Abstract
Considerable research has shown the value of Inquiry-Based Learning (IBL) regarding student engagement and motivation, depth of learning, and cognitive flexibility. Student collaboration is one component of this approach, since students must communicate and work together inside and outside of class time when engaging with an IBL project. Choosing a mobile learning tool can benefit student collaboration in so far as the tool enables anytime/anywhere collaborative learning. This study looked at how 118 Emirati undergraduate students in a government-sponsored university in the United Arab Emirates chose to collaborate in an IBL semester-long assignment. Unlike some approaches that dictate the technology selection to students (Barczyk & Duncan, 2013; Prescott, Wilson & Becket, 2013), in this project course instructors gave the students autonomy to choose the best mobile learning tools for their group. The study used a mixed-methods approach to collect data on which tools students perceived as best for IBL. Participants were surveyed three times about which tool they preferred for university work: a pre-project survey, a mid-project survey, and post-project survey. Results show that students changed their preferred tool to WhatsApp over the course of the semester. A focus group with each course section provided qualitative data as to why students preferred WhatsApp. The students also delivered poster presentations as to how WhatsApp helped them complete their community-based IBL projects. This study will show how WhatsApp can be a successful mobile learning tool for student collaboration in IBL.
Highlights
Inquiry-based Learning (IBL) has been described as an umbrella term (Aditomo et al, 2013; SpronkenSmith et al, 2011) to designate a variety of pedagogical approaches where students learn content as well as discipline-specific reasoning skills and practices by collaboratively engaging in investigations. (Hmelo-Silver et al, 2007, p. 100)The core elements of an IBL approach as described by Spronken-Smith and Walker (2010) include: (1) learning is stimulated by questions or problems, (2) students actively learn by doing and increasingly take responsibility for their learning, and (3) the role of the teacher shifts towards that of a facilitator
As one group of participants wrote in the focus group report: we found out that 100% of group students use WhatsApp program as a communication tool to communicate with other [sic] because it has different features such as sending videos and photos, recording instead of typing, creating group [sic] to discuss with many people and making free calls
Research in the area of WhatsApp as an effective social networking systems (SNS) app has generally been applied for teacher-led discussion groups (Bouhnik & Deshen, 2014; Rambe & Bere, 2013; Willemse 2015)
Summary
Inquiry-based Learning (IBL) has been described as an umbrella term (Aditomo et al, 2013; SpronkenSmith et al, 2011) to designate a variety of pedagogical approaches where students learn content as well as discipline-specific reasoning skills and practices (often in scientific disciplines) by collaboratively engaging in investigations. (Hmelo-Silver et al, 2007, p. 100). Given the pace of technology change and communication options available, it may be difficult to provide the latest media support in a timely fashion One approach to this dilemma is to make use of the communication tools that group members have in their hands, for example their mobile phones or tablets. It may be useful to provide a set of tool choices that meet a range of communication criteria and needs This combination of group autonomy and task/tool matching should result in greater student satisfaction levels with the group component of the project. This leads to the following hypotheses: 1. Hypothesis - 1: Student selection of a communication tool will converge on the most appropriate tool for the IBL tasks
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callMore From: Learning and Teaching in Higher Education: Gulf Perspectives
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
