Online student use of mobile devices for learning (original) (raw)
Related papers
Examining Mobile Technology in Higher Education: Handheld Devices In and Out of the Classroom
International Journal of Higher Education, 2012
This study followed an innovative introduction of mobile technology (i.e., BlackBerry ® devices) to a graduate level business program and documented students' use of the technology from the time students received the devices to the end of their first term of study. Students found the BlackBerry ® device easy to use, and were optimistic regarding its potential role as an instructional tool. Students were self-directed in their use of the devices and found ways to use them within and outside of their classroom even when specific uses were not provided by instructors. Students used their devices most frequently for communication purposes outside the classroom through applications such as BlackBerry Messenger. Overall, although supporting a modest positive view toward this initial introduction to mobile technology as a learning tool, classroom instructional use was more limited than student-directed use in and outside the classroom. A comprehensive examination of the instructional pedagogy that best supports the potential of mobile technology as a self-directed learning tool is necessary to address the limitations seen in this implementation.
Mobile Learning in Higher Education: Mapping Perceptions and Practices of Online Students
ICERI proceedings, 2019
Mobile-learning is still an emergent field of research, especially if we consider the scope of higher education (HE). In fact, few studies have been developed with regard to higher education contexts, namely within Open Universities [1], [2], [3], [4]. Given the importance of studying mobility in real learning contexts, we aim at studying the perceptions that higher education students have about mobile and non-mobile devices and also how they describe their uses and practices in different types of interactions in online courses at a Distance Virtual University. In this context it was intended to know a) what are the students' perceptions about the affordances of various mobile and non-mobile devices, and b) what types of devices do students prefer to use in interactions with teachers, with other students and with contents. The data obtained in this study show that there is some discrepancy between students' perceptions of mobile devices, their educational potential and their actual use. The actual use of mobile devices seems to be much more conservative than we would be led to assume from the discourse of learning everywhere at any time with any device.
Educational Usage of Mobile Devices: Differences Between Postgraduate and Undergraduate Students
The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 2017
The rapid increase of smartphone usage in recent years has provided students the opportunity to participate in mobile learning (m-learning) anywhere, anytime. Academic institutions are also following this trend to launch many m-learning services. This article investigates the differences of the user needs between undergraduate (UG) and postgraduate (PG) students though an online survey with 140 Library Information Systems (LIS) subjects in a Japanese university in order to provide solid foundations for future m-learning studies. We find that UG and PG students do not show significant differences in adopting m-learning by smartphones despite the fact that they have different learning patterns. The m-learning frequencies of smartphones generally range from weekly to monthly, where using search engines is the most frequent, and reading academic resources is the least frequent. They tend to use these services for handling their daily routines (such as search engine, social networks) rather than their academic activities (such as using online databases to search for academic materials). Further, the results also show that content displaying issues (e.g., small display screen, text unable to enlarge) are barriers for most subjects in using these m-learning services.
Mobile Learning And Higher Education
Mobile Learning And Higher Education, 2018
Mobile Learning developed from the growing capabilities and adoption of mobile devices since the late 1990s. Subsequently, mobile devices have become an indispensable tool for many, resulting in significant societal changes. However, while they have been assimilated into people's lives, higher education mobile learning initiatives typically isolate the use of these devices, and so do not reflect the way they are used by learners. This chapter seeks to make a case for the end of "Mobile Learning" as a discrete area, and argues for mobile devices to be seen as potent tools to be integrated into the wider learning ecosystem.
Undergraduate use of mobile devices for m-learning: Where is the niche?
2016
The paper explores how mobile technology can be appropriated as a tool to mediate mobile learning (m-learning) in the “right space” where meaningful learning occurs. The authors propose examining m-learning under two intertwined conditions of (a) the properties of the context that enable the effectivities of the mobile technology, and (b) student capabilities and interpretations to take learning actions. When these conditions are met, mobile technology is deemed to be appropriated at the “right space”. This space is termed as the “niche” for mobile learning, and learning taking place in the space is termed as “niche mobile learning (m-learning)” in this paper. Two individual case use of the mobile technology for learning in a university has been traced and examined over a one-year period. Data was collected and triangulated for analysis. The research findings show that the two cases appropriated mobile technology as a tool for mobile learning differently due to different “niches”. D...
Though universities are eager to leverage the potential of mobile learning to provide learning flexibly, most balk at the cost of providing students with mobile hardware. The practice of ‘bring your own device’ (BYOD) is often mooted as a cost-effective alternative. This paper provides a snapshot of student ownership of mobile devices at a regional Australian university. Our research shows that students do have access to and use a wide range of devices. However, the delivery of learning is challenged when students try to access materials and activities using these devices. Course materials are rarely optimised for use on smartphones, navigating websites and learning management systems becomes a scrolling nightmare, and interacting with other students is often impractical using prescribed systems. Most concerning is that none of the students surveyed were participating in educator-led mobile learning initiatives. The paper concludes with the proposal of some practical, low-cost tactics that educators could potentially employ to begin engaging with mobile learning, leveraging what students already do.
Mobile Devices in Higher Education: Instructor Perspectives on Usage, Problems, Opportunities
The rapid growth of mobile devices in the learning and teaching environment will push to create new educational and instructional tools. Mobile devices allow to produce different types of learning such as personalized, situated, and independent. The main goal of this study is to investigate instructors‘ views about to use mobile technology in learning/teaching environment.
Mobile learning anytime, anywhere: what are our students doing?
Proceedings of the 24th Australasian Conference on Information Systems (ACIS 2013), 2013
Recent developments in mobile technologies have provided unique opportunities for learning and teaching. This paper reports on recent research undertaken at a regional Australian university in order to understand how higher education students are using mobile devices to support their learning. A survey instrument was developed and deployed and the data collected analysed quantitatively. Upon analysis, these data demonstrate that students are predominantly using laptop computers to support their learning, but their use of smart phones and tablets are also used for a number of specific learning activities. Further analysis indicates that in spite of the limitations in the formal university infrastructure, many students would like to use their mobile devices for formal learning as well as informal learning.
2013
Recent developments in mobile technologies have provided unique opportunities for learning and teaching. This paper reports on recent research undertaken at a regional Australian university in order to understand how higher education students are using mobile devices to support their learning. A survey instrument was developed and deployed and the data collected analysed quantitatively. Upon analysis, these data demonstrate that students are predominantly using laptop computers to support their learning, but their use of smart phones and tablets are also used for a number of specific learning activities. Further analysis indicates that in spite of the limitations in the formal university infrastructure, many students would like to use their mobile devices for formal learning as well as informal learning.
Supporting Student-Initiated Mobile Device Use in Online Learning
2021
Understanding the experiences of students who self-initiate mobile device use for online courses or course-related activities provides institutions with valuable insights. In this study, we report how students enrolled in online courses in higher education voluntarily used mobile devices for their coursework and course-related activities, the challenges in using these devices, and how they managed those challenges. We surveyed 103 college students enrolled in one or more fully online courses regarding their habits in using mobile devices for online learning. Findings reveal most participants use mobile devices for convenience, portability, and overall ease of use. The way the devices are used for course-related activities varies, however, with reasons ranging from taking notes and reading course materials, to downloading those materials, communicating, socializing, and other purposes. Challenges when using these devices often relate to access issues and overall limitations of the te...