For the past several years the Horizon Report has listed mobile learning, in one form or another, as an emerging educational technology (e.g. mobile computing, mobile apps, social media, BYOD, mobile learning). Mobile technologies have changed over the years: from the early PDAs, Blackberrys and feature phones with texting capability and cameras, to tablets and eReaders to the ubiquitous smartphones of today. According to the ECAR 2016 Study of Undergraduate Students and Information Technology, 96% of undergraduate students now own a smartphone. Smartphones have clearly emerged as the mobile technology of choice, while the tablet, eReader and wearable technology ownership has dropped off.

Considering that community college students oftentimes have access to fewer resources, it seems at first that this would be counter-intuitive. However, when you consider that the smartphone may be the main source of Internet access, it begins to make more sense. The cost of the smartphone is usually spread out over monthly payments within a contract. This means lower costs up-front and lower costs overall when compared to the combined costs of cellular and monthly broadband Internet service to the home.

Despite near universal device ownership, students have yet to fully embrace the smartphone as a tool for learning. The ECAR study indicates that most students (appx 80%) do use their smartphones for one or more classes while only 46% consider them “essential for coursework” compared to their laptops at 93%. This is understandable considering the fact that many online courses tend to be reading and writing intensive. The size of the screen and necessity of “typing” with a virtual keyboard, can mean reading and writing with the smartphone a laborious task.

The top three ways listed by students for using academic technology include making it easier to access coursework (72%), increasing communication with other students (65%), as well as with their instructors (60%) – in other words, student-to-content, student-to-student, and student-to-instructor interactivity. Anderson’s Interaction Equivalency Theorem states that “deep and meaningful formal learning is supported as long as one (or more) of the three forms of interaction is at a high level”.

What if we were to design the course with the smartphone learner in mind? Not necessarily that the course must be taken using a smartphone, but that the learner who uses a smartphone as their primary technology would not be disadvantaged. What would we then need to do differently?

Rather than delivering content primarily in the form of text, the use of video and/or audio formats might prove more mobile-friendly. Smartphones are great for watching short videos or listing to music. Video and audio files (podcasts) can can be easily created using various mobile apps or web-conferencing solutions (e.g. Voice Recorder, Zoom.us, Skype). By using Google Drive or Archive.org, media can be made available for students to download offline, when they may be without a WiFi connection as well as for those students with limited data plans.

The ability to take photos, record and share images, audio and video via the smartphone camera can be a powerful tool for both student-to-content and student-to-student interactivity. By sharing or attaching photos, screenshots, video or audio files, learners can create authentic artifacts. Such media can be submitted to an e-portfolio or blog (e.g. Tumblr) for peer review or assessment of learning.

Most social media technologies (SMT) are designed to work with the smartphone as well as with desktop browsers. By replacing LMS threaded discussion with SMT (e.g. GroupMe), messaging, engaging in group discussions, as well as sharing news, scholarly articles, video, etc. becomes a simple and familiar process.

Scheduling virtual office hours using Skype, Zoom, or Hangouts can increase student-to-instructor interactivity and improve student satisfaction. Skype also can be used for asynchronous video and audio communication, supporting teaching presence and instructor immediacy.

Despite the pervasiveness of smartphone ownership by today’s undergraduate students, their use of the technology for academic purposes has not kept up with the rate of adoption. One reason students may not leverage their mobile devices for formal learning is educators have yet to fully “harness” the affordances of the technology for teaching and learning.

References:

Brooks, D.C. (2016). ECAR Study of Undergraduate Students and Information Technology 2016. EDUCAUSE.

ANDERSON, T (2003). Getting the Mix Right Again: An Updated and Theoretical Rationale for Interaction. IRRODL

Cochrane, T., Bateman, R. (2010). Smartphones give you wings: Pedagogical
affordances of mobile Web 2.0. Australasian Journal of Educational Technology.