Mobile Learning Technologies Research Articles

Prospective English Teachers’ Ownership and Usage of Mobile Devices as M-learning Tools

Mobile learning is an emerging field of research and practice across educational institutions and workplace. More and more students have access to smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices. This study was aimed to better understand how prospective teachers of English language teaching (ELT) use mobile technology for learning and how they want to use mobile devices for teaching in the future. A total of 144 student teachers enrolled in an ELT department at a major state university participated in the study. Based on descriptive statistics, the findings revealed that a great majority of the participants currently own and use phones, particularly internet capable ones, MP3 players, and tablets. Nearly four in ten prospective English teachers plan to buy a tablet (e.g., iPad), three in ten intend to purchase smartphones (e.g., iPhone), and one in ten is likely to purchase an e-book reader (e.g., Kindle.) over the next year or two. Further, nearly all the participants stated that despite the impediments, they wanted to use mobile devices in their English lessons and teaching regularly in the future. They believed that the biggest barriers that might moderate on the appropriate application of mobile devices in ELT included the great versatility in device types, pedagogical justifications, administrational factors, lack of training, and lack of devices due to financial restrictions. Some recommendations are also provided.

Editorial: Pedagogical Media Ecologies

Editorial: Pedagogical Media Ecologies

Social network innovation in the Internet’s global coffee houses: designing a mobile Help Seeking tool in Learning Layers

In this paper, we argue that there is much that we can learn from the past as we explore the issues raised when designing innovative social media and mobile technologies for learning. Like the social networking that took place in coffee houses in the 1600s, the Internet-enabled social networks of today stand accused of being the so-called “weapons of mass distraction” or worse. However, we point out that modern fears about the dangers of social networking are overdone. The paper goes on to present some of the 1930s ideas of Vygotsky. Part of the Learning Layers project builds on this work; we report on extensive initial co-design work and significant barriers with respect to the design of a mobile Help Seeking tool for the health care sector (UK). We then provide an account of how the Help-Seeking tool is being linked to a Social Semantic Server and briefly report on a follow-up empirical co-design study. We conclude by highlighting associated challenges.

Integrating a Mobile-Based Gaming Application into a Postsecondary Forest Ecology Course

Increased disengagement of the current generation of postsecondary students (sometimes referred as “net generation”) from traditional instruction coupled with on-going popularity of games and mobile technologies have prompted interest in game-based learning in education. The objective of this study was to develop and evaluate the viability of a mobile game-based learning quest, based on the Questogo platform (website and mobile app) in an undergraduate Forest Ecology course offered at the University of British Columbia (UBC), Vancouver. The disturbance ecology (DE) quest was designed as a self-study activity that supports field-based laboratory sections of the course. The quest included instructional, location-based, and question- and answer-type of tasks that tested students’ knowledge of forest and disturbance ecology in an outdoor setting. After completing the DE quest, students provided feedback via an online survey. The majority of students found the DE quest to be a useful self-study tool, with 81% of respondents indicating that they were able to successfully engage with the mobile game-based learning technology. Sixty-six percent of the students would like to also see quests incorporated into other courses and 28% would like to have additional quests in the Forest Ecology course. This study provides a framework for incorporating mobile game-based learning into outdoor learning activities that offer students an engaging self-study educational experience.

How we developed eForms: An electronic form and data capture tool to support assessment in mobile medical education

Mobile learning technologies are being introduced and adopted by an increasing number of medical schools. Following the implementation of these devices, institutions are tasked with the challenge of their integration into curriculum delivery and presented with the opportunity to facilitate data collection from large student cohorts. Since 2011, Manchester Medical School (MMS) has undertaken the largest deployment of iPads within UK Higher Education. Working towards the more efficient collation of students’ compulsory workplace-based assessment data led us to evaluate how existing information management software could replace previously paper-based systems. Following an evaluation of six, and a trial of one, commercially available packages, the existing software solutions were found to be inflexible and unfit for purpose. This resulted in the development of a new digital solution that addressed the limitations of the previous system. “University of Manchester (UoM) eForms” consists of an app and a web-based administration system that respectively permit high volume data collection and management. UoM eForms has now replaced the preceding paper-based and electronic systems within MMS for workplace-based assessment administration, due to the improved usability and dynamicity built into its interface and infrastructure. This new system has found many further useful applications, including research data collection, feedback, placement evaluations, quality assurance and interview marking.

Cloud Solution to assist in Mobile Technology Learning

This paper will discuss the use of cloud-based computing solutions to assist in the process of mobile learning and teaching. The paper will go through the limitations of mobile technology and the areas where cloud solutions can assist to fill in the gaps. It will also discuss the student’s acceptance of such system and the tremendous opportunities cloud technology could offer to higher education students in terms of learning mobility and computer software accessibility. In this respect, the paper will investigate the usage of the Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) that is recently adapted in the Higher Colleges of Technology (HCT) as part of its private cloud solution. This research will show how using cloud solutions in conjunction with mobile smart devices, such as the iPad, could technically and pedagogically facilitate the educational process both for students and faculty members. Concluding remarks will be presented and discussed at the end of the paper.

Using the Google Drive as a cloud service in a mobile learning

Research goals: to examine examples of using Google Drive as a service for the implementation of mobile learning technology.Research objectives: to demonstrate how to use modern methods of learning using mobile cloud technologies.Object of research: cloud services in a mobile learning.Subject of research: using the Google Drive as a cloud service in a mobile learning.Research methods used: theoretical – analysis of scientific and methodological literature; empirical – training, monitoring of the learning.Results of the research. This article was considered an example of using Google Drive as a service for the implementation of mobile learning technology. We demonstrate how to use modern methods of mobile learning using cloud technologies. Service is selected in view of availability, ease of implementation and understanding for students. This approach demonstrates the benefits of modern technology together with mobile learning characteristics.The main conclusions and recommendations. To use the new possibilities of mobile learning in the educational process requires organizational, research and methodological work on the implementation of modern policies, forms and methods of mobile learning in the educational process.

M‐learning adequacy and perceptions of students and teachers in secondary schools

AbstractIn recent years, the use of mobile technologies has increased in a number of fields such as banking, economy, tourism, entertainment, library research, etc. These developments have also led to the use of mobile technologies for educational purposes. The successful integration of mobile learning (m‐learning) technologies in education primarily demands that teachers' and students' adequacy and perceptions of such technology should be determined. Therefore, the aim of this study was to compare teachers' and students' abilities and perceptions concerning m‐learning. Research data for the analysis were obtained from a sample of 467 teachers and 1556 students from 32 schools that were surveyed in Northern Cyprus. Based on our results, we conclude that teachers and students want to use m‐learning in education. Their perceptions are positive but their m‐learning adequacy levels are not sufficient.

Medical students’ online learning technology needs

This study investigated medical students' online learning technology needs at a medical school. The study aimed to provide evidence-based guidance for technology selection and online learning design in medical education. The authors developed a 120-item survey in collaboration with the New Technology in Medical Education (NTIME) committee at the Southern Illinois University School of Medicine (SIUSOM). Overall, 123 of 290 medical students (42%) at the medical school participated in the survey. The survey focused on five major areas: students' hardware and software use; perception of educational technology (ET) in general; online behaviours; perception of ET use at the school; and demographic information. Students perceived multimedia tools, scheduling tools, communication tools, collaborative authoring tools, learning management systems and electronic health records useful educational technologies for their learning. They did not consider social networking tools useful for their learning, despite their frequent use. Third-year students were less satisfied with current technology integration in the curriculum, information sharing and collaborative learning than other years. Students in clerkships perceived mobile devices as useful for their learning. Students using a mobile device (i.e. a smartphone) go online, text message, visit social networking sites and are online during classes more frequently than non-users. Medical students' ET needs differ between preclinical and clinical years. Technology supporting ubiquitous mobile learning and health information technology (HIT) systems at hospitals and out-patient clinics can be integrated into clerkship curricula.

Real-time use of the iPad by third-year medical students for clinical decision support and learning: a mixed methods study

PurposeDespite widespread use of mobile technology in medical education, medical students’ use of mobile technology for clinical decision support and learning is not well understood. Three key questions were explored in this extensive mixed methods study: 1) how medical students used mobile technology in the care of patients, 2) the mobile applications (apps) used and 3) how expertise and time spent changed overtime.MethodsThis year-long (July 2012–June 2013) mixed methods study explored the use of the iPad, using four data collection instruments: 1) beginning and end-of-year questionnaires, 2) iPad usage logs, 3) weekly rounding observations, and 4) weekly medical student interviews. Descriptive statistics were generated for the questionnaires and apps reported in the usage logs. The iPad usage logs, observation logs, and weekly interviews were analyzed via inductive thematic analysis.ResultsStudents predominantly used mobile technology to obtain real-time patient data via the electronic health record (EHR), to access medical knowledge resources for learning, and to inform patient care. The top four apps used were Epocrates®, PDF Expert®, VisualDx®, and Micromedex®. The majority of students indicated that their use (71%) and expertise (75%) using mobile technology grew overtime.ConclusionsThis mixed methods study provides substantial evidence that medical students used mobile technology for clinical decision support and learning. Integrating its use into the medical student's daily workflow was essential for achieving these outcomes. Developing expertise in using mobile technology and various apps was critical for effective and efficient support of real-time clinical decisions.

Applications, impacts and trends of mobile technology-enhanced learning: a review of 2008-2012 publications in selected SSCI journals

The use of mobile technologies in learning has attracted much attention from researchers and educators in the past decade. However, the impacts of mobile learning on students’ learning performance are still unclear. In particular, some schoolteachers still doubt the effectiveness of using such new technologies in school settings. In this study, a survey has been conducted by reviewing the 2008–2012 publications in seven well-recognised Social Science Citation Index (SSCI) journals of technology-enhanced learning to investigate the applications and impacts of mobile technology-enhanced learning. It is found that mobile learning is promising in improving students’ learning achievements, motivations and interests. In addition, from the survey, it is found that smartphones and tablet PCs have gradually become widely adopted mobile learning devices in recent years, which could affect the adoption of sensing technologies in the future. Accordingly, several open issues of mobile learning are addressed.

Usage of Mobile Technologies in Social Skills Development

In this study, it has been aimed to reveal that pre-school children’s social adaptation skills can be supported by the application of frame code. The other aim of this study is to create awareness about the possible application areas of mobile learning technologies within the frame code in pre-school education. For this purpose, the study that consists of four experimental and four control group classes coming from similar socio-economic families children in five age groups that continued in kindergarten was carried out. 162 children participated in this study including 81 applications and 81 control groups. “Social Skills Training Program” supported by Frame Code Application (consisting of 12 acquisitions and 41 indicators) was prepared and during seven weeks, it was administered under the guidance of teachers. In order to evaluate the data before and after implementation, “Social Adaptation and Skills Scale” was used. According to the results of the study, in terms of sub-factors and social adaptation of the scale of “Social Adaptation and Skills Scale”, it was found that there was a significant difference in favor of the experimental group between experimental and control groups after application; however, after the application, social inadaptability sub-factor scores of the children in the experimental group were lower than the scores of control group children.

Survey and analysis of current mobile learning applications and technologies

Distance learning, electronic learning, and mobile learning offer content, methods, and technologies that decrease the limitations of traditional education. Mobile learning (m-learning) is an extension of distance education, supported by mobile devices equipped with wireless technologies. It is an emerging learning model and process that requires new forms of teaching, learning, contents, and dynamics between actors. In order to ascertain the current state of knowledge and research, an extensive review of the literature in m-learning has been undertaken to identify and harness potential factors and gaps in implementation. This article provides a critical analysis of m-learning projects and related literature, presenting the findings of this aforementioned analysis. It seeks to facilitate the inquiry into the following question: “What is possible in m-learning using recent technologies?” The analysis will be divided into two main parts: applications from the recent online mobile stores and operating system standalone applications.

Mobile Learning: What Guidelines Should We Produce in the Context of Mobile Learning Implementation in the Conflict Area of the Four Southernmost Provinces of Thailand

Existing typical room based learning in the four southernmost provinces of Thailand includes several limitations. Physical security is the key issue when making journeys to schools and universities and the destruction of physical buildings also poses concrete limitations to existing room based learning in the affected area. With this phenomenon, the accessibility to physical room based class is problematic and limited. In contrast, the accessibility to mobile networks is getting wider; accessibility to mobile devices is also getting cheaper and easier along the time, thus the investigation on how mobile learning could benefits the learners should be conducted. Consequently the research objectives were constructed which are (1) to estimate the current situation in the four southernmost provinces of Thailand, (2) to identify the limitations of existing room based learning affected by the unrest situation in the area, (3) to explore information from government sources and published papers about mobile technology used in the southernmost provinces of Thailand and (4) to construct initial guidelines and recommendations framework when using mobile technology as a learning environment in the school system of the southernmost provinces of Thailand. In order to achieve these objectives, the literature analysis, focus groups, and semi-structured interviews were conducted. From the analysis of the data collected, it was found that the utilization of mobile technology in the four southernmost provinces of Thailand currently still far behind the idea of what mobile learning technology should be. There are several limitations and thus certain guidelines for the mobile learning implementation should be produced.

Designing a mobile language learning system based on lightweight learning objects

This paper investigates the possibilities in the area of application of mobile technologies for language learning. The primary goal is to design a mobile system for learning of the Japanese language with a clear separation of content and presentation, and to leverage the learners' interest in the Japanese language. Both the technical and the language learning perspectives are discussed. A reusable, lightweight model of learning objects with compact content and a reduced metadata set is presented. These objects are stored in a simple learning object repository that can deliver them to any client over the Internet. A mobile application is designed to use the learning object repository as its content provider, while defining its own method of presentation suitable for smaller screens of mobile devices. For the purpose of evaluation, an experiment was conducted within the e-learning system at the Faculty of Organizational Sciences, University of Belgrade. Research findings have indicated that the developed mobile application has a positive effect on the students' interest in the subject matter.

Innovators in Teacher Education

The purpose of this study is to establish a snapshot of the extent to which teacher educators are preparing teacher candidates to use mobile learning technologies in PK–12 class-rooms, with the goal of drawing more teacher credentialing institutions into the conversations surrounding this initiative. We used a questionnaire consisting of open-ended items to identify teacher preparation institutions that are functioning as innovators in this area and to determine their adoption method. Our results indicate the innovators are using a variety of methods as they explore the possibilities, but, as a whole, we have not yet reached the tipping point necessary for this innovation to take hold. As we are in the early stages of what could become a movement, we anticipate that this article will stimulate some forward momentum and cross-institution sharing.

The impact of m-learning technology on students and educators

This paper addresses the notion of the impact of mobile learning technology from the learner’s as well as educator’s point of view. The authors have outlined the application of the e-learning in smart classes, which is followed by a similar argument with regard to the m-learning technology. This is followed by a statistical evaluation of the m-learning which through multiple surveys is conducted among the undergraduate and postgraduate students as well as the academics. In conclusion, the outcomes of these surveys are presented in graphical forms that highlight the merits and demerits of the m-learning technology.

IPad Learning Ecosystem: Developing Challenge-Based Learning Using Design Thinking.

st Century skills and engagement with real world meaningful challenges, a course was designed to integrate Challenge Based Learning (CBL) and iPad mobile learning technology. This article describes the course design, which was grounded in design thinking, and provides an overview of the pilot implementation of the course. The course achieved its goals to a great extent in that learners felt that they were beginning to help build a better college community by sharing stories of their learning experience and their insights about the essential question they chose with other students and with other teachers. The course also helped the students discover the use of English as they found ways to reach out to the broader college community and held meaningful conversations with teachers, librarians, managers, and staff from different departments and other students. The course transformed the teacher/researcher into an observer of learning and a guide, thus flipping the classroom and allowing the learners to take responsibility and steer their own learning experiences. Further development is needed in the areas of CBL assessment rubric development in English Language Teaching (ELT) and the analysis of student generated content through iPad applications.

The Effect of Podcast Lectures on Nursing Students' Knowledge Retention and Application

This pilot study sought to evaluate the effectiveness of academic podcasts in promoting knowledge retention and application in nursing students. Nursing education no longer simply occurs in a fixed location or time. Computer-enhanced mobile learning technologies, such as academic podcasts, must be grounded in pedagogically sound characteristics to ensure effective implementation and learning in nursing education. A convenience sample of 35 female undergraduate nursing students was randomized into three groups: a traditional face-to-face lecture group, an unsegmented (non-stop) podcast lecture group, and a segmented podcast lecture group. Retention and application of information were measured through a multiple-choice quiz and a case study based on lecture content. Students in the segmented podcast lecture group demonstrated higher scores on multiple-choice and case-study assessments than those in the other two groups. Nurse educators should be aware of this finding when seeking to employ podcast lectures in nursing education.

Issues in mobile learning technology

PurposeThis paper aims to outline some key issues in mobile learning technology.Design/methodology/approachThe paper discusses the impact of mobile learning technology, based on the author's experience in the field.FindingsDecide, design, develop and deploy is the standard four‐step process relating to technology. The drivers for adopting new technologies in learning include not only the suppliers and the customers (the buyers) but also the consumers (users) – in other words, everyone. Increasingly – since about 2006 – consumers want to use mobile devices for learning and for the less formal “performance support”. Initially, there can a high cost of ownership (of the latest mobile devices). So the key issue for HR and learning & development (L&D) professionals is how to get the maximum value from, and use of, this technology.Originality/valueThe paper outlines key issues in mobile learning technology facing HR and L&D professionals, in particular how to get the maximum value from, and use of, this technology.