Mobile learning anytime, anywhere: what are our students doing? (original) (raw)
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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.
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.
Understanding the use of smart mobile technologies for learning in higher education
30th Australasian Society for Computers in Learning in Tertiary Education Conference (ASCILITE 2013), 2013
This paper presents a preliminary exploration of the types of smart mobile technologies higher education students have access to and use to support their learning by comparing cohorts from two Australian universities with quite different profiles, the University of Southern Queensland (USQ) and the University of South Australia (UniSA). These results are briefly compared to those obtained in earlier studies in a broad attempt to identify trends in the use of mobile technologies to support learning over time. The results indicate that levels of smart phone ownership are rising rapidly with a corresponding drop in levels of feature phone ownership. Tablet computers such as iPads have emerged since the earlier studies were completed with high levels of adoption by students. Significantly, students are using these smart mobile devices to support their learning.
Online student use of mobile devices for learning
In D. Parsons, R. Power, A. Palalas, H. Hambrock & K. MacCallum (Eds.), Proceedings of 17th World Conference on Mobile and Contextual Learning (pp. 8-13)., 2018
Mobile technology is becoming prevalent in today's Canadian society. Yet despite the widespread use of Internet-accessible mobile devices, very little research has been undertaken to examine the value that mobile technology may have [1], especially within the milieu of Canadian higher education. With ever-expanding technological capabilities and rapidly increasing student use of sophisticated mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets [2, 3], it is imperative that educators consider the impact that these devices may have-particularly when it comes to the affordances such devices provide for mobile learning in the digital classroom. This paper reports on the demographic and descriptive findings from a three-year study on online graduate-level students' perceptions and experiences with mobile devices that provides some insight into the relationship between graduate level learners, their online learning contexts, and their use of mobile devices for learning. The results indicate that: (1) the use of mobile devices for learning is common among these students, and (2) these devices and how they are being used are rapidly evolving to provide nearly seamless continuity of formal learning for the increasingly mobile learner.
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.
Mobile Learning a new Wave of Learning: A survey among University of Dodoma Students
International Journal of Computer Applications, 2014
Mobile technologies are increasingly becoming an integral part of student's lives in academia. Devices such as smartphones, tablets, and e-book readers connect users to the world instantly, heightening access to information and enabling interactivity with others. Applications that run on these devices let users not only consume but also discover and produce content. As such, they continue to transform how college students learn, as well as influence their learning preferences, both within and outside the classroom. This study survey the adoption of mobile phones among university students and their attitudes on the uses of cell phones as a venue for learning their class handouts and hunt ground for educational materials. The findings show that 53.3% of students own smart-phones while 41.8% own basic cell-phone (Featured phone). 42.4% of them use their cell phones to search educational reference materials online, 7.3% of them use cell phones to play games, 24.3% use their cell phones to read online news, 33.3% use their cell phones to connect to social networks. Overall these results suggest mobile phone as promising device for delivering learning materials to students.
Mobile learning and university teaching
International Conference on Education and New …, 2009
Using portable computing devices (such as laptops, tablet PCs, PDAs, and smart phones) with wireless networks enables mobility and mobile learning, allowing college teaching and learning to extend to spaces beyond the traditional classroom. Within the classroom, mobile learning gives university instructors and learners increased flexibility and new opportunities for interaction. Mobile technologies can support learning experiences at the university level that are collaborative, accessible, and integrated with the world beyond the classroom educative learning initiative (Educause Learning Initiative).
An Exploratory Study of Mobile Learning for Tertiary Education: A Discussion with Students
International Journal of Pedagogies and Learning, 2006
The drive to understand and to improve the adoption of self-service, technology-based teaching and dynamic learning environments has created interest in recent years. Owing to the availability, flexibility and convenience of wireless devices, learning/training programs appear to be providing benefits to instructors and students alike. Over the years, wireless technologies have improved communication capabilities, videoconferencing, data management and live discussion forums. The reduction in the cost of hardware and Internet services and the increased capabilities of wireless devices in conjunction with the capabilities of the World Wide Web are popular among students and academics. While universities, Technical and Further Education colleges and other training providers realise the potential role played by wireless technologies in dynamic learning environments, users of those technologies have indicated conflicting outcomes, claiming a failure of wireless technologies in learning environments. What appear to be consistent factors in the success or failure of such technologies is the context in which these applications are used, the specific applications for learning and teaching, infrastructure and change management. The literature indicates that sophisticated applications and features are constantly being developed for the wireless learning environment. Australian institutions are using wireless technologies for specific objectives in educational environments, but the adoption of those technologies is a complex and technical process. This exploratory research reports outcomes of a preliminary discussion with students about the influence of wireless technologies on learning purposes. The prime focus of the discussion was to extract themes that can identify factors that have an impact on the adoption of wireless technologies in learning environments in order to develop an initial conceptual model.
2018
Activity Theory provides the theoretical framework underpinning this qualitative exploration into the effects of mobile devices on student learning within the context of a New Zealand-based, university preparation course. Situated within a constructivist paradigm, this thesis presents student and teacher perspectives in relation to four research questions. The first research question focuses on how students, within a blended mode, university preparation course based in New Zealand, use their mobile devices in relation to learning. The second research question aims to identify factors that influence the use of mobile devices, while the third research question investigates if any value is added to learning and teaching practices when using mobile devices. The final research question explores any challenges associated with the use of mobile devices within this academic context. Key findings identified that students in this study use mobile devices to support their learning by exploiting tools accessible on their devices to complete course-related tasks. They also use mobile devices to access lexical support, maintain social connections and manage workflows. Factors that positively influenced mobile device usage in the pre-degree context included pedagogical approaches, teacher influence, task completion and social influences. However, not all influences were positive. Students' perception that their attention spans were shortening and a lack of technical proficiency were factors that negatively impacted on learning. Other key findings indicated that value was seen to be added when mobile devices were used appropriately within this pre-degree context. Value was notably added with regard to the facilitation of collaborative, supportive and personalised learning through the convenience of instant access and increased connectivity. However, with the prevalence of mobile devices within the classroom, there were aspects that were iii challenging and presented as contradictions within the Activity Theory framework. These challenges consisted of distractions and difficulty in maintaining focus on tasks. The use of mobile devices by classmates was also found to have a negative effect on those around them. This thesis concludes by outlining areas where noteworthy contributions to theoretical, methodological and practical knowledge have been made. It contributes to the growing body of literature by exploring the use of mobile devices within the pre-degree context and identifying potential areas of future study. By embarking on these areas of investigation to understand the effects of mobile devices on student learning, educators and other stakeholders will have a clearer idea of ways in which the capabilities inherent in mobile devices can be harnessed to best support student learning. iv Certification of thesis This thesis is entirely the work of Emily Kate Saavedra except where otherwise acknowledged. The work is original and has not previously been submitted for any other award, except where acknowledged.