The Use Of Mobile Devices In Schools

The Use Of agile Devices In SchoolsMost of our classrooms of today do not differ much from those of the 19th century, chalk and talk, as well as desk and texts (Roschelle et al. 2000 76) ar still the primary grammatical construction of classroom lessons as they were back then. But yet, as explained by Roschelle et al. (2000), todays curricula, to layher with societal demands, expects students to learn and know a brood more than previous generations. With time, engineering increases rapidly and becomes more ubitquitous.Mobile spins have become an integral part of the 21st century student. From cell ph integritys to mp3 players, digital cameras to fluent tablets. These are their utensils that is like extentions to their brain (Prensky 2005 10) that they exercising in their everyday lives. Educating students without these tools is like educating a doctor whithout a scalpel. The use of nimble technology to speed eruditeness is slowly starting to emerge as an area of its own and refered to as m- reading.This review will be looking at what explore has been make in the literature regarding the use and integration of sprightly devices in the educational system.Research TopicThe chosen enquiry topic is part of an existing investigate project where Android unstable tablets are distri onlyed to schools with maths content on. The purpose of my look for will be to evaluate the usefulness of the mobipads in sustaining mathematics learning in classrooms. This research topic falls into the broad area of alert learning (m-learning).ProblemOutside of schools, new technology such as fluid devices is changing the flair we find information, how we learn and even how we are entertained, but, although our education institutes are aware of these happenings immaterial of schools, they still prohibit the use of mobile phones and other mobile devices ( fop 2009 73). It is inevitable that technology, but especially mobile devices, privations to be integrated into th e schooling system which leaves us with the question How mickle mobile devices be integrated into our learning institues to be perceived useful by both educators and learners?Main Research QuestionAs stated is entertainmentction 2, I will be conducting research inside an existing project which aims to suggest one way to address the problem as stated in Section 3. My main research question then will be Are mobile devices such as Android mobile tablets a useful tool to support the learning of mathematics in classrooms?BackgroundBackground to TopicDigital natives is what students of today are called according to Prensky (2005 8), because they grew up and live in the digital world of today (Franklin Peng, 2008 69). Consequently they are very familier with all types of mobile devices as they use it in their everyday lives in numerous day-to-day activities.When mobile devices (excluding mobile phones) first made their appearance, they were referred to as handheld computers and where m erely just stripped down versions of their more complex desktop predecessors (Squire, 2009 71). Squire (2009) further explains that researchers began to cartoon mobile devices more in depth to find out what makes it unique and how it back be go ford. Anytime/ whateverwhere is the most unique characteristic of mobile devices.Mobile learning (m-learning) is a phenomenon that is rapidly evolving as more and more people rely on their mobile devices to provide them with needed information at each time and any location. According to Chang, Sheu and Chan (2003 337) m-learning consits of three necessary elements the mobile learning device the communication infra social structure and a learning activity. Huang and Lin (2007585) defines mobile learning as activities in which people use mobile devices such as cellphones, personal digital assistants (PDA), mobile tablets (mobipads), etc. to facilitate learning, studying or teaching of any soft. Ting (2005) goes further by stating that mobi le learning is not aimed at replacing the traditional classroom learning system, but it provides an additional way to get learning content and to embed learning into the daily lives of people. Huang Lin (2007) cunducted research in the user acceptance of m-learning. Their reseach findings suggest that individuals perceive m-learning as omnipresent and easy to use and with the mobility it offers, m-learning is regared as a very useful by students.Mathematics has always been known as a problem subject that students underachieves in and struggles to understand. Rubin (1999 3) argues that it is due to the accompaniment that mathematics is often viewed as an abstract topic, filled with symbols and invisible concepts. He continues to argue that the lack of dynamic and visual illustrations of the maths concepts, makes it all the more serious to understand, especially for the 21st century student that is more visual orientated. According to Rubin (1999 3), technology can help to create d ynamic visual images. Franklin and Peng (2008) did just that. They distrubuted iPod dissemble mobile devices in an eighth grade math class where the students created math tellys to explain difficult math concepts to their fellow students. Some of the students responded by saying that in order to be able to create proper videos, it required them to think harder and longer about the mathematics concepts and that they realized how hard it is to explain maths to others. Swan, vanguard t Hooft and Kratcoski (2005 100) supports Franklin and Pengs (2008) findings by stating that the use of mobile devices can support personalized and collaborative learning.Swan et al. (2005) provided a have of students with mobile computing devices to take shoes with them. Their results shows that these devices were not only used inside the orb environment of school, but also infomrally outside of school boundries to facilitate learning. This can be partly explained by the fact that students having a mobile device in hand feels like second nature to students of the contemporary age, it keeps them busy and entertained. Swan et al. (2005 100) found that students were more propel and assiduous in more learning activites which resulted in students being more productive. Students using mobile technologies to collaboratively perform problem-solving activities, proves to have a positive influence on their level of understanding of the processes and content (Klopfer, Yoon Rivas 2004 348). In their research cheek study, Franklin and Peng (2008 78) found that using technology even helped special education students to better understand the concepts of the mathematics and kept them interested in the content of the work for longer.As previously discussed, the current generation of students grow up constantly exposed to technology and indeed are more technology literate than those students of a decade ago (Swan et al. 2005). Keeping in mind the increasing use of mobile gaming devices and video gaming consoles, Squire (2009) investigated how the use of mobile devices ousite of the school environment impacts learning and education. Squire (2009 72) argues that although the utilization of mobile devices in formal schooling environments are overture around slowly, there already is a big emerging market for gaming companies to develop games for learning. Nintendos Brain Age product and More Brain homework advertising campaigns and UbiSofts My Spanish Coach is a few examples the Squire (200972) mentions were one can see that more gaming companies are developing educational games that facilitates most sort of learning.Squire collaborated with Klopfer in (Klopfer Squire, 2008) to investigate the use of augmented reality (AR) games for learning purposes in educational institutes. AR games were developed on the concept that students are players within virtual worlds that are created by the game based on real worlds, and move around, interact and respond to simulated activ ities (Squire, 2009 73). Squire (2009 73) explains further that eyepatch students move through this virtual version of a real world, they get access to news clips, historical photographs and other multimedia data relevant to the specific place they are in within the game. Squire (2008 73) found that through this kind of learning, students develop a tendency to ask deeper questions in problem-solving situations.More reseach do by Klopfer and Squire (2008 6) brought to light that there are numerous entertainment and educational applications for mobile devices that only enhances these devices teaching potential. All of these apllications are developed with the chatacteristics of mobile technology in mind that includes portibility, connectivity and individuality. These entertainment and educational application offers features like real-time data on a wide range of subjects, immediate feedback on questions and aswers and facilitation of group work by students.Through the literature, i t is becoming evident that educators are starting to believe that they can use the unique facilities that mobile devices offers to keep students engaged and more easily distribute the coursework and content to them (Franklin Peng, 2008 71).Schools of thinking emerging from literatureIn the literature it comes across that the general school of thinking falls within an interpretivism paradigm which, according to Oats (2006 291), is used to understand the social context of something. The use of mobile devices is by itself of social nature because it is used to communicate with others, work collaboratively with others and to entertain. When one studies the use of mobile devices, the use of data gathering methods like interviews, questionnaires and diary studies or journal studies are used were the learners are asked to analyse themselves in harm of their own thought and learning experiences (Pachler et al. 2010 71) with regards to using these mobile devices. This goes together with ob servations that the researcher does in the natural environment where the mobile technology are being utilized. This kind of research is usually done over a time period, to be able to get a more holistic view of the specific phenomenon. The shift study research strategy drop by the waysideed Franklin and Peng (2008) to give an indepth discussion of the utilization of iPod Touch mobile devices in two middle schools. Klopfer and Squire (2008) conducted a series of discriptive case studies to learn what the users experiences were of learning through augmented reality games and found it to be a strategy that gets user data quickly and leeds to a rich and elaborate description thereof. They gathered their data through participant observaton, unstructured interviewsTo research the use of mobile tablets in a classroom environment for learning mathematics, I will be adjacent the above school of thinking as I think it is most relevant.Many studies do follow the more scientific methods by m aking use of experiments that they implement in the field to determine the effect of the implementation of the mobile devices. Scanlon, Jones and Waycot (20057) refers to an experiment done on a sample of secondary school students. Each student was given a Pocketbook and were instructed to do a few activites with it. Questionairs served as a pre- and post-intervention measurement. A simmular research structure was followed by Klopfer et al. (2004). Rivera (n.d.) conducted a quasi-experiment with a control group and treatment group to test the effects of integrating technology such as skype to communicate with educators and online interactive white boards for online tutoring sessions. Rivera used the course exams as a measuring instrument as well as the amount of times the students accessed the online help site for the course. discover the two control groups in their classroom environment and online was another gata gathering method that she utilized.Sometimes authors combine differ ent research strategies to best suit their research objectives. Huang and Lin (2007) made use of an online survey as a means of gathering data which they then statistically analysed to be able to prove or negate hypothesis. When authors follow a more scientific school of thinking, generally the data is statistically analised to answer their research questions and draw conclusions from.ChallengesThe following are challenges that have been determine by the literature regarding the use of mobile devices for educational purposes in classroomsLack of technical support. During their research Franklin and Peng (200875) that the need for quality technical support is critical. Challenges that they came accros was the provision of radiocommunication technology without an expert to set it up. Although, the teacher had to contact the principle everytime a website that the students needed to work on, got blocked. It is not uncommon that schools are provided with technology to use in their cla ssrooms, but without the necessary technical support and expertise. This can place a big damper on the idea that technology in classrooms is a fun experience and rather easy to use.The scarcity of recharging stations for the mobile devices. Providing facilities for roughly 40 students per class is a primary challenge (Franklin Peng, 2008 76) that cannot be avoided when wanting to confine mobile devices into classrooms.Technology skills of educator. Educators of the classes where the mobile devices are implemented, first needs to develop and learn the necessary technology skills to operate the mobile devices (Franklin Peng, 2008). This will be a challenge especially when the educator is of an older generation that did not necessarily grow up with technology and was not previously exposed to a lot of technology. Roschelle et al. (2000 90) argues that technology support for teachers is often overlooked easily.The curriculum needs rethinking. Squire (2009 73) expresses difficulties o f trying to integrate the mobile media devices into the traditional schooling structure. Franklin and Peng (2008 76) argues that presenting subjects like maths visually and with the use of technology, is a foreign concept for most educators in schools.The schools capacity to change. Roschelle et al. (2000 91) argues the some schools are more reluctant at accepting the use of technology into their classrooms and curriculum. They still view the use of mobile devices for learning as foreign and unknown and therefore prefer to hold on to their current schooling structure.OpportunitiesThe following opportunities for further research in the field of m-learning and mobile devices in education that have been identified by the literatureHuang and Lin (2007 586) states that not much empirical research has been done on on mobile learning from the perspective of the learner. They argue that m-learning can only be improved if the behaviour, experiences and acceptance of the user of m-learning is studied.According to Squire (2009 70) there has been little research done on to study and understand the impact of mobile media on learning where the mobile device is used outside of formal structures and in students own time. This is supported by Scanlon et al. (2005 2) when he identifies that there is a need for research on the learning of science on mobile devices in an informal setting.Roschelle et al. (2000 76) states that further case study research is needed to identify ways to use mobile technology that will support learning most effectively and the successful implementation thereof.More case study research is needed to investigate and better understand the aspects of peoples daily lives where they use mobile devices (Scanlon et al. 2005) and how m-learning relates to that.The use of mobile devices for educational purposes in classrooms as an m-learning tool offers several advantages and opportunities for the students as well as their societyStudents can share the experien ce on the mobile devices with their peers in collaborative activities and with other friends or family at home. This opportunity was revealed when Franklin Peng (2008 77) saw students sharing their earphones with someone else so both can whatch the educational videos on the iPod Touch.Students are provided with the opportunities of anytime/anywhere learning (Squire 2009 71). Scanlon et al. (2005 6) supports this by stating that due to the fact that mobile devices are rather affordable and provide portability, accessibility and immediacy, students can get what they need, when they need it (Staudt Hsi, 1999 In Scanlon et al. 2005 6) and not be bound by their physical location.Students do not just learn about the subject presented by the mobile device, but they also learn how to use the technology, as some students do not have the technology at home and thus not the opportunity of learning about it otherwise (Franklin Peng 2008). This is valuable to the students development and cruc ial skills to have in their future.Roschelle et al. (2000 88) identify a few advantages that doing mathematics on technology devices have for the students (1) students can explore different ways of solving problems by because they can change and manipulate mathematical notations quickly and then (2) receive immediate feedback on the justness of their notion and (3) students can make more sence out of the maths contect by either associating mathematical concepts to data from the real world or simulations thereof.ConclusionFrom the research it is clear that both researcher and educators have noticed the fast growing phenomenon that is m-learning through mobile devices. It is slowly but surely redesigning the chalk talk and desk and texts structure of our classrooms. Numerous studies have been done by researchers, some even collaborated with educators, to examine the presence, effects and uses of mobile devices in schools that facilitate learning in both formal and informal settings.M obile devices offer some unique opportunitiesLearning is no longer dependent on the location of the learner, but rather, anyone with a mobile device and the needed wireless connection can learn anything, anywhere and anytime.Knowledge can be shared a lot easier and promotes collaborative learning.Users of the device do not just learn about the content on it, but also about the technology they are working with.The different uses of mobile devices in peoples everyday lives.Because the use of mobile devices in schools is still relatively new, there are some challenges that were identified through literatureLack of technical support with problems and queries in the classes where mobile devices are being used.The scarcity of recharging stations for the mobile devices in classrooms.Educators need to develop or update their technology skills before they can facilitate a class where the devices are used.The education curriculum needs to be revised in order to facilitate the use of mobile de vices and utilize it to its full potential.Some schools still view the use of mobile devices for learning as foreign and unknown and therefore they are reluctant to change.It is sure that, by time, these challenges will be overcome more easily. Drawn from the research, it can be said with certainty that the use of mobile technology in education institutes is the way of the future, but a lot more research is needed on how to utilize it successfully to provide the youth with quality education that will allow them to strive in the world. By researching the effectiveness of using mobile tablets (mobipads) in classrooms as a tool for learning mathematics, will contribute to the m-learning body of knowledge in a much needed way.Word count 3160