Supporting Interaction in Learning Activities Using Mobile Devices in Higher Education

Abstract

Mobile devices are personal, portable and being increasingly used to assist students' learning that creates new educational opportunities for students at university. Adopting mobile technologies to various educational activities that students are practicing in Higher Education (HE) is a key challenge yet one that could create powerful opportunities to support academic learning. This research will investigate how students at university use mobile devices with respect to engagement and interaction in various learning activities. It will study how students in HE engage with learning tasks and what social interactions occur when they are trying to achieve their academic goals. Also, the tools/software that support their academic goals in different learning settings or activities will be considered. This paper shows the background of the research to promote students' interaction in various learning settings (including both different physical environments and different activities) using mobile learning support system.

Understanding the Correlation between Teacher and Student Behavior in the Classroom and Its Consequent Academic Performance

“…Several studies provide evidence of the positive correlation between increased students engagement and their increased school performance and their retention of content in contrast to passive reception (Smith et al, 2005), (Simoni, 2011). The use of tablets in a classroom increases the level of student engagement (Shishah et al, 2013). Student monitoring allows teachers to address individual student deficiencies and act upon them (Beyers et al, 2013).…”

“…Several studies provide evidence of the positive correlation between increased student engagement and improvement in content learning and retention, in contrast to passive reception (Smith et al, 2005) (Hrepic, 2009) (Simoni, 2011). The use of tablets in the classroom increases the level of student engagement (Shishah et al, 2013).…”

SCHOM. A tool for communication and collaborative e-learning

“…Since mobile learning was born, several tools have been proposed to promote the interaction in higher education (Shishah, Hopkins, FitzGerald, & Higgins, 2013;Zhang, Ordóñez de Pablos, & Zhang, 2012); most of them are based on using SMS and MMS, and some of them use email as way of communication. For example, SHERPA (Schweitzer & Teel, 2011), mobile tool designed and used by teachers and students to facilitate the communication between them.…”

A Study on Factors Affecting the Mobile Learning of Undergraduate Students in China

“…Mobile learning is opening new possibilities for personal fulfillment and lifelong learning (Sharples, 2005). Adopting mobile technologies in Higher Education could create powerful opportunities to support called here and now learning and learners have the chance to access information anytime and anywhere to perform authentic activities in the context of their learning (Shishah, 2013;Martin, 2013).…”