Jeffrey E. Brand

Uncoupling mobility and learning: When one does not guarantee the other

Mobile learning was an embedded component of the pedagogical design of an undergraduate course, Digital media and society. In the final semester of 2010 and the first semester of 2011, 135 students participated in an empirical study inquiring into their perceptual experience of mobile learning. To control for access to technology, an optional iPad student loan scheme was used. The iPads were loaded with an electronic textbook and a mobile application of the learning moderation system. Eighty students participated in ten-person focus groups. Feedback on mobility and the electronic text was positive and optimistic. However, the majority of students were not convinced that the trial made a difference to their learning. This result was interpreted to indicate that the presence or absence of mobile devices does not guarantee or preclude student learning.

University student experiences of mobile learning: One year beyond commencement

Mobile learning was an embedded component in the pedagogical design of an innovative undergraduate course, Digital Media and Society. This paper reports the experiences and perceptions of 189 students over three semesters in 2010 and 2011. Students were given the option of using their own devices or a university loaned iPad. The iPads were loaded with an electronic textbook and a mobile application of the learning management system. Feedback from students on mobility and the electronic text was positive and optimistic overall. However, the majority of these students were not convinced that the trial made a difference to their learning.

Informing our own choices: A proposal for user-generated classification

New media are distrusted media, and computer games are the contemporary currency in new media. Computer game content, like other popular media content, is regulated in different jurisdictions by one of three general models: the open market in which consumption decides the availability of product, industry self-regulation in which industry bodies decide, and government regulation in which government or quasi-governmental bodies decide. Arguably, these models represent the twentieth century state of the art and fail to keep pace with changes in the aesthetics and technologies associated with interactive entertainment. In a networked economy, alternative models exist to serve content gatekeeping functions, and they serve to close the lags and limitations that plague existing models. These alternatives include innovations such as user-generated classification and dynamic meta-tagging. This paper examines current classification approaches and their limitations, and presents alternative approaches with a hypothetical game title.

Formes de l’autorégulation de la vie sociale des joueurs intensifs de Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOGs)

While perceptions of video gaming are moving from being suspicious to being enthralled, the fact remains that the social component of Massively Multiplayer Online Games is now the subject of most recent research. This article presents findings of research undertaken with intensive and formerly intensive gamers of MMOGs to shed light on the break in playing that they experienced. The objective was to better understand how intense gamers handle their social lives despite their time-consuming activity. Results show that players viewed their gaming activity as part of their overall social lives following two ideal-type patterns: leisure and/or a virtual ‘third place.’ Despite the intensity of their gaming, the players demonstrated that they respected their commitments, owing to a sense of prioritization. Findings of this research drastically reduce the presence of an intrinsic addictive characteristic in video games by placing the pleasure of being together at the heart of the activity.