Mobile learning in pre-service teacher education: Examining the use of professional learning networks

Abstract

Interest in how to use mobile devices to support teaching and learning has increased as technologies have become more sophisticated and ubiquitous. A recent focus in teacher education is the use of mobile devices to support teachers' professional learning networks (PLNs). This study investigates how pre-service teachers (PSTs) use mobile technologies to support different aspects of their PLN activities. The study uses a qualitative methodology, where data from focus group discussions, artefact collection, and participant journals kept by 11 final year PSTs provided nuanced insights into their mobile learning practices. A validated mobile pedagogical framework (Kearney, Schuck, Burden, & Aubusson, 2012) is used to analyse the data. Findings uncover a deeper understanding of exemplary mobile learning approaches in initial teacher education and have implications for effective preparation of PSTs for career-long professional learning.

Investigating pre-service teachers’ informally-developed online professional learning networks

“…There was a strong trend of PSTs in this study reporting on mainly consuming digital content in their informally-developed online PLN activities, and evidently a reluctance to share or produce their own content (see Table 2). Like the PSTs in previous studies (e.g., Hughes et al, 2015;Kearney & Maher, 2019, Luo et al, 2017, participants in this study reported low rates of content generation in these online spaces. They did not feel qualified to share ideas and resources with their more experienced colleagues, and reported on feelings of intimidation from more experienced ISTs.…”

“…They also developed insights into the teaching profession, including its online sharing culture, language practices and challenges faced by ISTs. These benefits evidenced in this study need to be considered in light of well-known constraints identified in other studies of PSTs' and ISTs' online PLN use, such as the time-consuming nature of these activities (Carpenter, 2015), concern over professional and personal digital footprints, and inherent information management challenges (Carpenter & Krutka, 2015b;Kearney & Maher, 2019, Luo et al, 2017.…”

“…PST participants reported that they were not being asked by their university teachers to use social media for pedagogical purposes and were not required to use an online PLN as part of course requirements. Hence, it can be assumed that the degree of PST autonomy in the PLN activities reported in this study is high (akin to activities reported in Kearney & Maher, 2019).…”

“…PSTs' participation in online PLN activities can provide opportunities to feel part of a wider community beyond their peers (Krutka et al, 2014;Wright, 2011), to develop knowledge of professional organisations and resources and more generally to make a successful transition from pre-service to in-service teaching (Risser, 2013). However, as most PSTs do not yet identify professionally as teachers, they may be hesitant to interact with in-service teachers (Kearney & Maher, 2019;Risser, 2013). Studies that have not addressed PSTs' online PLN use as a required part of teacher education coursework have tended to focus on PSTs' perceptions of their more informally-developed social media use for both non-academic (social/recreational) and professional learning purposes, typically collecting data from just one institution (Hughes, Ko, Lim, & Liu, 2015;Lau, 2018;Nielsen et al, 2013;Sendurur, Sendurur, & Yilmaz, 2015).…”

Analytical Competences of Teachers in Big Data in the Era of Digitalized Learning

“…As a result of the progress that technology has experienced, an educational approach called mobile learning [38] has emerged that has had a great impact in recent years [39]. It is a very formative modality, studied in the scientific literature [40] for its advantages in teaching and learning processes [41] and for the interest of teachers to carry out their vocation from daily technological resources which are increasingly sophisticated and that principally present a social nature [42]. Likewise, mobile learning has managed to increase the motivation, performance and collaboration of the students in digital environments [43].…”