Abstract
Educators have pointed out the necessity of situating students in real-world learning scenarios. They have also indicated the importance of providing a technology-enhanced learning environment that enables students to access digital learning resources in anywhere and at any time. The popularity of mobile and wireless communication technologies has provided a good opportunity to accomplish these objectives. In the past decade, many studies that employ those technologies in various practical educational settings, such as the learning activities of computer, mathematics, engineering, social science and natural science courses, have been reported. In addition, various strategies and tools have been proposed to help students more effectively learn with mobile devices. In this article, the strategies, applications and trends of mobile technology-enhanced learning are reported based on the literature. It is expected that the article would benefit those who are interested in applying mobile technologies to learning activities or training programs.
TopOverview
Sung and Hwang (2014, P1) indicated that “mobile technology-enhanced learning activities could be indoors or outdoors, within a single context, or across contexts, depending on the objectives of the learning activities, the features of the learning content, and the needs of associating the learning content to real-world contexts.”
Dr. Mike Sharples (Sharples, 2000) at The Open University in the United Kingdom and Dr. Jeremy Roschelle (Roschelle, 2003) at the Center for Technology in Learning at SRI International in United States are among the earliest examining this topic.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Concept Map: A diagram that presents the relationships between concepts.
Mobile Learning: The approach in which learners use mobile technologies to learn or the approach that enables learners to move during the learning process.
Seamless Learning: The seamless integration of the learning experiences across various dimensions including formal and informal learning contexts, individual and social learning, and physical world and cyberspace.
Mindtools: Computer programs that engage students in higher order thinking.
Context-Aware Ubiquitous Learning: The approach that uses mobile devices with wireless communication facilities as a medium for conducting in-field learning activities with the assistance of sensing technologies.
Inquiry-Based Learning: A pedagogical method that engages students in exploring a learning environment, raising questions or problems, and searching for answers to the questions or information for solving the problems.
Ubiquitous Learning: The approach that enables learning to be proceeded in anywhere and at any time.