement, and evaluate a platform about human rights that was available to any Kenyan for free in order to increase knowledge and engagement. Therefore, a non-formal massive open online course (MOOC) about human rights was designed and launched. The course was free and open to anyone in Kenya and offered both a digital badge and certificate from Stockholm University in Sweden upon completion. The course was called Haki Zangu (Kiswahili for “My Rights”), and it explored how using incentives such as a digital badge and certificate of completion affected learning outcomes. This course offered ubiquitous access based on principles of responsive web design and used audio recordings of the entire course content. The course is perpetual and still on-going, but after six months there were 160 participants who had enrolled, and ten participants had completed the course and received certificates and digital badges. The participants showed extensive enthusiasm and engagement for human rights issues, and they expressed desires to learn more and further spread knowledge about human rights. The current findings suggest that the availability of digital badges and certificates increased interest for participation and positively affected learning outcomes. Moreover, the use of a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) format with incentives proved successful, combined with the contextualization and accessibility of the course content. Furthermore, the technical platform proved adequate for disseminating education for free in a developing country, and allowed for unencumbered access regardless of device. Lastly, a key challenge for future non-formal learning efforts in developing countries is the cost of Internet access.