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Exploring the potential of mobile phones for active learning in the classroom

Published: 07 March 2007 Publication History

Abstract

Research has shown that educational technology can broaden and enhance the use of active learning in large classrooms. An educational technology platform often relies on students to bring laptops or specialized wireless devices like clickers to interact through the system. Mobile phones are an attractive alternative, as most students already possess them, they have more capabilities than dedicated clickers, and yet are small enough to minimize interference with note taking on a classroom desk.This paper presents the design and use of a mobile phone extension to Ubiquitous Presenter, which allows students to submit solutions to active learning exercises in the form of text or photo messages. In an exploratory study, students found that text messaging worked well for exercises with multiple choice or short answers. Entering symbols common to computer science was difficult. Many problems were more suitable to photo messaging of a handwritten answer, although image quality must be managed. The phone's small size left space for the use of a notebook. The students had concerns about the message charges that would accrue in use. In conclusion, we offer recommendations to instructors and system designers interested in leveraging mobile phones to increase communication in the classroom.

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    cover image ACM Conferences
    SIGCSE '07: Proceedings of the 38th SIGCSE technical symposium on Computer science education
    March 2007
    634 pages
    ISBN:1595933611
    DOI:10.1145/1227310
    Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

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    Published: 07 March 2007

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    Author Tags

    1. active learning
    2. cell phone
    3. educational technology
    4. mobile phone
    5. modality

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    • (2023)"It was a one of a kind experience:" Student Experiences and Pedagogical Design of a Project-based Hands-on Cybersecurity Pen-testing CourseProceedings of the 24th Annual Conference on Information Technology Education10.1145/3585059.3611402(22-27)Online publication date: 11-Oct-2023
    • (2019)Smartphones enhance the management of learning processes in higher educationProceedings of the 10th International Conference on E-Education, E-Business, E-Management and E-Learning10.1145/3306500.3306513(63-69)Online publication date: 10-Jan-2019
    • (2019)Technological Enhancement and sustainabilityEncyclopedia of Sustainability in Higher Education10.1007/978-3-319-63951-2_101-1(1-6)Online publication date: 17-May-2019
    • (2018)Design of Blended Mobile Learning in an Urban EnvironmentOnline Course Management10.4018/978-1-5225-5472-1.ch041(796-817)Online publication date: 2018
    • (2018)Efficient Use of Clickers: A Mixed-Method Inquiry with University TeachersEducation Sciences10.3390/educsci80100318:1(31)Online publication date: 1-Mar-2018
    • (2017)Design of Blended Mobile Learning in an Urban EnvironmentManagerial Strategies and Solutions for Business Success in Asia10.4018/978-1-5225-1886-0.ch006(102-123)Online publication date: 2017
    • (2016)Mobile Phones: Not a Distraction in the Classroom But a Means of Engagement?Innovative Business Education Design for 21st Century Learning10.1007/978-3-319-32622-1_2(7-23)Online publication date: 15-Jul-2016
    • (2015)Mobile Phone Behavior in the College Classroom: Effects on Student Learning and Implications for Students and TeachersEncyclopedia of Mobile Phone Behavior10.4018/978-1-4666-8239-9.ch054(648-657)Online publication date: 2015
    • (2015)Engaging international students in academic and information literacyNew Library World10.1108/NLW-07-2014-0088116:5/6(277-288)Online publication date: 11-May-2015
    • (2015)Information Use and Barriers on a Mobile App in Distance LearningJournal of Library & Information Services in Distance Learning10.1080/1533290X.2015.10526089:3(204-220)Online publication date: 18-Sep-2015
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