Matriculation students’ usages and its driving factors in mobile learning for Chemistry

The study identified how Malaysian matriculation students employ mobile devices for learning Chemistry, and the driving factors that influence their use of mobile devices for learning Chemistry. A qualitative case study approach was adopted in this study, in which interviews and student journals were the main instruments used for the data collection process. The study was conducted in a matriculation college, and all students were invited to participate in the study voluntarily. A total of 17 students who were actively using mobile devices to learn Chemistry were selected for individual and face-to-face interviews. The data were analyzed in a three-stage process to inductively identify the themes. The analysis revealed that matriculation students used mobile devices for referential and collaborative learning activities. They preferred to search the relevant learning resources on the web, and learn collaboratively with their peers or lecturers. Meanwhile, the driving factors of these mobile learning practices were primarily due the ability of mobile learning to overcome their learning difficulties, convenience, as well as the ability to provide a better user experience in the digital age. The findings of this study suggest that the mobile device is a viable social constructivism pedagogical tool for learning Chemistry. The lecturers and management of matriculation colleges can use the findings of this study as a basis to promote the adoption of mobile learning for Chemistry in the digital age

INSTAGRAM-ASSISTED LANGUAGE LEARNING IN ISLAMIC HIGHER EDUCATION: TOWARD ONLINE COLLABORATION

The purpose of this study is to investigate instagram use among English pre-service teachers (EPST) to support their language learning in a particular course. This study sought to explore the following research questions: (1) How do EPST explore instagram to accomplish Online Task-Based Language Learning (OTBLL)? (2) What contents are created and shared by EPST to accomplish OTBLL? To collect the data, this study applied observation and content analysis. In addition several tasks were designed to be accomplished by EPST. The findings shows that EPST were able to integrate both the ability to use instagram and the ability to integrate it for OTBLL. The contents that EPST created and shared met the requirement of OTBLL. The contents included several types: creating video to explain topic assigned, writing phonetic transcription, and other tasks. The results of this study are expected to contribute in improving EPST language skills and their ability to explore social media use for language learning. Being able to seize social media to support language learning is a necessary skill to be nurtured for future language teacher in the 21st century

Demographic variables do not affect the use of mobile devices for study and learning purposes.

The use of mobile devices has become an everyday occurrence, and more and more higher education institutions have started adopting this technology in their interactions with students. Previous research has confirmed that mobile devices are becoming more widely used in learning. The sphere of formal education is not static but dynamic and evolving all the time, and central to this are developments in the technologies of teaching and learning. Educational institutions, which are seen as the bastion of new thoughts and thinking, need to ensure that these innovations and developments are incorporated in their teaching philosophies and mode of delivery – mainly to be able to accommodate the new generation of learners in the Industry 4.0, which impacts on their social and personal domains. Central to this, where the focus at tertiary institutions has shifted to, is the implementation of mobile learning technologies. This study investigates the views of learners regarding the use of mobile learning devices in their study and learning environments. In order to explore this aspect, the study aimed to determine the significance of age, gender and year of study in the use of mobile learning devices. No statistically significant differences were found between the identified demographic variables (age, gender and year of study) and uses of mobile devices in a study and learning environment

Promoting mobile collaborative language learning in Islamic higher education

This study sought to explore students’ experience in using Instagram to participate in mobile collaborative language learning (MCLL). The contents they produced and shared, as well as their interaction and collaboration, were analyzed. The participants of this study were 110 students in an English education department, in three different classes,who all had taken a translation coursetheir third semester. Online tasks were assigned to students and they were required to produce, share, interact and collaborate to accomplish tasks. This study applied a qualitative method with case study research design using observation, focus group discussion and content analysis. Data were analyzed through stages namely categorization, reduction and interpretation. Results showed that the students were able to participate in MCLL using Instagram. They produced and shared contents that met the requirement of MCLL. The contents included English sentences for structural collaboration in terms of subject-verb agreement and English sentences for word meaning collaborations. They interacted with their peers by writing feedback and comments on the uploaded content. They collaborated with their peers by providing multiple interactions to accomplish tasks in MCLL like writing structural analysis, word meaning, paraphrasing sentences, and sentence translation.</span

Student-initiated mobile learning in higher education

The aim of this study was to determine and evaluate the way mobile learning was employed by second year undergraduate students in allied health programs, and to identify variables that may influence students' use of mobile-learning. Inductive thematic analysis of responses to questions that prompted students to think about the strategies they use for learning found that students favor certain devices for particular activities. Students choose portable laptops more for note taking and complicated productivity tasks, while mobile phones are being used for on-the-go seeking of information, taking pictures, watching videos, and peer communication via social media or text messaging. No significant correlation between students' confidence level, or any other demographic variable, and the extent to which students made use of their mobile devices in learning was evident