A Trend Analysis of Mobile Learning

The aim of this study is to determine current tendencies regarding mobile learning in published research between 2010 and 2015. In this study, 221 articles collected from the Web of Science Core Collection database with SSCI index were examined by using the content analysis technique. In the analyses, eight criteria were used, namely; research technique, sampling size, sampling level, learning domain, topical domain, data collecting tool, data analysis method and mobile application development approach. The results suggest that the main tendencies under these categories were experimental method; sample sizes of 31-100 people; higher education students; humanities and social sciences domain; learner outcomes topical domain; mixed data collecting tools; mixed analysis methods; and native mobile application development approach.

The Parental Perspective over the Use of iPads in Primary and Middle Years of Schooling

Apple's iPad and other forms of tablet are reportedly gaining increasing popularity within the academic premises. Most of the published research on this topic has highly admired the positive role and impact of iPads on teaching and learning practices, as if an exogenous technological induction in any local context would essentially revolutionize and transform the whole educational paradigm; however, some recent publications also highlight the parental and policy-makers' concerns over the undesired consequences of technological obsession in educational development. The current study aims at bringing a balanced view on this crucially important topic. The study employs mixed methods research and it uses Ajman Academy, a renowned K-12 institution in the United Arab Emirates, as a case study. This research concludes that due to the relative immaturity of these young children, they cannot be left alone to make their own technological choices. Hence, adopting an over-ambitious approach in terms of technological adoption, without properly understanding the nuances and complexities of a local context; may possibly put these children in a vulnerable situation, and thus likely exposed to many unintended and undesired consequences.

Teaching with a Tablet PC

The modern Tablet PC, such as the Surface Pro® is a flexible teaching tool. It can be used to increase the lecturer's productivity in note taking and in assignment marking. It can be used in the lecture room with increased interaction. With a few minor accessories it can be used to record many aspects of a lecture or presentation. It can also be used to record short topic segments that can be used as references or summaries by students. Containing the abilities of both a tablet device with multi touch, a pen interface for accurate drawing and handwriting and with the power of a full PC, it is a complete teaching studio.

Effects of Studying Tasks Compatibility with Tablets on Their Acceptance

This chapter addresses the issue of tablets acceptance for studying. An experiment was carried out to test the effects of specific studying tasks experienced by students with no previous experiences with tablets on the perceived usability and usefulness of tablets. Students had to perform a high-compatible task (i.e. navigation/reading task) and a low-compatible task (i.e. writing task) for tablets. Subjective measures of usability, usefulness and use intention were designed to be more specific to the type of task than the classical measures used in the Technology Acceptance Model approach (Davis, 1989). Participants rated their answers before and after performing the tasks with a tablet. The results showed that the perceived usability and usefulness of tablets increased after the high-compatible task while their decreased with the low-compatible task. The findings stressed the need to consider the real user experience and to use more task-oriented measures to investigate the acceptance of mobile devices for studying.

Students' Use of Mobile Technologies

Mobile technologies are all-pervasive in the current digital generation, and college students rely on their mobile phones to communicate on a daily basis. In the midst of the myriad of applications available to download on the mobile, some tools have become more well-known and more often adopted than others. An example of such a tool is WhatsApp, which gains an increasing, widespread number of users on a daily basis, particularly in the Middle East region. The present study investigated college students' use of WhatsApp as a communication tool, and used Lebanon as a case study. A qualitative research design was implemented to understand the perceptions of college students vis-à-vis WhatsApp, and to investigate the motivational factors behind the popularity of this communication tool. The results revealed four themes: simplicity for discussion and coordination, cost-effectiveness, immediacy and sense of belonging.

Students' Perception of the Integration of Mobile Devices as Learning Tools in Pre-Primary and Primary Teacher Training Degrees

University education is nowadays facing the need to rethink teaching processes carried out, to accommodate them to new understandings about how the human beings learn, also transcending the use, access and appropriation of a methodology adapted to changing times where, no doubt, mobile devices have a leading role. Besides their obvious communicative and playful function, teachers and learners must be aware of the pedagogical potential of these devices that can become allies in educational processes. This study analyzes the perception of university students, enrolled in the Pre-Primary and Primary Teacher Training Degrees at the University of Salamanca (Spain), about the use of mobile devices as tools to assist the learning process and as gadgets to practice and boost the learning process carried out in the classroom. Relevant outcomes have been extracted from the inspection of the data obtained through a survey to students, what has enabled us to draw interesting conclusions about the opinion of students about the inclusion of mobile devices as learning resources at tertiary level, that unravel the good disposition of the students polled towards the incorporation of these devices, both to university classes as well as to their future professional development.

Students' Acceptance of Mobile Learning

With the rapid development of telecommunications, mobile learning is appearing as a promising learning approach for students to learn anytime anywhere. However, many key issues regarding the design and implementation of mobile learning are still unclear. This research investigates key factors leading to the acceptance of mobile learning based on students' use of Blackboard Mobile Learn. The research findings will help instructors to design courses for mobile users and system developers to design better mobile learning systems.

School in a Box in Low Resource Primary School in Mozambique

The new Sustainable Development Goals call for quality education for all. This study aims to examine the role of mobile educational technology, through the School in a Box intervention, particularly in supporting teachers skills in achieving quality education, in the context of a public primary school in Mozambique. Quality education is examined specifically in relation to participative pedagogical practices designed to contextualise learning in locally relevant meaning, and providing children with the skills of learning how to learn. Additionally it is examined in the context of teacher professional development and creating peer support structures within the teaching community enabling teachers to be at the forefront of initiatives introducing mobile educational technology in low resource learning environments in Sub Saharan Africa. This paper sets the context for the use of the School in a Box tool in the classroom and in teacher professional development against the theoretical framework of Vygotsky's zone of proximal development. The study aims to furthermore examine how teachers can be enabled to appropriate use of the technology to the local environment and curriculum needs.

Educational Technology Goes Mobile

Recent decades have revealed that the digital educational technology that is expected to revolutionise schooling for generations to come, is fraught with challenges. One major challenge is that educational systems vastly vary between cultures and countries. The differences start from the conceptualisation of education and school. It is, therefore, quite inaccurate to handle education as a universal concept. In this article the authors evade generalisation by discussing the use of mobile technology in the schools of one single, relatively homogenous nation: Finland. The backbone of their analysis is the core national curriculum of basic education. The appropriateness of mobile technology in the school context is reflected upon through the objectives and ethos of basic education. The conclusions are discussed in terms of their contribution to the understanding of the use culture of mobile technology.

The Effect of Mobile Learning Approach on University Students' Academic Success for Database Management Systems Course

This article investigates the effect of mobile learning support on students' academic success on a database management systems (DBMS) course. The research was carried out with 36 students attending a state university in Turkey. In this study, a mixed method was used, which includes both quantitative and qualitative data collection techniques. For the quantitative data, the study was conducted in accordance with the pre-test and post-test-based two group quasi-experimental model. For the qualitative data, the descriptive analysis technique was used. The independent sample t-test and paired simple t-test were employed in the analysis phase. According to the findings, mobile learning positively affected students' academic achievement on the DBMS course, in that the students supported by mobile learning were more successful than students supported only by face-to-face training method. Finally, it is seen that the students have emphasized themes of motivation, 1-1 access, and an interest in terms of the effect of m-learning approach on academic success.