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Understanding the usefulness of social and mobile learning applications in a large class-size setting: An empirical analysis

Terence Chun-Ho Cheung, Ron Chi-Wai Kwok, Kai-Pan MarkDepartment of Information SystemsCity University of Hong Kong

Presentation at EDMEDIA 2014

PRESENTATION AGENDA

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1. Research Gap & Research Questions

2. Literature Review & Related Works

3. Data Collection & Analysis

4. Results, Discussions & Implications

5. Conclusion and Contribution

INTRODUCTION

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Convergence of Internet, wireless networks and mobile devices has transformed the learning process to anywhere, anytime and personalized learning (Motiwalla, 2007).

While educational technologies play an important role in content dissemination, their usefulness in other areas is becoming more and more important. These areas include peer supportiveness, teacher supportiveness, teacher approachability, class participation and learning comprehensiveness (Chang et al., in press).

RESEARCH GAPSIn reality, it is not always possible to have effective in-class interactions, especially with a large class-size lecture setting

We first developed about 10 various activities and chose various e-Learning tools and their mobile apps to support interactions for knowledge building and social networking in a typical university setting with large class sizes.

User experience are evaluated to ascertain the usefulness and impact on learning effectiveness of these applications in the form of quantitative assessment.

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RESEARCH QUESTIONS

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The purpose of this work is to address the usefulness of social and mobile learning applications in a large class-size setting.

Specifically, the research questions are:

(1) Are social and mobile learning applications useful in supporting student learning activities ?

(2) How should a teacher and learning technologist design activities and adopt these e-Learning tools or mobile applications to help students achieve learning outcomes?

TEACHER-STUDENT AND STUDENT-STUDENT INTERACTIONS

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LITERATURE AND RELATED WORKS Technology Acceptance Model 3

(Venkatesh & Bala, 2008)

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Context of Job Relevance is customized to meet the educational setting.

STUDY RELEVANCE

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USEFULNESS OF SOCIAL AND MOBILE LEARNING

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This study attempts to design and adopt different applications listed in Table 1 to facilitate a specific set of teaching and learning activities relevant to those features listed in Table 2 and 3.

HYPOTHESIS DEVELOPMENT QA - Hypothesis 1 (H1):

The usefulness of social and mobile learning applications is positively associated with knowledge sharing via real-time exercise feedback.

LN - Hypothesis 2 (H2): The usefulness of social and mobile learning applications is

positively associated with the acquisition of the latest information and knowledge via sharing in social media.

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HYPOTHESIS DEVELOPMENT SE- Hypothesis 3 (H3):

The usefulness of social and mobile learning applications is positively associated with engaging students to learn via social interaction.

VM - Hypothesis 4 (H4): The usefulness of social and mobile learning applications is

positively associated with creative work and with promoting one’s online presence using digital CVs.

PP - Hypothesis 5 (H5): The usefulness of social and mobile learning applications is

positively associated with real-world company projects with the aim of designing mobile apps.

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DATA COLLECTION Empirical research was conducted in an undergraduate class

(n=140) taking the “IS4246: Digital Marketing and Customer Relationship Management” module in Fall 2012/13.

Individual scores will be given based on their individual participation through online activities.

Group scores will be given based on two group projects and some group-based activities during tutorial sessions.

By the end of the semester, a survey on all the designed activities and project assessments were conducted to investigate students’ perceived usefulness of social and mobile learning applications.

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CONSTRUCTS & ITEMS

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DATA ANALYSIS

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H2 ， H3 and H5 are supportedH4 is marginally supported

DISCUSSION – H1 H1: The usefulness of social and mobile learning

applications is positively associated with knowledge sharing via real-time exercise feedback. Not supported

Possible implications: Students are confident in sharing what they have learnt and knowledge can be acquired easily through reflection and sharing with others via real-time exercise feedback. However, some activities may discourage their communication, e.g. sharing of the quiz result immediately after the quiz.

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DISCUSSION – H2 H2: The usefulness of social and mobile learning applications is

positively associated with the acquisition of the latest information and knowledge via sharing in social media. Supported

Possible implications: Learning happens in social media and meanwhile expands students’ connection with the world. Knowledge and experience sharing with practitioners and friends from the industry network could be built. Among all indicators in the measurement model, the statement “I am willing to accept comments from others on my post.” is found not significant. This may be due to the absence of a function to stop or avoid further comments on a post in Twitter or Facebook if students do not want to.

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DISCUSSION – H3 H3: The usefulness of social and mobile learning

applications is positively associated with engaging students to learn via social interaction. Supported

Possible implications: Sharing of views will no longer be dominated by active students. Through the social and mobile learning activities, passive learners can also participate in the teaching and learning environment.

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DISCUSSION – H4 H4: The usefulness of social and mobile learning

applications is positively associated with creative work and with promoting one’s online presence using digital CVs. Marginally Supported

Possible implications: Students’ creativity was observed in their self-intro videos on a voluntary basis and was not limited by the regular class schedule. Extra effort and additional time spent outside the regular class schedule may be a concern from students.

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DISCUSSION – H5 H5: The usefulness of social and mobile learning

applications is positively associated with real-world company projects with the aim of designing mobile apps. Supported

Possible implications: A real-world project can make the course assessment more challenging. Comments and feedback from business companies could benefit students and stimulate their interest in designing and integrating social and mobile apps into their digital marketing proposals for real-world companies.

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CONCLUSION

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Our results have indicated that mobile apps are useful in motivating students to acquire and share the latest information and knowledge, to interact with peers, to foster independent thinking and creativity and to support practical real-world company projects.

About 10 different kinds of a number of activities and project assignments have been designed to encourage teacher-student and student-student real-time interactions. This project can be treated as a show case to transform our classroom into a social and mobile learning environment which is beneficial to both the instructors and students.

REFERENCES Motiwalla, L. F. (2007). Mobile learning: A framework and

evaluation. Computers & Education, 49(3), 581-596. doi: 10.1016/j.compedu.2005.10.011

Chang, T.-S., Bai, Y., & Wang, T.-W. (in press). Students’ classroom experience in foreign-faculty and local-faculty classes in public and private universities in Taiwan. Higher Education. doi: 10.1007/s10734-013-9703-z

Venkatesh, V., & Bala, H. (2008). Technology Acceptance Model 3 and a Research Agenda on Interventions. Decision Sciences, 39(2), 273-315. doi: 10.1111/j.1540-5915.2008.00192.x

Johnson, R. D., Hornik, S., & Salas, E. (2008). An empirical examination of factors contributing to the creation of successful e-learning environments. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 66(5), 356-369. doi: dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhcs.2007.11.003

Butler, D. L., & Winne, P. H. (1995). Feedback and Self-Regulated Learning: A Theoretical Synthesis. Review of Educational Research, 65(3), 245-281. doi: 10.3102/00346543065003245

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