Accessing Learning Management Systems With Smartphones: What Is the Effect on Learning Behavior and Student Engagement?

Introduction

While there has been an increasing amount of research on mobile learning over the last five years (Azizi & Khatony, 2019; Buabeng-Andoh, 2021; Lai, 2019; Ramirez, Arias & Duque, 2019), few studies have specifically investigated university students' approach to learning and engagement patterns in terms of how they access Learning Management Systems (LMS) using smartphones. Where studies do exist of smartphone usage as gateway devices to LMS, the research has often involved students from one particular subject area, rather than quantitative research that explores learning-related variables across a diverse range subject areas (Su & Cheng, 2015). Moreover, the use of terms such as ‘approach to learning’, ‘student engagement’ and a plethora of terms commonly used in research on e-learning have often been used interchangeably and the field would benefit from more precise definitions (Basak, Wotto & Bélanger, 2018; Singh & Thurman, 2019).

In order to address these gaps, this chapter is significant in that it investigated the use of smartphones to access an LMS by undergraduate students in the online courses of a regionally accredited university in the United States involving 1,843 students spread across five diverse disciplinary areas (Education, Health Care Professions, Humanities and Social Sciences, Business and Theology). Arising from a review of relevant research, this quantitative study was guided by two main research questions:

• RQ₁: Is there a difference in learning approach between students using a smartphone to access an LMS and that taken by students who use other access mediums?

• RQ₂: Is there a difference in engagement between students using a smartphone to access an LMS and students who use other access mediums?

In the study ‘approach to learning’ was defined by the influential typology of approaches to learning developed by Marton and Säljö (1997) and Purdie, Hattie and Douglas (1996). Following Krause and Coates (2008), ‘engagement’ was defined as the time, commitment, resources, and intentional student-to-student and student-to-instructor proactive involvement that students contribute toward their learning. In what follows, the chapter first contextualises these key terms in a review of relevant research before outlining the methodology of the study and presenting its findings and implications. Given the swift transition to remote forms of online teaching and learning resulting from COVID-19 (Affouneh, Salha & Khlaif, 2020) and the likelihood that educators will need to respond in resilient ways to a rapidly changing and increasingly disaster prone world in future (Baytiyeh, 2018; Tull, Dabner & Ayebi-Arthur, 2017), the chapter’s findings will be of particular value to university teachers, curriculum developers, e-learning designers and program managers, as well as those with limited previous experience in the field, who aim to a) understand how students are using smartphones to access specific online LMS content remotely, and b) develop next generation collaborative learning environments in which mobile devices will be an integral component.