Engaging students using their own mobile devices for learning mathematics in classroom discourse: a case study in Hong Kong

Abstract

Mobile technology becomes more popular in our generation. Many students carry their mobile devices such as smartphones and mobile tablet devices to schools everyday. Research shows that technology in education is a promising approach for pedagogical change in learning and teaching. In this paper, we propose a new learning intervention in classroom discourse with Bring Your Own Device BYOD to enhance the student engagement. This work aims to investigate how students perceive their engagement in classroom teaching with BYOD. A mixed quantitative and qualitative methodology is adopted in this case study research. Survey was administered to 33 students participants pre-service primary mathematics teachers, and five of them were interviewed in a follow-up focus group. The research results show that students are able to accept this new pedagogy with BYOD in learning mathematics in university. In addition, students also perceive an increase of their engagement in the classroom discourse through BYOD.