Access and Availability are Crucial for Successful Mobile TEL Initiatives Access to mobile devices, tools and Wi-Fi appeared to be a crucial element in
influencing teachers’ successful adoption of mobile TEL initiatives. All research participants believed teacher and learner anytime, anywhere access to mobile devices, tools and W-Fi as defining the difference between success and failure. Teachers continually reported how not having adequate mobile TEL technologies inhibited their ability to enhance lessons and best convey ICT and engineering concepts. Also, learners not having up-to-date and standard devices with adequate data plans negatively influenced teachers’ beliefs of how useful mobile TEL
environments were. Only one participant believed HEIs should remain using PC and desktop-based computers where all learners were guaranteed access with sufficient teaching and learning technologies. ICT and engineering teacher perceptions of anytime, anywhere teacher and learner access have been debated in current literature. Obstacles to mobile technology integration reported in research included not only obsolete and inadequate tools and devices but Internet access as well (Alqahtani & Mohammad, 2015; Ertmer & Ottenbreit-Leftwich, 2010; Harrison, Flood, & Duce, 2013; Kopcha, 2012; Montrieux, Vanderlinde, Schellens, & De Marez,
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Participants in this research highlighted the benefits of access. Teachers and learners accessed online resources remotely using smartphones and other mobile devices, including tablets and PDAs. Also, learners participated in collaborative assignments and teachers practiced networked learning. Adam highlighted that teachers and learners can simply “search Google” for anything. Remote learners without mobile access were at a huge disadvantage not having mobile
communication with their teacher, access to course and external resources, and the ability to participate in collaborative activities. Montrieux, Vanderlinde, Schellens, and De Marez (2015) asserted the value of having access to mobile devices as learners having anytime, anywhere access to key learning opportunities. With mobile TEL environments, the greatest advantage of mobile devices is Internet access
(Montrieux, Vanderlinde, Schellens, & De Marez,2015; Robb & Shellenbarger, 2012; Shraim & Crompton, 2015). Robb and Skellenbarger (2012) stated “the increase in information and communication technologies provides students with unlimited access to the information superhighway” (p. 260).
Unquestionably, ICT and engineering teachers’ perception about mobile TEL tools, device and Wi-Fi access has inhibited their adoption and implementation of mobile TEL initiatives. Evidence showed that beliefs negatively influenced teachers adopting the initiatives as participants outlined how access issues restricted incorporating collaborative learner activities and delivering lessons where online resources were not accessible.
6.4.6 Enhanced Ability to Convey ICT and Engineering Concepts and Improved Attrition Rates are Key Benefits
This research found that ICT and engineering teachers believed that mobile TEL enhanced the ability to convey ICT and engineering concepts and consequently improved attrition rates. This aligns with current research that endorses the move from didactic teaching practices which are classroom-based to learner-centred, collaborative, task-based practices with the adoption of mobile TEL within these disciplines (Abhyankar & Ganapathy, 2014). Teachers in this research found that mobile TEL helped them to overcome difficulties in learning concepts by situating their learners in real-world learning scenarios, anytime, anywhere and providing a
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learning environment that enabled such learners to access digital learning resources. These findings were consistent with recent research (Abhyankar & Ganapathy, 2014; Handal et al., 2013).
This enhancement had a positive impact on the types of assignments teachers planned and gave their learners. Adam, in his interview, reported how he used an application such as ShareSpace which is accessible anytime, anywhere from a mobile device, to allow his learners on a software engineering module to experience greater collaboration. Also, findings in this research were consistent with research that outlined greater integration of mobile TEL in ICT and engineering disciplines, widening the reach to different topics and extending the classroom (Beatty, 2013; Teresevičienė et al., 2015). This was evident by Gwen’s interview, where she outlined the ability mobile TEL technologies such as WhatsApp and Google Slides had afforded to add to knowledge of other learners.
Numerous teachers in this research perceived their HEI’s use of mobile TEL helped learners to overcome physiological and cognitive differences such as dyslexia or impaired hearing when able to learn anytime, anywhere. This is consistent with research conducted by Traxler and Wishart (2011) who found that mobile TEL enabled contingent learning, situated learning, learning in dead-time and small bursts which addressed such issues. Another area of enhanced ability to convey ICT and engineering concepts is the specific affordance of mobile devices to assist teachers provide dynamic visualisation of concepts to better communicate to learners. In Adam’s interview, he reported using a mobile TEL application called Accelerometer Monitor to display both graphically and numerically in real time the projection value of the acceleration of gravity on all three axes of the Cartesian coordinates system. These values were then sent using Bluetooth to be processed using a spreadsheet. This aligns with research by Johnson et al. (2010) who found that mobile TEL applications allow science learners to manipulate data and process statistics, deepening their understanding of complex relationships and concepts. Similarly, In Eric’s interview he shared how he uses a smartphone app to improve the precision of angle slope measurements and display. This also agrees with
research by Johnson et al. (2010) who found that apps that allow science learners to manipulate data and process statistics, deepen their understanding of complex relationships and concepts. It was clear in this research that mobile TEL adoption
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proved a valuable asset in overcoming difficulties in learning ICT and engineering concepts by situating these learners in real-life learning scenarios, anytime,
anywhere and providing a learning environment that enables such learners to access digital learning resources (Abhyankar & Ganapathy, 2014; Handal et al., 2013). Consequently, attrition rates improved.
Ertmer and Ottenbreit-leftwich (2010) posited that teachers must update their teaching approach to address the needs of todays’ digital global learners. Optimal mobile TEL for ICT and engineering no longer recognises replication of class-based instruction. Today, learners require teachers who will augment and replace such didactic practices with real-life application. During observations of participants, teachers using mobile technologies on field assignments were clearly better able to explain concepts and learners better able to understand issues, particularly due to the greater level of depth teachers can go into. For example, while observing Colin, he used a web cam in the field to illustrate an actual example rather than a picture representation of a concept. In addition, participants were recording these events and making them available online for future classes as RLOs. Interestingly, learners in higher-achieving classes with improved attrition rates had teachers who were implementing mobile TEL to construct profound, connected knowledge together with valuable problem solving and critical thinking skills. In the main, teachers with lower- achieving learners were still applying didactic teaching practices and did not see improved attrition rates.
For some teachers in this research, however, lack of access to mobile TEL, either a device or Wi-Fi, hampered their capacity to plan for task-based learning of concepts that require collaboration, demonstration and observation in real-life settings. These teachers believed that learners without anytime, anywhere Internet access were less capable of understanding ICT and engineering concepts that otherwise appear abstract, compared to those with easily accessible mobile devices and Wi-Fi. The lack of mobile TEL increased the learning curve for those learners, many who were borderline dropping out. For teachers of learners with difficulties comprehending ICT and engineering concepts, the lack of mobile tools and technologies only
exacerbated the difficulties for learners as they faced more digitally oriented tasks. These findings when considered in conjunction with recent research, indicates that
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failure to successfully adopt mobile TEL may negatively affect attrition rates (Chowdhry, Sieler, & Alwis, 2014; Saylor, 2012).