This study examined if using mobile technology-based activities would increase student performance in biological science courses. The study compared two groups of students in lectures and labs. Each group had about 20 students. The mobile group had mobile technology-based activities and the non-mobile group received conventional instruction. The mobile group used links to the website, or a QR Code to access the activities. The non-mobile group had handouts and worksheets over the same content. The research methodology for this study was mixed method. The study was a quasi-experimental design that used instruction method as the independent variable between two groups. The study used formative and summative assessment to compare the performance of the mobile group and non-mobile group in lecture and lab. The student in the mobile group had statistically significantly higher lab exam scores than students in the non-mobile group. Additionally, Students were surveyed about their performance expectancy and effort expectancy using mobile technology for learning, and they were asked about their self-management of learning. Analysis indicated that both groups had similar performance and effort expectancy using mobile technology for learning, but the two groups differed on self-management of learning responses to the survey. Focus groups from the mobile group and the non-mobile group were interviewed about issues related to benefits and challenges encountered learning with mobile technology-based activities.

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Mobile learning has the pedagogical potential to provide informal, context-based educational experiences that can teach practical and applicable workplace skills and behaviors. The goal of this study was to examine the learning experiences and outcomes of healthcare professionals as they participated in a mobile learning activity designed to teach them the technical and procedural skills for facilitating clinical consultations via videoconference. The primary research question was: How does the use of a curriculum framework to design mobile learning experiences impact the learning experiences and outcomes of healthcare professionals with regards to developing workplace skills and understanding clinical processes? Informed by a systematic review of the mobile learning literature, this dissertation proposed a conceptual framework to guide the implementation and evaluation of mobile learning based on five dimensions of instructional design: content, structure, delivery, usability and communities of practice. Physicians, nurses and healthcare administrators voluntarily participated in this pragmatic, mixed methods study. Their quantitative and qualitative feedback was utilized both to assess the validity of the proposed mobile learning experience conceptual framework as well as its quantitative and qualitative evaluation tools. The study found that informal, contextual mobile learning content can promote communication and collaboration among healthcare professionals, and provide them with hands-on learning experiences that can be easily situated in a specific workplace environment. Delivery was identified as perhaps the most critical element in increasing motivation and interactivity among participants, and communities of practice after the learning activity were found to increase collaboration and provide opportunities for problem-solving. The structure of embedding the informal mobile learning experience within a formal, didactic online learning course was also found by participants to provide the right mix of background knowledge and practical application to produce meaningful learning outcomes. Overall, the mobile learning experience conceptual framework synthesizes best practices in the literature and proposes innovative methods for the design and evaluation of effective mobile learning.

Learning is one of the most interactive processes that humans practice. The level of interaction between the instructor and his or her audience has the greatest effect on the output of the learning process. Recent years have witnessed the introduction of e-learning (electronic learning), which was then followed by m-learning (mobile learning). While researchers have studied e-learning and m-learning to devise a framework that can be followed to provide the best possible output of the learning process, m-learning is still being studied in the shadow of e-learning. Such an approach might be valid to a limited extent, since both aims to provide educational material over electronic channels. However, m-learning has more space for user interaction because of the nature of the devices and their capabilities. The objective of this work is to devise a framework that utilises augmented reality and context awareness in m-learning systems to increase their level of interaction and, hence, their usability. The proposed framework was implemented and deployed over an iPhone device. The implementation focused on a specific course. Its material represented the use of augmented reality and the flow of the material utilised context awareness. Furthermore, a software prototype application for smart phones, to assess usability issues of m-learning applications, was designed and implemented. This prototype application was developed using the Java language and the Android software development kit, so that the recommended guidelines of the proposed framework were maintained. A questionnaire survey was conducted at the University, with approximately twenty-four undergraduate computer science students. Twenty-four identical smart phones were used to evaluate the developed prototype, in terms of ease of use, ease of navigating the application content, user satisfaction, attractiveness and learnability. Several validation tests were conducted on the proposed augmented reality m-learning verses m-learning. Generally, the respondents rated m-learning with augmented reality as superior to m-learning alone.

The ubiquity of mobile devices together with their potential to bridge classroom learning to real-world settings has added a new perspective to contextualising mathematics learning, but this needs further exploration. The aim of this thesis is to examine the effects of using mobile technologies on students’ attitudes, engagement and achievement in mathematics. The study starts with a systematic review of maths and mobile learning studies followed by three iterations of data collection. The three studies were mixed-methods studies guided by the micro, meso, macro (M3) Evaluation Framework. The studies included eight mobile learning sessions spread over three months covering topics on geometry and information handling. These sessions were conducted as collaborative learning activities in indoor and outdoor settings. Participants were Primary 6 and 7 students from three different schools in Scotland. In Study 1 (a single-group design, n=24), students had positive evaluations of mobile learning but some technical problems experienced lessened their initially positive views. There was a small effect in student self-confidence (ES=.20) and a significant positive difference between pre and post-test achievement scores. Breakdowns identified via the critical incident analysis in Study 1 informed the activity design of Study 2. In Study 2 (a quasi-experimental design, n=52), students had more positive perceptions about the use of mobile technology. The experimental group had higher gain scores on the maths test than the control group. In Study 3, a randomised controlled trial over six weeks (n=74), students also had positive evaluations of the mobile learning activities but this varied by gender. Analysis of the maths test scores with pre-test as covariate showed both groups had significantly improved their scores, but no significant treatment effect was found. For items relating to common student misconceptions on angles, students in the experimental group had significantly higher gains than the control group. The overall results from the three studies provide some evidence that students can have positive perceptions about the use of mobile technologies and that these can be effective in supporting students’ engagement and performance in mathematics, especially when learning takes place outside the classroom. It also showed that the success of a mobile learning intervention is dependent on various factors, such as student and teacher characteristics, stability of the technology and content compatibility, among other factors. There were several limitations including sample size, length of intervention, and programme fidelity. Implications for practice and future researchers are discussed.

The learner-centered concept has become an important trend in educational field; collaborative learning is exactly the realization of such a concept. Many studies have pointed out that collaborative learning is better than traditional competitive and personal learning. However, there still exist some practical issues while applying collaborative learning, groupthink is one of them. Although researchers have developed many mechanisms for solving the practical issues of collaborative learning, groupthink can not be eliminated effectively. Because of groupthink, learning groups may jump to coherent conclusions quickly before a fully knowledge sharing and constructing process is being executed. This is against the spirit of Social Constructionism which is the essential theory of collaborative learning and reduces the benefits of collaborative leaning. Learning process control is an effective mechanism for reducing the groupthink effect. However, learning process control mechanism usually cannot work as expected because of the inappropriate guide of instructors or different leading styles of group leaders. Therefore, the aim of this study is to develop a system with the support of learning process control mechanism using mobile devices is developed to ensure the mechanism will be properly executed. The results show that self-censorship, which is one of the symptoms of groupthink, can be reduced significantly if learning process control mechanism is executed on mobile devices compared to the execution on traditional worksheets. Moreover, the groups using mobile devices support for executing the learning process control, the four symptoms of groupthink can be greatly reduced compared to the groups without any learning process control and learners could have better learning attitude and interactive level. Therefore, this study proved that groupthink can be reduced by having learning process control mechanism executed on mobile devices. Finally, some future research topics are proposed based on the research results.

Research about the use of mobile Internet technology in education is increasing, but gaps remain in the literature. This study used a case study approach to understand how teachers in a bilingual English Language Learner (ELL) classroom used iPod touch devices in a Texas public elementary school. Unlike many other studies investigating the use of mobile Internet technology in education by motivated educators and researchers, this research focuses on an initiative where apprehensive teachers were mandated to integrate mobile Internet technology. It also has a relatively rare focus on the implementation process rather than learning outcomes. Research questions were designed to explore how teachers implemented the iPod touch devices, whether the implementation encouraged informal learning, and what implementation challenges arose. Data sources consisted of qualitative interviews with students, teachers, and a school administrator as well as classroom observations and an analysis of student artifacts. Data showed that many activities resulting from the implementation of the iPod touch initiative included elements of constructivist learning and encouraged student interaction. Another finding was that giving students full-time possession of the devices did lead to students using the device outside of school, but that most of their activities involved practicing what they had learned in the classroom and not true informal learning. Overcoming teachers’ hesitancy and lack of familiarity with technology were found to be major obstacles early in the program, but findings suggested that training, support, and student enthusiasm overcame teachers’ initial reluctance. Implications of this research are that efforts to integrate mobile Internet technology with elementary-level ELLs need an active focus on informal learning to leverage the potential the devices offer. Also, successful implementation requires more than just the availability of the technology; it also requires training and support for teachers to increase their familiarity with the technology and to provide them with ideas that allow them to use the technology most effectively. / text

In light of the ubiquitous nature of mobile communications technology, society is forced to rethink education. When considering the freedom of communication in terms of time and space that this mobile technology provides, educators need to understand how this ever present communications platform can be exploited to enhance collaborative learning. The central theme of this thesis is the role of mobile phones as a support for collaborative learning both in and out of the classroom. The questions asked are: What is the distinctive affordance offered by the mobile phone for collaborative learning? What is the affective relationship between student, mobile phone and homework? Does the intervention affect the relationship between students, their mobile phones and their homework? Does the affordance offered by the technology lead to more awareness of learning? What is the nature of the dialogue with the mobile phone technology? In this thesis, the methodology is designed to explore the area of collaborative learning and the use of mobile phones as a support for collaborative learning through critical reviews of the literature and a year-long exploratory multiple case study integrating both qualitative data analysis and quantitative data analysis. Qualitative exploratory interviews and surveys are combined with extensive quantitative internet log data to provide a detailed image of students’ mobile use during collaborative activities. The results are triangulated, and In light of current research key issues are interpreted and discussed. The findings of the study support four key hypotheses which emerge from the theoretical framework. First, that there are distinctive affordances offered by the mobile phone for collaborative learning that increase learning opportunities. Second, that the affective relationship between students and their mobile phone has a positive influence on attitudes towards homework when the homework involves the use of their mobile phones. Third, that the intervention affected the relationship between students their mobile phone and their homework by reducing barriers between private and public spaces. Fourth, the affordances offered by the technology led to more awareness of content through an increase in opportunities for reflection. In addition, some insights into the nature of the dialogue with the mobile phone technology are explored. These findings have implications for educational theory and practice since they provide evidence to support the incorporation of mobile devices into collaborative educational situations. This research will be of interest to those concerned with the impact of mobile devices on the area of collaborative learning specifically and the field of education in general. The contribution that this research brings to scholarship and to the educational community is an increased understanding of the ways that ubiquitous mobile technology can affect a student’s mobile-based collaborative learning experience. The integration of these findings into the current body of knowledge may lead to improvements in future educational design and highlight areas which require further research.

Submitted by Daniella Sodre (daniella.sodre@ufpe.br) on 2015-03-09T13:43:22Z No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) Dissertacao JFBN.pdf: 5041452 bytes, checksum: abf0f91890177ce9882a83feb5ed8827 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-03-09T13:43:22Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) Dissertacao JFBN.pdf: 5041452 bytes, checksum: abf0f91890177ce9882a83feb5ed8827 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-12-17 / A indústria dos jogos digitais (games) vem superando o faturamento da indústria do cinema desde 2007. Atualmente, jogar faz parte da rotina de muitos brasileiros, especialmente dos jovens. Tal fato também é reflexo do aumento da qualidade dos recursos de tecnologia de informação e comunicação nos últimos anos. As transformações ocorridas nos meios de comunicação têm acarretado uma série de mudanças no âmbito da educação, haja vista a utilização de mídias digitais, as quais se tornaram uma realidade bem comum para a maioria das escolas brasileiras. . Além disso, dispositivos móveis estão cada vez mais acessíveis à população. Este trabalho investiga a utilização de jogos educativos digitais na educação. Este trabalho foi iniciado com uma pesquisa sobre a utilização de jogos na educação. Após estudos, foi desenvolvida metodologia para desenvolvimento de jogos educativos, a qual também define uma integração com ambientes virtuais de aprendizagem. Como prova de conceito, foi criado um jogo educacional desenvolvido para dispositivos móveis na plataforma Android, integrado com ambientes virtuais de aprendizagem, o qual foi desenvolvido reproduzindo fielmente a metodologia proposta. A integração foi feita por meio de um componente de comunicação, facilitando a troca de informações entre jogos e ambientes de aprendizagem, de modo a proporcionar maior independência do aluno. Ao final do desenvolvimento do protótipo executável foi realizada uma avaliação em duas partes: testes com especialistas na área pedagógica e uma avaliação em um contexto real de ensino.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-12T15:56:27Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 arquivo2924_1.pdf: 2099836 bytes, checksum: e6fff26619f6e4a799873e9945973a35 (MD5) license.txt: 1748 bytes, checksum: 8a4605be74aa9ea9d79846c1fba20a33 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009 / A educação a distância é uma modalidade de ensino que vem crescendo em todo mundo, devido à sua capacidade de minimizar problemas de tempo e localização geográfica. Dessa forma, vários métodos e técnicas de ensino a distância vêm sendo estudadas e criadas para aprimorar e potencializar ao máximo o processo de aprendizagem por parte dos alunos. Este trabalho apresenta uma solução para o acesso a objetos de aprendizagem por meio de dispositivos móveis e a sua integração em ambientes virtuais de ensino a distância, tendo como objeto de estudo o AMADEUS. Nesta solução, foi definida e implementada uma arquitetura que pode ser integrada aos referidos sistemas. Através dessa arquitetura, professores poderão adicionar objetos de aprendizagem à pratica docente e alunos poderão acessá-los em qualquer lugar e a qualquer momento por meio de seus dispositivos móveis, garantindo, dessa forma, um aprendizado interativo, atraente e divertido