How to incorporate M-Learning as a supplemental media delivery system in education.

Reference

Population

Purpose/Questions

Findings/Implications

Evans, C. (2008). The effectiveness of m-learning in the form of podcast revision lectures in higher education. Computers & Education, 50, 491–498.

196 volunteers of first-year undergraduates in Business and Management at a university in London, UK. 96 female, 98 male (two did not specify).

Ages ranged from 18 to 25, with a mode of 19 and mean of 19.27.

Participants had access to school computers as well as their own personal computers. They were provided with a simple guide telling them how to access the podcast episodes via a PC or using an iPod, but were not otherwise given any special support.

For consistency, an RSS feed was not provided as one of the episodes was to be inaccessible until they had completed an online survey. The survey contained fifteen five-point

Likert-scale questions, two open-ended questions and six demographic.

H1: Learners believe that it is quicker to revise from podcasts than from notes.

H2: Learners believe that revising from podcasts is more effective than from notes or from a textbook.

H3: Learners feel more receptive to revision material delivered as a podcast than in a traditional revision lecture or a textbook.

H4: Learners feel they can relate more to the lecturer in a podcast than in a traditional revision lecture.

Out of the 194 students, 20% of them indicated that they listened to the podcasts on an iPod (14%) or other MP3 player (6%). The remaining 80% listened to them on a PC via the Web page.

The results show that students value the flexibility offered by podcasts in terms of the ability to study when and where you want. One quarter of them listened to them whilst traveling. Traveling is often a time when people engage in less cognitive activity. This suggests that podcasting can fill an important needs gap by allowing learners to continue the learning activities when it might not normally be possible. However, podcasts did not appear to offer much in the way of facilitating multi-tasking, with most people claiming that they did not undertake any other activities whilst listening to podcasts.

The question about listening to podcasts whilst doing something else was an attempt to draw out whether the mobile features of podcasting translate into any other activities than just traveling. With most people disagreeing, the indications are that traveling is the main mobile benefit.

The overall research aim was to determine whether revision podcasts enhance the learning process. The results provide support for three out of the four hypotheses suggesting that they do. The answers to the first pair of questions indicates that students believe that revision podcasts are a quicker way to revise than using their own notes.

The results from the second and third pairs of questions indicate that the students report that podcasts are more effective revision tools than textbooks, but not their own notes. This means that they claim that they learn more from the podcasts than reading the corresponding section from the textbook. The flexible nature of podcasts may mean that it is easier for learners to actively engage with material than when reading. The fact that they report that they do not find podcasts more effective than notes suggests that the summarizing format of the podcasts was of particular benefit in helping learners focus on the important aspects to the subject without getting sidetracked by detail.

The results from the fourth and fifth pair of questions indicate that the students report that they were more receptive to podcast material than material delivered in the form of a revision lecture or from the textbook. This suggests that learners may feel more engaged when listening to a podcast.

The results from the last question pair provide no evidence in support of the hypothesis that it is easier to relate to the lecturer in a podcast than in a revision lecture.

Taken together, these results provide good evidence to suggest that students think that podcasts enhance their learning process, as reported in their responses.

Motiwalla, L. F. (2007). Mobile learning: A framework and evaluation. Computers & Education, 49 (3), 581-596.

The student population for this study consisted of 63 students, both undergraduates and graduate students, from the University of Massachusetts, Lowell College of Management.

The purpose of the study was to develop a better understanding of the role of mobile technology in higher education. A prototype application that ran on PDA’s and cell phones was developed to link such devices to three websites. The study focused on two goals for evaluating the application developed for use on the mobile devices:

-Observe the usage of the application in a classroom setting with students and obtain feedback on the applications

-Determine students opinions on the role and value of m-learning applications

Results on the first goal indicated that the students considered the m-learning application useful and complimented their normal classroom interactions. Some students reported having difficulty using the phone keypads and difficulty navigating and reading the screens. The results, as collected using a survey, relating to the second goal indicated that the students felt that m-learning has the potential of being an effective learning tool, providing flexible access from anywhere.

Peters, Kristine (2007).m-Learning: Positioning educators for a mobile, connected future. International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning. 8(2), 1-17.

• 4 manufacturers /software developers
• 2 large international corporations
• 2 developers of software for mobile devices
• 6 businesses

19 educational providers including universities, high schools, and private training providers

How are businesses and educators using m-technologies and m-learning?

Currently, mobile technologies were in common use in some commercial sectors, but the use of mobile technologies purely for learning was rare.

Many educational providers recognize the benefits of m-learning but found adoption in the educational setting limited because...

-the age and ability of teachers and trainers

-the cost of providing m-learning devices and infrastructure

-the slow rate of change in large educational institutions

-mobile devices are not designed with the education market in mind

Suki, N. M. & Suki, N. M. (2007). Mobile phone usage for m-learning: comparing heavy and light mobile phone users. Emerald Group Publishing Limited, 24 (5), 355-365.

Data was collected from 436 (105 male, 331 female) respondents. About 98 percent of the respondents own a mobile phone and the rest own a smart phone or a PDA/ palmtop.

Purpose: Mobile technologies offer the opportunity to embed learning in a natural environment. The objective of the study is to examine how the usage of mobile phones for m-learning differs between heavy and light mobile phone users. Heavy mobile phone users are hypothesized to have access to/subscribe to or purchase mobile content (games: online, download; infotainment: news, sport; edutainment; entertainment; personalization :ring tone) within the last year than light mobile phone users, and to pay less money for mobile learning, its content and mobile games than light mobile phone users.

Method: About 600 questionnaires were distributed to mobile phone users in the Klang Valley (highly populated urban area in Malaysia). Out of which 436 were returned. Respondents were selected following a stratified random sampling technique, to represent a group of individuals who have the purchasing power and also the resources to access and use the internet, mobile commerce and mobile content.

Two-section questionnaire:

Section A: questions about users’ adoption level of mobile technologies usage and mobile content consumption, such as their level of experience of mobile technologies and content, the type of mobile content accessed within the last year, the frequency of access, subscription to, or purchase of mobile content.

Section B: questions covered the respondents demographics.

Significant differences were identified when comparing the usage of mobile phones for m-learning between heavy and light mobile phone users. It was found that heavy mobile phone users:

-access/subscribe to more than one type of mobile content

-have more frequent access to subscription

-purchased more mobile content within the last year 

-spent more money on mobile learning, its content and mobile games

With the emergence of new tools and media, mobile content can be a powerful means to increase tacit knowledge through the exploration of interactive multimedia and 3D animations for creative edutainment and communication in the future. Thus, mobile content needs to be developed specifically for mobiles, with clear images and good quality sound. 

Users are encouraged to come back and enjoy new segments and features.

Walton, G., Childs, S. & Elizabeth Blenkinsopp. (2005). Using Mobile technologies to give health students access to learning resources in the UK community setting. Health Information and Libraries Journal. , 22 (Suppl. 2), pp.51-65.

49 students in the health visiting/community-nursing/school nursing course completed it at the end of their 12 month course in 2004.

Explore the potential for mobile technologies to be used in accessing resources in the community setting.

More development of m-learning in US than UK.

PDAs used most commonly by health care practitioners, mostly doctors in the acute sector.