Home  About us  Contact
 

Mobile Technology (mobile + technology)

Distribution by Scientific Domains
Education62%

Selected Abstracts

Reconsidering off-task: a comparative study of PDA-mediated activities in four classrooms

JOURNAL OF COMPUTER ASSISTED LEARNING, Issue 3 2010
L. Mifsud
Abstract Mobile technology is ubiquitous and diverse and permeates many aspects of daily life at home, during leisure activities, and in public spaces. The study presented here is of two sixth grade classes in Michigan, USA and two seventh grade classes in Norway. The students and the teachers in these four classrooms were equipped with mobile technologies (PDAs). We found that the students' PDA-mediated actions in the classroom were not exclusively used for the tasks and activities set by the teacher, but that the students also used the PDAs on their own initiative , so-called ,off-task' activities. We analyze the findings by reconsidering off-task activities from a sociocultural perspective. [source]

Mobile technology in the village: ICTs, culture, and social logistics in India

THE JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL ANTHROPOLOGICAL INSTITUTE, Issue 3 2008
Sirpa Tenhunen
Mobile technology is currently emerging as the first extensive form of electronic communication system in many regions of Africa and Asia. This article analyses the appropriation of mobile phones in rural India by exploring what new social alternatives mobile phones enable and how these new social constellations relate to culture and cultural change. The ethnographic description relates phone usage to other communication patterns and ongoing processes of transformation. The article shows how the appropriation of phones draws from the local cultural and social context, but also that phones facilitate new patterns that show great similarity with social processes in other places where phones have been introduced as the first form of communication technology, such as the increased multiplicity of social contacts and the greater efficiency of market relationships. I argue that mobile technology amplifies ongoing processes of cultural change but does so selectively, so that it brings about the homogenization of ,social logistics'. Résumé Dans de nombreuses régions d'Asie et d'Afrique, la technologie mobile apparaît aujourd'hui comme la première forme étendue de communications électroniques. L'auteur analyse ici l'appropriation de la téléphonie mobile en Inde, en explorant les nouvelles alternatives sociales que le téléphone portable rend possibles et les liens entre ces nouvelles constellations sociales, d'une part, et d'autre part la culture et le changement culturel. La description ethnographique fait le lien entre l'utilisation du téléphone et les autres modes de communication et avec les processus actuels de transformation. L'article montre comment l'appropriation du téléphone s'inscrit dans le contexte culturel et social local, tout en mettant en lumière la similarité entre la façon dont le téléphone facilite de nouveaux schémas de communication et les processus sociaux qui se déploient dans d'autres lieux où la téléphonie a été introduite comme première forme de technologie de communication : multiplication des contacts sociaux, efficacité accrue des relations de marché. L'auteur affirme que la technologie mobile amplifie les processus actuels de changement culturel, mais quelle le fait de manière sélective, en induisant ainsi une homogénéisation de la « logistique sociale ». [source]

Reconsidering off-task: a comparative study of PDA-mediated activities in four classrooms

JOURNAL OF COMPUTER ASSISTED LEARNING, Issue 3 2010
L. Mifsud
Abstract Mobile technology is ubiquitous and diverse and permeates many aspects of daily life at home, during leisure activities, and in public spaces. The study presented here is of two sixth grade classes in Michigan, USA and two seventh grade classes in Norway. The students and the teachers in these four classrooms were equipped with mobile technologies (PDAs). We found that the students' PDA-mediated actions in the classroom were not exclusively used for the tasks and activities set by the teacher, but that the students also used the PDAs on their own initiative , so-called ,off-task' activities. We analyze the findings by reconsidering off-task activities from a sociocultural perspective. [source]

Keynote paper: Unlocking the learning value of wireless mobile devices

JOURNAL OF COMPUTER ASSISTED LEARNING, Issue 3 2003
J. Roschelle
Abstract Many researchers see the potential of wireless mobile learning devices to achieve large-scale impact on learning because of portability, low cost, and communications features. This enthusiasm is shared but the lessons drawn from three well-documented uses of connected handheld devices in education lead towards challenges ahead. First, ,wireless, mobile learning' is an imprecise description of what it takes to connect learners and their devices together in a productive manner. Research needs to arrive at a more precise understanding of the attributes of wireless networking that meet acclaimed pedagogical requirements and desires. Second, ,pedagogical applications' are often led down the wrong road by complex views of technology and simplistic views of social practices. Further research is needed that tells the story of rich pedagogical practice arising out of simple wireless and mobile technologies. Third, ,large scale' impact depends on the extent to which a common platform, that meets the requirements of pedagogically rich applications, becomes available. At the moment ,wireless mobile technologies for education' are incredibly diverse and incompatible; to achieve scale, a strong vision will be needed to lead to standardisation, overcoming the tendency to marketplace fragmentation. [source]

Mobile technology in the village: ICTs, culture, and social logistics in India

THE JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL ANTHROPOLOGICAL INSTITUTE, Issue 3 2008
Sirpa Tenhunen
Mobile technology is currently emerging as the first extensive form of electronic communication system in many regions of Africa and Asia. This article analyses the appropriation of mobile phones in rural India by exploring what new social alternatives mobile phones enable and how these new social constellations relate to culture and cultural change. The ethnographic description relates phone usage to other communication patterns and ongoing processes of transformation. The article shows how the appropriation of phones draws from the local cultural and social context, but also that phones facilitate new patterns that show great similarity with social processes in other places where phones have been introduced as the first form of communication technology, such as the increased multiplicity of social contacts and the greater efficiency of market relationships. I argue that mobile technology amplifies ongoing processes of cultural change but does so selectively, so that it brings about the homogenization of ,social logistics'. Résumé Dans de nombreuses régions d'Asie et d'Afrique, la technologie mobile apparaît aujourd'hui comme la première forme étendue de communications électroniques. L'auteur analyse ici l'appropriation de la téléphonie mobile en Inde, en explorant les nouvelles alternatives sociales que le téléphone portable rend possibles et les liens entre ces nouvelles constellations sociales, d'une part, et d'autre part la culture et le changement culturel. La description ethnographique fait le lien entre l'utilisation du téléphone et les autres modes de communication et avec les processus actuels de transformation. L'article montre comment l'appropriation du téléphone s'inscrit dans le contexte culturel et social local, tout en mettant en lumière la similarité entre la façon dont le téléphone facilite de nouveaux schémas de communication et les processus sociaux qui se déploient dans d'autres lieux où la téléphonie a été introduite comme première forme de technologie de communication : multiplication des contacts sociaux, efficacité accrue des relations de marché. L'auteur affirme que la technologie mobile amplifie les processus actuels de changement culturel, mais quelle le fait de manière sélective, en induisant ainsi une homogénéisation de la « logistique sociale ». [source]

Leveraging mobile technology for sustainable seamless learning: a research agenda

BRITISH JOURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY, Issue 2 2010
Chee-Kit Looi
Over the next 10 years, we anticipate that personal, portable, wirelessly networked technologies will become ubiquitous in the lives of learners,indeed, in many countries, this is already a reality. We see that ready-to-hand access creates the potential for a new phase in the evolution of technology-enhanced learning, characterised by ,seamless learning spaces' and marked by continuity of the learning experience across different scenarios or contexts, and emerging from the availability of one device or more per student. The challenge is to enable learners to learn whenever they are curious and seamlessly switch between different contexts, such as between formal and informal contexts and between individual and social learning, and by extending the social spaces in which learners interact with each other. In this paper, we review the potential of mobile learning research for designing seamless learning environments that can bridge both formal and informal learning, present a research agenda and discuss important methodological issues that concern research into formal and informal learning. [source]