An Exploratory Study: Mobile Device Use for Academics

Аннотация

As mobile devices become more and more ubiquitous among teens, such devices have also been fighting their way into the educational landscape. In this digital world where people are constantly entertained, educators have found it difficult to capture their students’ attention and motivate them to stay engaged in formal class. Rather than focus specifically on types of devices as education has historically done, this study focused on ways in which those tool could be used. Using a TPACK framework (technological, pedagogical, content knowledge) allows educators to pull the attention from specific types of devices and focus on how those devices could be used academically. This exploratory study surveyed how undergraduate students and higher education instructors at two small faith-based universities in Southern California used mobile devices in and outside of the class for academic purposes. The researcher cross-referenced the results from the 2 groups to make correlations. The results of this study showed that nearly all instructor participants had multiple devices and almost half of the student participants had 2 or more devices as well.