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The crux of mobile learning: key aspects in teaching with mobile devices

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 International Conferences Mobile Learning 2021 (ML 2021) and
Educational Technologies 2021 (ICEduTech 2021)

THE CRUX OF MOBILE LEARNING: KEY ASPECTS

IN TEACHING WITH MOBILE DEVICES

Judith Balanyà Rebollo and Janaina Minelli de Oliveira

Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Tarragona, Spain

ABSTRACT
This work aims to analyze and validate the didactic elements to implement mobile learning in education and to provide
teachers with specific actions to consider in the process of designing, implementing and evaluating mobile devices in
their classroom. The research was designed according to Design-Based Research in which has allowed us to sequence the
process from phases: this article presents the first phase of the validation process of the didactic elements of mobile
learning selected from the literature review, systematic review and based on expert judgement evaluation. The findings
derive a seven-category cluster: academic knowledge of the content; methodological strategies; activities; evaluation;
mobile resources; technological learning spaces and teachers. The main results could be useful so they can later be
applied by the teachers on didactic mobile learning design in their classrooms.

KEYWORDS
Mobile Learning, Educational Innovation, Technology Integration, Educational Strategies

1. INTRODUCTION

1.1 Theoretical Framework

It is currently an undeniable fact that a large part of the population has mobile devices that are used daily.
One of the challenges that governments, educational institutions and educators, in general, must face today is
related to the use of such devices as tools at the service of learning. Mobile devices can offer the possibility
of actively searching, selecting, and producing information, through multiple languages and opening up
possibilities for collaboration and socialization relevant to a real transformation of education.
The European Union has stated the importance of promoting 21st -century skills to be digital citizens
competent. Citizens must be able to develop autonomously in the new digital scenarios opened by the digital
world (Domingo-Coscollola et al., 2020; Jahoor, Botha and Herselman, 2020; Gaebel et al., 2021) Education
must contribute to social inclusion and equip students with tools and capacities to face the challenges of the
“global economy”. The success in consolidating these competencies does not pass only through the students
but also involves the teachers, who are also learners of this competency learning. Today's digital skills are
closely related to the use of mobile devices (UNESCO, 2018). The OECD (OECD, 2019) highlights and
propose various actions to accelerate the incorporation of information and knowledge technologies, from now
on, ICT in classrooms that lead to an optimal result: redesign the functioning of the schools and their project,
taking into account the new learning models, the students as co-creators or creators and not mere recipients.
Mobile learning is associated with the use of mobile technology in education and is located at the
intersection of mobile computing and e-learning to produce an educational experience anywhere and at any
time Jahoor and Herselman (2020) state that to establish a definition of mobile learning, three key concepts
cannot be ignored: mobile technologies; ubiquity linked to mobility and educational uses in variable contexts.
The introduction of ICT in the school has a profoundly transformative potential of the methodology,
because of the new creative and interactive possibilities of the new technologies. Thus, ICT can become a
facilitator of learning and a motivator for the student to become an active learner comments that with
different media not only does one learn differently but also different learning occurs, which decisively

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influences how knowledge is constructed and represents a reconceptualization and a fundamental

reorganization in teaching dynamics: at the level of development, discipline and resources (Moore, 2019)
In any case, is evident mobile devices are being strategic tools that have the potential to facilitate the
creation of teaching materials and improve educational quality. Also, the role of teachers has changed
compared to a traditional model of lectures. From this perspective, the dynamism of learning is one of the
most important premises and, at the same time, a requirement to carry out this type of educational
methodology. To all this, educational didactics plays an important role in mobile learning since it involves
scientifically posing the ideal guidelines for developing learning based on specifics in the methodological,
content, teacher and student aspects, construction and theoretical justification. All these important
characteristics should be considered before carrying out this type of activity since the importance of
educational reflection falls within the design itself (Camacho and Esteve, 2016; Camacho et al., 2017;
Castañeda and Selwyn, 2018; Bautista et al., 2019; Ifinedo and Rikala, 2019; Oliveira and Esteve-González,
2020; Jahoor, Botha and Herselman, 2020)

1.2 Purpose of the Study

The present research aims to analyze the conditions in which the use of technology can support learning
among students. Specifically, it seeks to i) identify key elements that support the design of educational
activities with the use of mobile devices and ii) validate the relevance of elements identified to help teachers
reflects on how knowledgeable they are of the crux of mobile learning.
The research question to be answered in this paper is: What are the central aspects and pedagogically
sound characteristics that can support the didactics of educational mobile learning? Thus, the two specific
research questions driving this study are.
1) What is the appropriate theoretical framework for the design activities of mobile learning?
2) How crux factors affecting mobile learning can be grouped into a communal taxonomy?

2. METHOD
This research follows the approaches of “Design-based research” which is developed in a series of iterative
phases (Herrington et al., 2010; Pool and Laubscher, 2016; Biase, 2020). These phases allow the observation
of the practice of teachers and students in a cyclical way to determine problems and principles of solutions
applicable in reality from the implementation and evaluation of the educational proposal.
This article presents the initial phase of the broader research process consisting of three phases, namely,
a) the identification of key elements of pedagogical interventions that rely on the use of mobile devices;
b) the creation of a formative self-assessment tool for the analysis of pedagogical designs based on the
elements identified in the first phase; c) the analysis of the system of pedagogical, social and cultural
transformations that take place when pedagogical designs are implemented using the tool developed in the
second phase.
As for the data collection techniques used different methods and mixed collection data tools in the phase
that is the object of this study, it is used, initially a literature review and a systematic review (Bedenlier
et al.,2020; Newman et al., 2020; Zawacki-Richter et al., 2020). Has been used to review the Rayyan
software that is a free web-based systematic review platform (Ouzzani et al. 2016) which has been
specifically designed to carry out systematic reviews, its design accelerated the synthesis process and trend
identification. The literature review leads to the identification of the previously mentioned seven-category
cluster: the elements of pedagogical interventions that rely on the use of mobile devices. These elements will
allow the design of a self-assessment tool to help teachers reflect on how knowledgeable they are of the crux of
mobile learning. On the other hand, once the categories were determined, an evaluation of the expert
judgment has been used a digital questionnaire to triangulate and validate research and prove evidence.

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 International Conferences Mobile Learning 2021 (ML 2021) and
Educational Technologies 2021 (ICEduTech 2021)

2.1 Instruments
With objective to identify the main factors first has been systematic review search string on differents
database like Web of Science, ERIC, Scopus. A systematic review search string was carried out from
different topics and clusters.
1. Academic knowledge “the content”: “TPACK” OR “TPK “OR “TCK” OR “PCK” OR
“computer-based learning” OR “technology-enchanced learning” OR “Technology-mediated
learning”.

2. Methodological strategies: “educational technology” OR “Learning technology” OR “digital

technology” OR “learning managment system” OR “mobile learning” OR “m-learning”

3. Activities: “eActivities” OR “collaborative learning” OR “game-based learning” OR “flipped

classroom” OR “mobile activities”

4. Evaluation: “eAssessment” OR “assessment” OR “mobile learning assessment” OR “mobile

learning evaluation”

5. Mobiles resources: “open resources” OR “app” OR “accessibility” OR “tablet” OR “mobile

devices”

6. Technological learning spaces: “clever classrooms” OR “educational environment” OR “school

environment” OR “smart classrooms”OR “accessibility” OR “accessible technology”.

7. Teachers: “digital competence” OR “teacher's digital competence” OR “methodological digital

competence” OR “future teachers’ training”

The research process initially yielded 289 publications must have been published between 1961 and
2020. A total of 50 studies were excluded based on inclusions decisions. The vast majority of the studies
come from scientific journals, some 168 studies, some 39 RPRT, 27 books, 14 chapters, and others.
For the validation of the elements, a questionnaire was designed that was administered digitally. The
objective of the questionnaire is to validate the elements identified in the literature review by teachers and
researchers in educational technology.
The questionnaire presents different statements regarding the degree of agreement or disagreement
following the Likert (Fabila et al., 2013) assessment scale; 1) Totally disagree; 2) In disagreement;
3) Undecided; 4) In agreement and 5) Totally in agreement. Each section also includes a non-mandatory open
question at the end, in which comments are requested on aspects to be taken into account about each element.
The participating subjects were 16 in total; 8 education teachers (5 men, 3 women, with considerable
experience in the use of mobile devices in the classroom; and 8 university researchers, 4 women, 4 men, with
extensive participation in projects at the national and international level in the field of educational
technology. These two groups were selected because they have in common the concern for the integration of
technology in education, either because of the use that primary education teachers make of it in the classroom
or because of the lines of research developed by university researchers.

3. FIGURES AND OUTCOMES

Table 1 shows the median of the scores for each item in relation to the usability and applicability of the
instrument. Following the degrees of assessment of the Likert scale: (1) totally disagree, (2) in disagreement;
(3) undecided; (4) in agreement; (5) totally agree.

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Table 1. Scores of participants on the assessment tool of the elements of the Mobile Learning
General evaluation of the questionnaire

Issues assessment instrument Score (median)

Reserchers Teachers
The number of elements and characteristics that make up the self-assessment tool are 4 4,2
adequate.

The 7 elements that make up the self-assessment tool represent the concepts of the Mobile 4 4,4
Learning didactic.

The self-assessment tool shows conceptual concretion in its elements and characteristics. 3,5 4,4

The structure of the self-assessment tool promotes teacher reflection to design, implement 4 4,6
and evaluate educational activities with mobile devices.
The characteristics that make up the self-assessment tool addresses the design, development, 4 4,4
and implementation.

The elements of the self-assessment tool address the teaching and learning processes of the 4 4,4
students.

Total median 3,9 4,4

Table 2 shows the mode of the scores of the elements that have been repeatedly valued the most, with (4)
being in agreement and (5) totally in agreement. On the other hand, the adjoining column shows the median
of the total obtained from the elements by the participants, from which the scores are higher than 4, with 5
being the maximum score. Therefore, the elements have received positive ratings.
Table 2. Percentage of the total score of the categories (1) totally disagree; (2) In disagreement; (3) undecided;
(4) in agreement; (5) totally agree
Elements 1 2 3 4 5
1.Academic knowledge: the content 0% 0% 8,55% 41,03% 50,43%
2.Methodological strategies 0% 0% 9,23% 44,62% 46,15%
3.Activities 1,54% 6,15% 10,77% 40,00% 41,54%
4. Evaluation 0% 1,28% 7,69% 43,59% 47,44%
5. Mobiles resources 0% 0,77% 9,23% 43,08% 46,92%
6. Technological learning spaces 0% 0% 10,58% 36,54% 52,88%
7. Teachers 0% 0% 13,46% 46,15% 40,38%

Finally, and once all the information has been triangulated, we can establish the seven-category that
didactics encompass in the mobile learning application.
The first category is related to academic knowledge of the content: What are they going to learn and
what educational resources about the content exist to give it scientific value? The second category is
methodological strategies: What are the educational methodological strategies that most favor work and
meaningful learning of the selected content from the use of mobile devices? A third category refers to
activities: What types of activities are the most appropriate to work the content in a meaningful way from the
use of mobile devices? The fourth category integrates evaluation: What type of evaluation best fits and
respects the student's learning process based on the acquisition of content from the use of mobile devices?
Regarding the pedagogical evaluation, answers are sought to the questions: 1. When? 2. What?, 3. For what?,
4. How?, 5. With what? and 6. Who? The fifth category refers to Mobile resources: What type of technology
and resources are optimal in terms of pedagogical usability to develop and enhance content acquisition? The
sixth category integrates technological learning spaces: What are these spaces and what characteristics must
be considered so that they develop the educational maximum both for students and in the teaching practice in
the use of mobile devices? The seventh category includes teachers: What is the level of digital competence
and knowledge of the content, as well as what should be the role of the teacher to enhance the learning of
students from the use of mobile devices?

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 International Conferences Mobile Learning 2021 (ML 2021) and
Educational Technologies 2021 (ICEduTech 2021)

4. CONCLUSION
The contribution of this document lies in the identification of the crux elements that teachers must take into
account in the design of their activities with mobile devices. This research should help to consider what
conditions are necessary for the use of technology to support the teaching and learning processes.
The elements will influence design processes, and educational approach to the use of mobile devices and
must also lead to a pedagogical reflection of educational action by the teacher. The next phase of this
research is planned to be carried out in educational organizations within the framework of the educational
mobile plan project of the Department of Education of the Government of Catalonia (Spain).
Therefore, the results presented, and which support the proposal of the pedagogical elements necessary to
take into account in the design, implementation and evaluation process, may be implemented in the second
phase of the research: b) the implementation of the identified elements to the pedagogical proposals of the
educational organizations. For this implementation will participate teachers who will develop educational
activities in the framework of the project of use of mobile devices in the classroom promoted by the
government of Catalonia (Spain).

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