Unfitting, uncomfortable, unacademic: a sociological reading of an interactive mobile phone app in university lectures

Abstract

Scholarly literature on education technology uptake has been dominated by technological determinist readings of students' technology use. However, in recent years there has been a move by sociologists of education to highlight how the contexts in which educational technologies are introduced are not tabula rasa but socially and culturally complex. This study approaches technology as a social construct, arguing that students construct discursive meaning of, rather than simply respond to, technologies for learning. The study explores students' constructions of a mobile learning app that was introduced into lectures during a year-long university course. Students largely rejected the app, constructing it as unfitting for the context, a socially uncomfortable experience and an unacademic way of learning. The paper highlights the limitations of technological determinism and closes by arguing for readings of educational technologies that pay close attention to students' voices.

A quasi-experiment on using guided mobile learning interventions in ESL classrooms: Time use and academic performance

“…To add to that, Kintu et al (2017) asserted that for mobile learning to be effective and contribute to learners' increased academic performance, it has to include other factors such as learners' interest, learning design and learning outcomes, in which learners' needs and a proper learning framework have to be prepared. Contrarily, Drew and Mann (2018) held a negative view of mobile learning and the use of interactive mobile application in lessons as they believe it is unfitting, uncomfortable and unacademic concerning the learning experience.…”

“…However, the authors focused on only one self-developed mobile application, instead of multiple applications available online, and more importantly, it was purely quantitative, without any attempt to analyse the learners' learning experience. Previous study, such as by Drew and Mann (2018) focused on the learners' experience with mobile learning and found using interactive mobile application in lessons to be unfitting, uncomfortable and unacademic. Moreover, the study examined only one application used by the learners.…”

Theorising technology in education: an introduction

“…However, there is no getting away from shortcomings in the education technology literature (e.g. Drew & Mann, 2018;Oliver, 2011;Selwyn, 2011a;Underwood, 2004) and complaints made about: over-determinist approaches; binary categorisations; excessive romanticism; overly descriptive outputs; a lack of engagement with decolonising methodologies; and too little theorisation about tools. Each of these is dealt with in turn.…”

Integrating students’ perspectives about online learning: a hierarchy of factors

“…Second, while student perceptions of quality are used in innumerable studies, our overall understanding still needs to integrate them more holistically. Many studies use student perceptions of quality and overall effectiveness of individual tools and strategies in online contexts such as mobile devices (Drew & Mann, 2018 ), small groups (Choi, Land, & Turgeon, 2005 ), journals (Nair, Tay, & Koh, 2013 ), simulations (Vlachopoulos & Makri, 2017 ), video (Lange & Costley, 2020 ), etc. Such studies, however, cannot provide the overall context and comparative importance.…”