Analysis of the determining factors of good teaching practices of mobile learning at the Spanish University. An explanatory model
Introduction
Nowadays, it is a well-known fact that, mobile computing has advanced at a relentless pace in recent years. The development of the functionalities of mobile devices has been exponentially, since start making a simple call and sending of Short Message Service (SMS) to the arrival of Internet to the devices and the commerce of mobile applications. This evolution in their functionality has increased the use of mobile devices by educational context as another tool available for teachers. Furthermore, the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) is linked to educational paradigm of the 21st century, where the role of teachers was defined as a learning guide, the main figure to be followed by the students.
This implementation of ICT in education is supported by different organizations. Firstly, European level, the Digital Agenda 2020 includes in its actions research and innovation with ICT and the promotion of literacy, skills and digital inclusion (European Commission, 2019); secondly, the Horizon Reports, a global benchmark in the analysis of trends and adoption of technology in higher education, have highlighted since 2012 the integration of mobile devices in the university classroom (Adams et al., 2017; Adams et al., 2018; Alexander et al., 2019; Johnson, Adams, & Cummins, 2012; Johnson, Adams, Estrada, & Freeman, 2014; 2015; Johnson et al., 2013; Johnson et al., 2016). However, this prediction is still remains to be seen as consolidated fact, since every year some trends related to mobile learning (m-learning) continues to stand out (Table 1).
As for the Spanish context, data from the Mobile Report in Spain and the World in 2019 showed that the most widely used Internet access device in Spain was the smartphone, with a penetration rate of 96% (Ditrendia, 2019). In addition to these data, in 2016 Spain became the country with the most smartphones per inhabitant and was the fifth country in the world with the most hours of Internet use through the smartphone (Atresmedia, 2019). Thus, as some theories state “technostress” is a present problem in the reality of university students, but the academic use of mobile devices does not cause this type of stress (Cong, 2019). Therefore, the academic integration of mobile devices in the university classroom allows the establishment of new scenarios and possibilities that can have a positive impact on improving the teaching-learning process. It should also be noted that the educational context where m-learning has been most developed is higher education (Crompton & Burke, 2018), being a useful resource to expand the capacities of university students (Fox, 2019; Pinto, Sales, Fernández-Pascual, & Caballero-Mariscal, 2020).
For all these reasons, this paper proposed an analysis of the application of m-learning in Spanish universities. At the same time, the causes of non-application and the factors that influence the development of good teaching practices with mobile devices were also examined.
Section snippets
Background
M-learning in Spain has experienced a growing interest from teachers since the beginning of 2009 (Brazuelo & Gallego, 2014). It is clear that, the emergence of implementation experiences at different educational levels and the configuration of a theoretical body of knowledge on m-learning (Hinojo-Lucena, Aznar-Díaz, & Romero-Rodríguez, 2018). Specifically, m-learning refers to the use of mobile devices (smartphone, tablet, laptop …) to encourage learning and extend the scope of teaching (Díez,
Participants and procedure
A cross-sectional study design was adopted using a self-administered survey of the population of university professors who teach in the Faculties of Education of Spanish public and private universities (N = 9655). Participant data was collected from the email distribution of an online survey, in Google Forms format. The research was conducted based on a convenience sampling design. In total, professors from 59 Spanish universities participated, of which 40 were public and 19 were private
Results
A content analysis was showed as on the reasons that Spanish university professors do not use mobile devices in the classroom. The responses were coded in four categories: distraction, change resistance, ignorance and uselessness (Fig. 1). Thus, it was gathered that the main causes were: I would not know how to apply them (ignorance) (45.59%; n = 191); I consider that they distract students (distraction) (28.16%; n = 118); I prefer a traditional methodology (change resistance) (14.56%; n = 61)
Discussion
The data showed the wide adoption of m-learning in Spanish universities, confirming the exponential growth that has taken place since 2009 (Brazuelo & Gallego, 2014). Over 70% of the study sample applied mobile devices in the classroom. It reaffirmed that the educational context where m-learning, not only, has been most developed, but also, it has been the higher education stage (Crompton & Burke, 2018). Thus, these data show that the academic use of the mobile devices is much higher than
Conclusions
The analysed results showed important aspects of good teaching practice of m-learning at the higher education stage. It is being a context with full experimentation and expansion of m-learning (Alexander et al., 2019; Kaliisa et al., 2019).
The fact is that this paper is a pioneering study whose data advance the field of knowledge about m-learning. To give a graphic example, it can be seen the possible explanatory model generated on the good teaching practices of m-learning in the Spanish
CRediT authorship contribution statement
Inmaculada Aznar-Díaz: Conceptualization, Methodology, Supervision. Francisco-Javier Hinojo-Lucena: Formal analysis, Investigation, Writing - original draft. María-Pilar Cáceres-Reche: Visualization, Investigation, Writing - review & editing. José-María Romero-Rodríguez: Software, Writing - review & editing, Funding acquisition.
Declaration of competing interest
None.
Acknowledgements
This paper has been funded by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport of the Government of Spain (Reference FPU16/01762).
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