Helen Crompton

The use of mobile learning in PK-12 education

With the increase in mobile device affordances, there has been a concomitant rise in the level of interest in investigating the breadth, purpose and extent of mobile learning in education. This systematic review provides a current synthesis of mobile learning research across 20102015 in PK-12 education. This includes a aggregated quantitative and qualitative analysis of the specific mobile learning activities as they connect to learning theories, specifically behaviorist, constructivist, situated, and collaborative learning. Major findings include that the majority of the studies focused on student learning followed by designing systems. Science was the most common subject researched and elementary schools was the most often studies setting. The findings reveal that 40% of the time researchers designed mobile learning activities aligning with the behaviorist approach to learning. This has the students consuming knowledge and not using the full potential of the mobile devices to have students become producers, collaborators, and creators of knowledge. Qualitative coding show 40% of researchers designed mobile activities that fit with the behaviorist approach to learning.Science was the most common subject researched at 53%.Elementary schools were the most often studied setting comprising 56% of the studies.63% of the studies focused on the student learning rather than the device.The majority of the studies took place in formal educational contexts at 50%.

Research Trends in the Use of Mobile Learning in Mathematics

The use of mobile learning in education is growing at an exponential rate. To best understand how mobile learning is being used, it is crucial to gain a collective understanding of the research that has taken place. This research was a systematic review of 36 studies in mobile learning in mathematics from the year 2000 onward. Eight new findings emerged: 1 The primary purpose of most studies was to focus on evaluating mobile learning. 2 Case studies and experimental design were the main research methods. 3 Most studies report positive learning outcomes; 4 Mobile phones were the mobile device used most often. 5 Elementary school settings were the most common research context. 6 The majority of researchers did not identify a specific mathematical concept being studied. 7 The majority of the studies took place in formal educational contexts; and 8 research on mobile learning in mathematics is geographically diverse.

Augmented Learning with Augmented Reality

Perhaps no other digital technology has the potential for revolutionizing the educational experience as augmented reality (AR). In this chapter the philosophical, pedagogical, and conceptual underpinnings are unpacked regarding learning with AR. Specifically, AR is defined and the evolution detailed. Next, some of the common usages of the technology are described, recommendations given, and finally the future educational implications are presented.

Review of Trends in Mobile Learning Studies in Mathematics: A Meta-Analysis

The field of mobile learning is growing an exponential rate. To best understand this field, it is crucial to gain a collective understanding of the research that has taken place. There are a number of recent studies which looked at collective trends in mobile learning across subjects. However, these results do not provide insight into specific subject areas. This meta-analysis reveals the trends in mobile learning in mathematics with a comprehensive analysis and synthesis of 48 studies from the year 2000 onward. Major findings include that most of the studies focus on effectiveness, followed by learning design. Mobile phones are currently the most widely used device used. Also, the use of mobile devices for mathematics learning is most common in elementary (5-11 years old) school settings.

The mobile learning training needs of educators in technology-enabled environments

Mobile learning (mlearning) is an emerging trend in schools, utilizing mobile technologies that offer the greatest amount of flexibility in teaching and learning. Researchers have found that one of the main barriers to effective mlearning in schools is the lack of teacher professional development. Results from a needs-assessment survey and a post-workshop evaluation survey describe the professional development needs of teachers, technology coaches and administrators implementing an mlearning initiative in K–12 schools across 21 US states. Generally, needs shifted from a focus on technology integration and pedagogical coaching to a focus on the needs for ongoing support and time, reflecting a growing confidence in teachers to develop and implement mlearning lessons. Additionally, results from the needs assessment indicated that teachers and staff feel less confident about external areas such as support policies and community involvement – these areas may also offer areas for future growth in mlearning professional development.

Pre-service Teachers’ Developing Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) and Beliefs on the Use of Technology in the K-12 Mathematics Classroom: A Review of the Literature

In mathematics classrooms, technology allows students to reorganize and re-visualize concepts, yet many teachers are choosing not to use technology in their classrooms. This begs the question as to why technology is not being used: Do teachers lack the ability to use the technology, or do they not believe it is effective in the mathematics classroom? This review of literature examines the development of preservice teachers’ (PST’s) TPACK and changes in beliefs from PST preparation experiences. The findings of this review indicate that preservice teachers develop TPACK skills as they progress through the teacher education programs, which also lead to a more positive stance toward the use of technology for mathematics.

The Theory of Context-Aware Ubiquitous Learning and the Affordances of This Approach for Geometry Learners

The use of mobile learning has provided new pedagogical approaches to teaching geometry as a result of the technological affordances provided. One of the key affordances of mobile learning is the portability of the devices. This has untethered the learner from a particular environment to learn wherever and whenever the learner chooses. This chapter describes a subcategory of mobile learning called context-aware ubiquitous learning (context-aware ulearning) where learning happens in a real-world environment while using mobile devices to interact with that setting. This chapter delineates this subcategory and how this type of learning can be dichotomized into sensory and ambient context-aware ulearning. An argument is made that context-aware ulearning is a useful pedagogical approach for learning geometry.

Designing Playful Games and Applications to Support Science Centers Learning Activities

In recent years there has been a renewed interest on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education. Following this interest, science centers’ staff started providing technology enhanced informal STEM education experiences. The use of well-designed mobile and ubiquitous forms of technology to enrich informal STEM education activities is an essential success factor. The goal of our research is to investigate how technology applications can be better used and developed for taking full advantage of the opportunities and challenges they provide for students learning about STEM concepts. In our approach, we have conducted a series of interviews with experts from science center curating and outdoor learning activities development, with the final goal of exploring and improving current learning environments and practices. This paper presents the development of set of design considerations for the development of STEM games and applications of young students. An initial set of best practices was first developed through semi-structures interviews with experts; and afterwards, by employing content analysis, a revised set of considerations was obtained. These results are useful for STEM education teachers, curriculum designers, curators and developers for K-12 education environments.

Mobile Digital Games as an Educational Tool in K-12 Schools

Games are one of the most elemental and basic of human activities that interest people of all ages. Mobile digital games can be used as a beneficial educational tool to enhance teaching, promote student learning, achievement, growth, and development as well as to cultivate students’ twenty-first century skills. The aim of this chapter is to discuss how educators can use digital gaming as an instructional tool in their classroom, regardless of age level or subject area, and thus transform their students into active participants and increase their student achievement levels. This paper examines core aspects of digital gaming, the benefits of digital gaming as well as its limitations such as the challenge of determining the appropriate technology to align with pedagogy and age level. Suggestions are offered as to how the issues can be addressed and concluded with implications for future study.

Using Mobile Devices to Facilitate Student Questioning in a Large Undergraduate Science Class

AskingscientificquestionsisthefirstpracticeofscienceandengineeringlistedintheNextGeneration ScienceStandards.However,gettingstudentstoaskunsolicitedquestionsinalargeclasscanbe difficult.Inthisqualitativestudy,undergraduatestudentssentSMStextmessagestotheinstructor whoreceivedthemonhismobilephoneandviaGoogleGlass.Usingobservations,codingoftexts, andinterviews,theresearchersinvestigatedthetypesandlevelofquestionsstudentsaskedandthe perceptionsoftheinstructorandTAsonhowthemessageswerereceived.Fromthefindingsofthis study,itisevidentthatstudentsaskedawidevarietyofquestiontypesandlevels.Itwouldappear thatimportantdistinctionsbetweenvoiceandtextquestionsarethat:(a)ashyorinsecurequestioner canremainanonymous;(b)questionscanbeaskedinaninteractive,butnotinterruptivemanner; (c)thereisnotimelimittoansweringquestions;and(d)therecordofquestionsontheinstructor’s phonecanbeusedtoguiderevisionoflecturenotesforfuturesemesters. KeywoRDS Educational Technology, Mobile Learning, Science, Science Education, Science Instruction