=Paper=
{{Paper
|id=Vol-1684/paper2
|storemode=property
|title=Learners Preferences in Higher Mobile-Assisted Education. Case Study of Faculty of Informatics and Management, University of Hradec Kralove
|pdfUrl=https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-1684/paper2.pdf
|volume=Vol-1684
|authors=Ivana Simonova,Petra Poulova
|dblpUrl=https://dblp.org/rec/conf/bir/SimonovaP16
}}
==Learners Preferences in Higher Mobile-Assisted Education. Case Study of Faculty of Informatics and Management, University of Hradec Kralove==
https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-1684/paper2.pdf
Learners Preferences in Higher Mobile-Assisted
Education. Case Study of Faculty of Informatics and
Management, University of Hradec Kralove
Ivana Simonova and Petra Poulova
University of Hradec Kralove, Faculty of Informatics and M anagement, Hradec Kralove, Czech
Republic
{ivana.simonova, petra.poulova}@uhk.cz
Abstract. This paper presents the case study of the Faculty of Informatics and
M anagement, University of Hradec Kralove, Czech Republic. The study reflects
results of the research conducted at the institution to discover learners´
preferences in higher mobile-assisted education. Particularly, it focuses on two
didactic questions: (1) whether all students, not only of those enrolled in IT study
programmes, are sufficiently equipped with mobile devices so that they were not
limited in their exploration for educational purposes, and (2) how mobile devices
are exploited within the teaching/learning process there. M ore than two hundred
students administered the questionnaire of 12 multiple-choice questions. The
results proved students owned various types of mobile devices with different
operation systems, which brought some limitations, and exploited them for both
the educational and non-educational purposes.
Keywords: ICT-enhanced learning, ICT, mobile-assisted learning, M AL, e-
learning, m-learning, tertiary education
1 Introduction
The university education has changed substantially within last decade but various
problems still exist. In developed societies efforts towards increasing the amounts of
educated people is emphasized. Making the education open to everyone and developing
the system of further, lifelong education are the topical issues. In many cases, the part-
time and/or distance education are the only ways to meeting employers´ requirements
and increasing the qualifications. With adult students a high level of motivation and
mature personality make pre-conditions for applying autonomous learning enhanced by
information and communication technologies (ICT) implemented into the process of
instruction. Lately, reflecting the latest technological and technical development, the
mobile-assisted learning (MAL) has been widely applied in the higher education.
Material and technical problems been solved, the time came we dealt with didactic
aspects of MAL. The main questions solved at the Faculty of Informatics and
Management (FIM), University of Hradec Kralove (UHK), are as follows:
• Are all students sufficiently equipped with mobile devices so that they were not
limited in their exploration for educational purposes?
• How are the mobile devices exploited within the teaching/learning process?
2 From the History of ICT-enhanced Education at FIM
According to the Education Law No. 111/98 Sb., §21, par. b) since 1999 Further
Development Plans of all Czech universities have had to be introduce on their web
pages. The Centre for Higher Education Studies, Prague, made the analysis which
shows that:
• most universities emphasize the ICT implementation in the instructional process –
currently the ICT also include mobile devices ;
• technical universities, which are a close relation to technical development results,
express a more keen interest in this field compared to non-technical institutions;
• technical and non-technical universities differ in their approach to the ICT/MAL
problem –technical universities focus on material and technical issues of the process,
i.e. they put emphasis on equipment and its technical characteristics, faculties of
education pay more attention to didactic aspects.
The MAL process has been mainly developed and researched at two Czech
educational institutions – the Faculty of Education, University of Ostrava and Faculty
of Informatics and Management, University of Hradec Kralove [1]. The process of ICT
implementation at FIM was conducted in following steps:
• At the beginning of 1990s FIM teachers started to exploit shared directories and
present study materials there. Step by step the importance of e-mail increased for
conducting communication student/student and student/teachers communication, e-
administration of credits and examinations started, timetables, syllabi, entrance
exams results were displayed on FIM websites, e-journal Telegraph published and
first teachers´ websites supporting their subjects appeared – in 1997 nearly 25% of
FIM teachers their personal websites. The professional virtual learning environment
Learning Space was bought in 1999, howecer, it was replaced by WebCT in 2001.
• In 1998 the first distance online course was designed within the Tempus Project
MUDILT (Multimedia and Distance Learning for Teachers). In 2000 the ECDL
(European Computer Driving License) course was prepared in the distance form
within the Tempus Project PATTER (Public Administrators´ Training Towards
EU). These courses helped substantially to teachers´ computer literacy
development. Other courses followed. In 2001 the Institute of Further Education
was established at FIM and started to organize all commercial activities. Experience
gained in designing and running commercial online courses for public resulted in
the OLIVA Project (On-LIne VýukA, on-line learning). This online course targeted
at FIM teachers and students. Its main objective was to train both parties in
designing, running and learning from online courses. More courses for university
students appeared; first in the field of Informatics, Economy and Management, then
in foreign languages, Psychology, Ethics etc., either for the distance education, to
support face-to-face lessons.
• Later on, FIM conducted several important projects in co-operation with other
Czech and international universities, e.g. the RIUS Project: Run-up of
InterUniversity Study in selected universities in the Czech Republic [2] which was
devoted to interuniversity study based on virtual mobilities, the EVENE Project -
Erasmus Virtual Economics & Management Studies [3], or the REKAP Project -
Development of e-learning competences of academic staff [4]).
• In January 2016 more than 250 courses were available LMS Blackboard (in 2008
WebCT merged with Blackboard) and 2,500 students of FIM use nearly 12,000
seats. Thus the exploitation of LMS has become a common standard, for both
students and teachers. Continuous training was provided to the newly interested
staff to develop this competence. Training courses for teachers, future course tutors,
were conducted in the distance form, i.e. the participants were in students´ roles,
which enabled them important experience [5].
• Moreover, another topic should be mentioned – learning and teaching styles. They
exploit advantages of the ICT/MAL environments, as course designers have a wide
range of tools available to choose from, which accommodate all learning/teaching
styles and students can choose/teachers can apply appropriate activities which suit
best the purpose. In 2010 – 12 FIM solved the GACR project funded by the Czech
Science Foundation ´A flexible model of the ICT supported educational process
reflecting individual learning styles´ which was based on C. A Johnston´s approach
[6].
• Since the 2012/13 academic year virtual desktops have been available to st udents
and teachers, particularly to work with software not providing free/open access (e.g.
MS SQL Server, Enterprise Architect). Two main approaches can be applied on
how MAL can be used: (1) if we aim at supporting the face-to-face process of
instruction, we can exploit the currently used learning contents and methods on
mobile devices listed above; (2) if we understand how new devices work, what their
strengths and weaknesses are, we apply such new teaching/learning methods which
are able to profit from features of mobile devices.
• In 2013/14 academic year the application Blackboard Mobile Learn TM version 4.0
was piloted for Apple and Android devices (Blackboard Mobile Learn TM version
4.0 supports iOS6+, i.e. iPhone 3GS, iPad 2+, IPad mini, iPod Touch 4+ and
Android OS 2.3+). This process required special didactic preparation and the
developing/training new skills of teachers and learners. However, within this
process our experience from e-learning implementation was exploited – if teachers´
experience in online instruction is exploited, it is less demanding for the designers,
tutors and learners to develop new skills required for running the MAL process [7].
• At FIM following activities were implemented in the MAL process:
• face-to-face teaching/learning, i.e. learners attended present lessons where
discussions and immediate feedback-required activities were preferred;
• before/after-lesson independent work in online courses in LMS Blackboard (i.e.
activity running after instruction in learners´ leisure time);
• after-lesson independent learning through mobile devices, particularly practicing
the new knowledge and skills, is conducted mainly on tablets and smartphones,
which were recommended for Blackboard Mobile Learn TM version 4.0.
So as the MAL was applied appropriately, the model by Herrington et al. was
accepted and worked out by Lorenz [8], which is based on eleven didactics rules for
mobile education design:
1. Real world relevance: Use mobile learning in authentic contexts.
2. Mobile contexts: Use mobile learning in contexts where learners are mobile.
3. Explore: Provide time for exploration of mobile technologies.
4. Blended: Blend mobile and non-mobile technologies.
5. Whenever: Use mobile learning spontaneously.
6. Wherever: Use mobile learning in non-traditional learning spaces.
7. Whomsoever: Use mobile learning both individually and collaboratively.
8. Affordances: Exploit the affordances of mobile technologies.
9. Personalize: Employ the learners’ own mobile devices.
10. Mediation: Use mobile learning to mediate knowledge construction.
11. Produse: Use mobile learning to produce and consume knowledge. [9; 134]
Reflecting the latest development, the use of immobile, i.e. traditional, information
and communication technologies moved to mobile devices, e.g. in e-shopping, e-
banking, and finally in education [10]. The state changed substantially within a few
years; currently, various types of mobile devices are available on the market. Therefore,
mobile devices are becoming standard didactic means on all levels of education.
Moreover, foreign languages could be called pioneers in MAL. At the beginning
(except for others) mobile devices were often used for listening to music with lyrics in
English. This kind of entertainment, which has been widely spread among young
people, including university students, was a way which opened doors to mobile devices
exploited for educational purposes [11].
3 Research Design
3.1 Research Sample
Totally, 203 FIM students participated in the research. The research sample had
following characteristics: 60 % of male and 40 % of female respondents, 41 % studying
Applied Informatics and 21 % Information Management bachelor study programmes,
2 % Applied Informatics and Information Management follow-up two-year master
programmes, 10 % were students of Financial Management and 27 % of Tourism
Management study programmes. The age structure was as follows: 70 % of
respondents were 20 – 24 years old, 13 % were 25 – 29 years old, 11 % were 30 – 39
years old, 2 % were younger than 20 years and 4 % were above 40 years.
3.2 Methodol ogy
The method of questionnaire was applied for data collecting. The questionnaire was
available in online courses in the LMS Blackboard for three weeks. It included 12 items
focusing on the use of mobile devices and social networks. All questions were of
multiple-choice type: items 1 and 2 provided four choices, all choices could be marked
in items 2 – 8, one choice in items 9 – 12. The data were processed by the NCSS2007
statistic software by the method of frequency analysis, and analyzed.
4 Results
The results are displayed in the form of figures and described.
The data reflecting the possession of mobile devices are presented in figure 1. To
provide a more complex view, data collected form the research group of FIM students
were compared to the group of 324 students of Faculty of Education (FaEd) UHK (176
primary level pre-service teachers and 148 lower secondary pre-service teachers). The
results show that more FIM students own PCs (52 %, FaEd 40 %); however, slightly
more FaEd students possess notebooks (91 %, FIM 88 %). The situation is very similar
with smartphones and mobile phones – under both criteria the difference is 3 % in favor
of FIM students; 61 % of them own smartphones and/or 57 % are mobile phones
owners. Results of both groups are rather similar with tablets (24 % FIM, 25 % FaEd).
Netbooks are not frequently owned (10 % of FIM students, 3 % FaEd). From other data
the TV possession was mentioned by 67 % of FIM students (compared to 42 % of
FaEd); whereas 49 % of FaEd students declared the ownership of radios (compared to
30 % of FIM). To sum up: as all choices could be marked in item 8 of the questio nnaire
(Devices the respondent owns), further analysis of collected data was made. It proved
that each respondent owned at least one of the listed mobile devices (notebook, tablet,
netbook, smartphone). As for question 1, it can be concluded that both the FIM and
FaEd students have been sufficiently equipped with mobile devices and the MAL
process can be applied.
Fig. 1. M obile and other devices the respondents possess
Findings to question 2 were collected from FIM respondents from items 1 – 7 of the
questionnaire. The results are presented in figures 2 – 4. As clearly displayed in figure
2, mobile devices are rather frequently exploited for both purposes – private
communication (i.e. with family and/or friends) and professional communication (i.e.
on topics relating to school/study and work affairs). The highest frequency was detected
with notebooks (79 %, for both purposes), followed by smartphones (professional 56 %,
private 59 %) and mobile phones (professional 46 %, private 55 %). What was very
surprising in the times of e-society was the fact that nearly all respondents declared
personal contact to be very important for professional purposes (92 %) and private
communication (96 %). This finding proved respondents did not use mobile devices
for all purposes; despite their fast development and wide spread, the human inter-
personal communication is still alive in today´s e-world.
However, mobile devices provide more than communication services. Therefore,
further on, other fields the mobile devices are exploited were researched: entertainment
and education, particularly the higher and further education. As displayed in figure 3,
notebook is the most frequently used device for higher (university) education (HE) and
further education (FE) – both criteria reached 87 %).
Fig. 2. Purposes the respondents exploit the mobile devices for: Communication with family
and/or friends
Moreover, 81 % of respondents declared the use of notebook for Entertainment.
Similarly to previous results, the smartphone took the second ´place´ (HE 43 %, FE 45
% and entertainment 49 %). The PC reached the third position (HE 42 %, FE 46 %,
Entertainment 36 %). Unlikely to previous results, mobile phones were detected as less
frequently exploited (both HE and FE 17 %, Entertainment 28 %). Surprisingly, more
than 50 % of respondents declared the use of TV for entertainment. Unfortunately, the
data do not show more details, i.e. whether the respondents watch the TV programmes,
play video-games or conduct other activities.
Fig. 3. Purposes the respondents exploit the mobile devices for: entertainment, higher education
(i.e. university education) and further education (interests, profession)
As displayed in figure 4, not only information and study materials available through
mobile devices are exploited by the respondents for the higher education and further
education. As described above, at FIM all subjects taught in all study programmes have
appropriate online courses in the LMS Blackboard – these courses were used as a source
of information for the higher education by 92 % of respondents compared to only 38 %
for further education. Moreover, 85 % of respondents personally attended lectures
within HE, which was rather surprising with students of IT study programmes where
selected lectures were video-recorded and later available on FIM web page; three
quarters of respondents (HE 77 %, FE 76 %) used materials from the Internet which
were available free of charge; study materials of the FIM web page were exploited by
72 % of respondents for HE (compared to 26 % for FE); and discussion groups within
online courses in LMS were attended by 72 % of respondents to discuss topics relating
to HE (compared to 33 % of discussions on FE).
Fig. 4. Sources the respondents exploit for: higher education, further education
Generally, discussions (private and education-related) and availability of study
materials are the main reasons why respondents access social networks. This area was
monitored by items 9 – 12. Totally 19 social networks were mentioned by the
respondents. The collected data showed that Facebook (originally designed by Harvard
university students for data sharing, general communication and entertainment),
Google+ (serving the same purposes) and LinkedIn (connecting the world´s
professionals to make them more productive and successful) were the most frequently
accessed social networks (followed by Twitter and Skype). The access rate to those
significantly exploited is displayed in figure 5.
Fig. 5. Frequency of selected social networks exploitation
As expected, the most frequently used social network was Facebook. It was
exploited by the 36 % of FIM students logged in all days long, 42 % accessed Facebook
every day. It means Facebook was daily used by 78 % of respondents. Google+ was in
different position – 42 % of respondents expressed they never accessed Google+; 25 %
declared their access 1 – 3 times per month and 9 % used it once per week; 24 % of
respondents declared their access more frequently than once per week.
LinkedIn was the least frequently accessed among the three social networks. Despite
the fact this is the social network of administrative staff, personnel managers or IT
professionals, it was ´ignored´ by IT students. Totally 79 % of respondents did not use
LinkedIn at all; another 10 % accessed this social network exceptionally (i.e. 1 – 3 times
per month as maximum); 5 % of FIM students stated rare visits, i.e. once per week; and
only 6 % of students declared they used LinkedIn more frequently. These data clearly
show the position of LinkedIn for education was not strong, i.e. the network will not be
implemented into the designed system of instruction until the students´/respondents´
approach changes, i.e. the access frequency arises.
But, despite the access frequency was very low in Google+ and LinkedIn, FIM
students had their accounts there. The reason might be that as IT professionals they
were interested in new ´items´, so they created accounts, but in practice they neither or
rarely used them. Probably the Facebook environment satisfies their social and
professional needs and they did not feel like accessing other networks frequently and
regularly.
5 Discussions and Conclusions
In the current globalized world, differences in technical and technological development
are quickly fading. However, the methodology of designing and conducting the mobile-
assisted process of instruction is still missing. Generally, social networks were
primarily exploited for communication with family and friends, sharing photos and
materials of interest. This support to social networks from the public should be
exploited for educational purposes and learners´ motivation. In practice, despite their
disadvantages (small screen) to present the (learning) content and thanks their
advantages (low weight, small size), the mobile devices have become the most
frequently used means of access to social networks. Education must benefit from this
fact. Similarly to e-learning a decade ago, the ´MAL didactics´ is strongly required in
the current process. For this purpose, the FRAME model is widely applied. It provides
answers to basic questions on learners´ taking full advantage of the mobile exploitation,
on designing materials and activities appropriate for mobile access , on the effective
implementation of MAL into formal and informal learning etc. [12, p. 27]. The FRAME
model describes how learners are moving from real to virtual environments and
situations, they interact there with other people, information or systems, all doing
anywhere, anytime. The mediator of the process is the technology. Been displayed in
the form of the Venn diagram, three aspects (circles) which represent the learner, device
and social aspects intersect in the centre. The intersection of usability of the device and
social technology describes the availability of mobile technology (which is called the
possession in our research). All the aspects overlap in the center of the Venn diagram
and define an ideal mobile learning situation. Moreover, technical characteristics of
mobile devices and social and personal aspects of learning are also considered within
the FRAME, which refers to psychological theories e.g. by Vygotsky [13]. The mobile
device works as an active component of learning and social processes in the FRAME
model and the word ´rational´ refers to the “belief that reason is the primary source of
knowledge and that reality is constructed rather than discovered” [12, p. 15].
The above presented results collected at FIM reflect those of MAL implementation
in the world. However, in the Czech Republic significant items have not been
published. In 2010, i.e. under the starting MAL conditions, Lorenz [8] conducted a
study focusing on mobile education within the changing university environment
focusing on services which libraries can provide. Compared to our research, he asked
two identical and two different questions. Particularly he paid attention to the problem,
whether the students and teachers have sufficient learning/teaching skills for MAL and
what their equipment was. He discovered that 32 % of students and 23 % of teachers
regularly accessed social networks, they used podcasts and audio -books (by 18 % of
students and 12 % of teachers ), e-readers (23 % of teachers and 21 % of students ).
However, both the students and teachers felt they had insufficient skills for the
exploitation of MAL potential (65 % of teachers and 42 % students). On the other side,
46 % of teachers and 57 % of students were willing to pay for mobile-relating services
for education and they would appreciate and implement mobile devices into learning
and teaching processes. In general, their attitudes to MAL were positive.
In the survey conducted by Chen [14] the research topic closely relates to our study.
Chen detected tablets were an ideal tool for ubiquitous, collaborative and interactive
environment for autonomous informal foreign language learning. This approach was
supported by students´ positive attitudes towards tablets´ efficiency and usability for
the MAL process. Other studies, e.g. by Demouy and Kukulska-Hulme [15], have
demonstrated mobile technologies work as helpful and appropriate means for foreign
language learning and teaching. These findings will help develop the MAL didactics
when new, still unknown, mobile devices are implemented in this process.
Since 2010, when the Lorenz´s was carried, the data and situation in the Czech
Republic have changed. Our study was of great importance, as it reflected the state-of-
art in the field and discovered future research topics.
Acknowledgments
This paper is supported by the IGU 2016 Project.
References
1. Kostolányová K.: Teorie adaptivního e-learningu [The theory of adaptive e-learning].
Ostrava, Ostravská univerzita (2012)
2. RIUS Project: Run-up of InterUniversity Study in selected universities in the Czech
Republic, CZ.04.1.03/3.2.15.1/0067, https://www.uhk.cz/fim/projekty/1360
3. EVENE Project (Erasmus Virtual Economics&M anagement Studies), 2005-3857/001-001,
https://www.uhk.cz/fim/projekty/1740
4. REKAP Project (Rozvoj e-learningových kompetencí akademických pracovníků)
[Development of e-learning competences of academic staff] CZ.04.1.03/3.2.15.3/0406,
https://www.uhk.cz/fim/projekty/2080
5. Zervas, P., Sampson, D. G.: Facilitating teachers reuse of mobile assisted language learning
resources using educational metadata. IEEE Transaction on learning technologies, 7(1), pp.
6--16 (2014)
6. Johnston, C. A.: Unlocking the will to learn. Corwin Press Inc. (1996)
7. Kaptelinin, V., Nardi, B.: Acting with technology: Activity theory and interaction design.
Cambridge: M IT Press, (2006)
8. Lorenz, M .: Kde nechala škola díru: m-learning aneb Vzdělání pro záškoláky [Where school
let a hole yawn: m-learning or education for truants]. ProInflow: http://pro.inflow.cz/kde-
nechala-skola-diru-m-learning-aneb-vzdelani-pro-zaskolaky (2011)
9. Herrington, J. et al.: New Technologies, New Pedagogies: M obile Learning in Higher
Education. Research Online: http://ro.uow.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1092
&context=edupapers, p. 134 (2009)
10. Pieri, M ., Diamantini, D.: From e-learning to mobile learning: New opportunities. In M .
Ally, M obile Learning. Transforming the delivery of education and training, pp. 183--194,
Athabasca: AU Press (2009)
11. Traxler, J.: Current State of M obile Learning. M . Ally, M obile Learning. Transforming the
Delivery of Education and Training (pp. 9--24). Athabasca: AU Press (2009)
12. Simonova, I., Poulova, P.: Learning Style Reflection within Tertiary e-education. Hradec,
Kralove, WAM AK (2012)
13. Vygotsky, L. M ind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. In M .
Cole, V. John-Steiner, S. Scribner, & E. Superman (Eds.), Cambridge: Harvard University
Press (1978)
14. Chen, X. B.: Tablets for informal language learning: student usage and attitudes. Language
learning & technology, 17(1), pp. 20—37 (2013)
15. Demouy, V., Kukulska-Hulme, A.: On the spot: Using mobile devices for listening and
speaking practice on a French language programme. Open Learning: The Journal of Open,
Distance and e-Learning, 25(3), pp. 217--232 (2010)