Over the last ten years the application of m-learning has increased within educational settings worldwide. Through everyday exposure to mobile technologies young people are rapidly becoming 'digital natives' (Prensky, 2001}, making this technology something schools cannot afford to ignore (Becta, 2009a; Sharples, 2007). However, the current position within schools does not support the notion that teachers are keeping pace with technological advances (Bauer and Kenton, 2005; Ofsted, 2009) and most schools are not grounded in young peoples' everyday technological experiences (Bauer and Kenton, 2005). It is essential that the effects of m-learning are investigated further because m-learning offers teachers the opportunity to work outside the constraints of the classroom environment providing pupils with personalised, up-to-date learning on demand; however vigilance is key as participation in m-learning does not automatically transform pupils into 'learning natives' (Passey, 2009). The goal of this small-scale action research inquiry was to expose GCSE Geography pupils to two location-aware (mediascape) mobile technology activities and then, through the lens of Activity Theory, the advantages and limitations associated with using mobile technology have been presented and discussed in terms of affective and cognitive findings. After weighing up the advantages and limitations; this action research inquiry has discovered that sufficient evidence exists to assert that m-learning can enhance pupils' learning experience. If embraced and embedded into the curriculum m-learning can become more than an idealistic dream moving beyond the 'early adopters' (Rogers, 2003) into mainstream education. It could become a revolutionary teaching and learning tool benefiting both teachers and pupils; helping to raise standards, improving performance and enhancing the learning process. In an effort to increase the acceptance of mobile technology as a worthy teaching tool the potential future use of m-learning within GCSE Geography has also been reviewed and recommendations for interested groups/individuals presented.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:554347 |
| Date | January 2011 |
| Creators | Butler, Ryan Owen |
| Publisher | Queen's University Belfast |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
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