The purpose of this paper is to begin to examine how the intersection of mobile learning and design research prompts the reconceptualization of research and design individually as well as their integration appropriate for current, complex learning environments. To fully conceptualize and reconceptualize design research in mobile learning, the authors address and unpack the unique affordances of mobile learning and implications for design research as well as the design process that has impact on both. Asserting a socio-cultural view of learning, investigating mobile devices as cultural transformational tools is proposed to potentially expand perceptions and access to resources in how we view teaching and learning (as a form of social capital), but also how we design for it and conduct research in complex settings.

This research work examined the impact of a science-reading instructional sequence (InSciRead) on fourth-grade Spanish-English dual language learners' ability to monitor their comprehension of content-related (erosion, deposition, and transportation) texts. We used a quantitative measure of students' ability to detect incongruities in a related text, complemented with a qualitative analysis of the data. The study included 78 fourth-grade students (including eight with disabilities). The curriculum was generally successful, with significant progress shown in students' ability to monitor their comprehension after the intervention.

This exploratory study examines the use of integrated and complementary technology systems including mobile devices to explore an instructional experience designed to provoke observational inquiry and geological reasoning with upper elementary and middle school students. Mobile devices combined with classroom-based computer technology loaded with Google EarthTM software provided enhanced and varying views of a geological phenomenon allowing students to identify and reason about visual evidence of erosion in their local environment. A socio-cultural frame was also employed to examine the data in relation to social structures, cultural practices and individual agency. Findings indicate that the incorporation of mobile devices into an overarching instructional intervention involving geological observational inquiry promoted enhanced geological observation and reasoning in the field as well as demonstrated some evidence of appropriation in shifts of agency, social structures and cultural practices for the students in this study.

Our societies are considered knowledge societies in which lifelong learning is becoming increasingly important. At the same time, digital technologies are entering almost every aspect of our lives and now play an important role in education. The last decade has seen numerous new developments in the field of technology-enhanced learning. In 2004, George Siemens presented connectivism as a learning theory for the digital age. His ideas inspired the creation of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), which have recently received a great deal of attention. Theoretical works on the use of digital devices for learning have focused on the affordances users perceive in these devices. Design research has also shown us that learning environments enriched by digital technologies are extremely complex and should be viewed as learning ecologies. The discussions on connectivism and MOOCs, affordances of digital devices, and design research have taken place in different discourses that have paid hardly any attention to each other. It is important to point out, however, that the developments in technology-enhanced learning not only can but need to be related to each other. Keywords

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