A mobile learning system for scaffolding bird watching learning

Abstract

This paper develops a mobile learning system for scaffolding students learning about bird-watching. The aim is to construct an outdoor mobile-learning activity using up-to-date wireless technology. The proposed Bird-Watching Learning (BWL) system is designed using a wireless mobile ad-hoc network. In the BWL system, each learner has a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) with a Wi-Fi-based (IEEE 802.11b) wireless network card. The BWL system offers a mobile learning system which supports the students learning through scaffolding. The aim of a formative evaluation was twofold: to explore the possible roles and scaffolding aids that the mobile learning device offers for bird-watching activities and to investigate whether student learning benefited from the mobility, portability, and individualisation of the mobile learning device.

Student use and pedagogical impact of a mobile learning application

“…The pedagogical impact of mobile applications has been evaluated in several different contexts, including language education [19][20][21], business education [8], and employee training programs [3,22]. With respect to science education, the pedagogical impact of mobile applications has been evaluated in primary education [23][24][25][26] and in some disciplines of science in higher education, including physics [17], and medicine [27]. Findings from these studies report generally positive outcomes, such as: increasing engagement, understanding, and confidence [8]; increasing convenience, flexibility of learning, and engagement in class activities [21]; and facilitating blended learning, which is a learning environment that blends online learning with classroom activities [22].…”

The Contrivance of Mobile Learning: An Actor-Network Perspective on the Emergence of a Research Field

“…In order to be as concrete as possible, we take on mobile learning study as a particular example. The study we will focus on here is a well-known one, if not one of the most known in the mobile learning field -namely, a study by Chen et al (2003), the purpose of which was the development of 'a mobile learning system for scaffolding students [sic] learning about bird-watching' (p. 347). The mobile device used was a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) -a device we can nowadays consider as a predecessor of the smart phone, as smart phones contain besides PDA functionalities a lot of other properties.…”

“…The cell phone, and especially the smart phone, seems, according to some scholars, particularly well equipped to contribute to students' mobile learning (Corbeil & Valdes-Corbeil, 2007;Motiwalla, 2007;Tsirulnik, 2009). The study of Chen et al (2003) is one of the earlier studies that explored the educational capacities of a mobile device, which makes it particularly interesting for the study of the emergence of the mobile-learning research domain. A short overview of the article is given in the next paragraph.…”

“…The study of Chen et al (2003) starts with an introduction. In this introduction, the authors sum up some characteristics of mobile learning environments, explain the concept of scaffolding ('the interactive support that instructors, or more skilful peers, offer learners to bridge the gap between their current skill levels and a desired skill level' [p. 348]), and give some technical details about the PDA and its software.…”

“…This analysis, thus, could be taken further as the research field unfolds itself. Another possibility, furthermore, could be to investigate the unfolding associations surrounding the study of Chen et al (2003): it would be interesting to analyse how this article is becoming an essential brick (or foundation) in the construction of the research field on mobile learning. Limiting ourselves, though, to this one 'landmark' article and discussing only the four actors mentioned above, it is important to stress that ANT is not only a guide in the denomination of actors, it is also an argument for fathoming interrelations between actors in terms of networks.…”