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Moving Towards the Effective Evaluation of Mobile Learning Initiatives in Higher Education Institutions

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Handbook of Mobile Teaching and Learning

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Abstract

Mobile learning is viewed by many institutional leaders as the solution for a student cohort that is demanding an increasing flexibility in study options. These students are fitting study around other aspects of their lives including work and caring responsibilities, or they are studying at a geographical location far removed from the university campus. With ubiquitous connectivity available in many parts of the world and with the incremental improvements in design and affordability of mobile devices, many students are using mobile technologies to access course materials and activities. Even so, there are relatively few formal mobile learning initiatives underway and even fewer evaluations of those initiatives. This is significant because without a rigorous evaluation of mobile learning, it is impossible to determine whether it provides a viable and cost-effective way of accessing courses for both the student and the institution. This chapter examines the broad groupings of uses for mobile devices for learning, before considering the evaluation frameworks that are currently in use. The characteristics, affordances, and issues of these frameworks are briefly discussed. A project to develop a Mobile Learning Evaluation Framework is introduced, which will consider evaluation from four aspects: (1) pedagogical learning, (2) pedagogical teaching, (3) technical, and (4) organizational.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Australian Digital Futures Institute, University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, QLD, Australia

    Angela Murphy

  2. School of Linguistics, Adult and Specialist Education, University of Southern Queensland, Springfield Central, QLD, Australia

    Nicole Ann Todd

  3. School of Management and Enterprise, University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, QLD, Australia

    Michael Lane

  4. School of Management and Enterprise, University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, QLD, Australia

    Abdul Hafeez-Baig

  5. School of Linguistics, Adult and Specialist Education, University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, QLD, Australia

    Warren Midgley

  6. Research School of Computer Science, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia

    Chris Johnson

  7. Digital Life Lab, University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, QLD, Australia

    Helen Farley

Authors
  1. Helen Farley
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  2. Angela Murphy
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  3. Nicole Ann Todd
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  4. Michael Lane
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  5. Abdul Hafeez-Baig
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  6. Warren Midgley
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  7. Chris Johnson
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Correspondence to Helen Farley .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. WEMOSOFT, Wollongong, NSW, Australia

    Yu (Aimee) Zhang

  2. Department of Teaching and Learning, The Ohio State University, Lima, OH, USA

    Dean Cristol

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Farley, H. et al. (2019). Moving Towards the Effective Evaluation of Mobile Learning Initiatives in Higher Education Institutions. In: Zhang, Y., Cristol, D. (eds) Handbook of Mobile Teaching and Learning. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-2766-7_17

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