Abstract
Mobile technology is increasingly being used to support blended learning beyond computer centres. It has been considered as a potential solution to the problem of a shortage of computers for accessing online learning materials (courseware) in a blended learning course. The purpose of the study was to establish how the use of mobile technology could enhance accessibility and communication in a blended learning course. Data were solicited from a purposive convenience sample of 36 students engaged in the blended learning course. The case study utilized a mixedmethods approach. An unstructured interview was conducted with the course lecturer and these data informed the design of the students’ semi-structured questionnaire. It was found that students with access to mobile technology had an increased opportunity to access the courseware of the blended learning course. Mobile technology further enhanced student-to-student and student-to-lecturer communication by means of social networks. The study concludes that mobile technology has the potential to increase accessibility and communication in a blended learning course. Recommendations, limitations of the present study, and suggestions for future research were made. Keywords: blended learning course, collaboration, communication, computer access, mobile technology, social networks
Highlights
Technology has become so much part of our lives in the 21st century that even being fully literate includes an aspect of ‘computer literacy’
Need for use of ICT When students were asked about the frequency of their class attendance, they responded as in Table 2, and had various reasons for missing classes
As, according to the framework, access to ICT is considered in relation to use, and investigated in terms of purpose for use, availability, convenience, frequency and perception of access, these findings suggest that the students had more access to mobile devices than desktop computers located in the computer centres
Summary
Technology has become so much part of our lives in the 21st century that even being fully literate includes an aspect of ‘computer literacy’. The latest explosion in this field is the development of the so-called mobile devices ( referred to as hand-held devices) such as ipads and smartphones. These mobile devices have become affordable and are within reach of the masses. They have introduced a variety of new tools that improve user-friendliness to the extent that they can even support education. The term ‘mobile technology’, as used in this article, includes mobile computers (such as laptops), mobile devices and wireless communication tools
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