Mobile Learning And its Objectives
When talking about mobile learning, it must be said that the great development in communication and information technologies, educational technology, and the spread of electronic knowledge among school and university students has led to the emergence of new forms of education systems.
In the past decade, education and training tools based mainly on the computer and different methods of interaction with it appeared, taking advantage of CDs and local networks. Mobile Learning.
The concept of mobile learning:
Mobile learning is a form of e-learning that presents an open, dynamic system, whose environment is not limited to the use of mobile devices and mobile phones only, but in which technological programs and applications must be integrated with means, devices and development tools, so that it allows learning through them at any time and from any place. place.
There are many definitions that dealt with the concept of mobile learning, some of which will be dealt with in the following in detail:
1. [ Jamal Al-Dahshan, Magdy Younis, 2009 ] defines it as one of the forms of learning that takes place by using mobile and portable devices such as mobile phones, digital assistants, smart phones, and laptop computers to achieve flexibility and interaction in the learning process at any time and anywhere, through what these provide. Technologies from services such as SMS and applications .
2. While (Muhammad Khamis, 2011) defines it as the process of delivering electronic content, supporting the learner, managing learning and educational interactions remotely, at any time and place, using portable digital devices and wireless communication technology.
3. She adds (Lily Swailem, 2013) that: learning provides environments that use small and hand-held wireless devices such as mobile phones, personal digital assistants, smart phones, and small personal computers, in order to achieve flexibility and interaction in the teaching and learning processes within them, while allowing access accessed by students at any time and anywhere.
4. As for (Manal Badawi, 2015), she defines it as an integrated educational system in which maximum flexibility in time and space is achieved. To complete learning for students through the use of mobile devices of various types, such as mobile phones, small personal computers, and mobile digital devices.
5. (Sana Nofal, Dina Nassar, 2020) confirms that mobile learning allows students to learn anywhere and at any time through their various mobile devices, while giving them complete flexibility in dealing with all its elements while studying their own content within it.
By analyzing the previous definitions, it becomes clear that the concept of mobile learning is based on the following points:
1. It depends on wireless technologies such as: smart phones, tablets and laptops.
2. Access to the learner in any place or time provides freedom, independence and interaction.
3. Provides services such as SMS, wireless applications, and Bluetooth.
4. It achieves flexibility and interaction in the teaching and learning processes.
The definition of mobile learning can be derived as: the delivery of educational content from the salvation of wireless technologies such as: smart phones and tablet computers, using various services, and helps to deliver content and gain experiences for the learner at any place or time, and is characterized by freedom, independence and interaction, and achieves various learning goals as illustrated in the figure the next:
Theoretical foundations that can be built upon when designing mobile learning:
6. Mobile learning is based on the principles of many educational theories that support the use of a mobile learning environment in the educational process, as explained by each of (Hoveyda Musa, 2021; Ahlam Al-Sayed, 2020) in the following.
Behavioral theory:
Its principles are based on reinforcement and punishment and their role in shaping the behavior of the organism, giving importance to direct observation and describing the facts as they occur, and focusing on the outward behavior and not on the internal mental events.
With the ability to form and analyze behavior if the conditions of the appropriate educational environment are controlled, and this happens when the learner gets the appropriate reinforcement as a result of a link between the stimulus and the response.
This is evident in the provision of educational content through the mobile learning environment in the form of tests, activities and exercises for learners, in addition to providing feedback in the form of text chat applications represented in WhatsApp and Facebook.
Cognitive constructivist theory:
Its principles are based on the fact that learning is an active building process; Where the learner works on practicing and applying the activity, so he works on processing the information, and modifying his mental structure through self-organized learning.
Thus, the student exerts mental effort to know the knowledge and discover it on his own and uses it to construct new ideas and concepts in the light of his previous knowledge and linking them to the new knowledge.
Based on the foregoing, the mobile learning environment varies in content delivery patterns, including discussions and educational activities through the available communication channels, which appear in the form of social networking applications such as Facebook, WhatsApp, and e-mail.
Mobile Learning Goals:
The objectives of mobile learning lie in its endeavor to achieve the satisfaction of students and all those responsible for the educational process, with the expansion of the geographical area included in the educational environment, so that it seeks to facilitate and provide learning for students to the degree in which learning turns from learning at any time and in any place to learning ( anytime and anywhere).
7. The objectives of mobile learning can be formulated in a set of the following main points, as indicated by (Jamal Al-Sharqawi, Hasnaa Al-Tabbakh, 2012) as follows.
1. Enabling learning for all students according to their needs, abilities and tendencies.
2. Achieving the satisfaction of students, parents and those in charge of the educational process.
3. Increasing the geographical area covered by the educational institution.
4. Attract learners to learn and provide time and place for learning.
5. Enabling the design of educational environments commensurate with the characteristics of learners.
6. Providing the learner with technological skills in how to acquire information.
7. Preparing a new generation of technology applications in teaching and learning through research and evaluation processes.
8. Benefit from mobile learning content and Internet applications in education and training processes and apply them in real-life situations.
Characteristics of mobile learning:
Many researchers (Zakaria Al, 2011; Alsaif, G. A, 2018) agreed on a set of elements that are specific to mobile learning, which are as follows:
1. Being everywhere: It indicates that the content is available to the learner everywhere, and this happens by covering large areas with wireless networks that transmit the content.
2. The educational material is always available to the learner, and this means that mobile learning tools are always distinguished by their ability to deliver the content immediately when the learner requests it.
3. Communication: means that mobile devices can be in contact with each other, and this helps to exchange information and different knowledge.
4. Convenience: Students can get the educational content including theoretical, practical information and questions from anywhere.
5. Interaction: Students can interact with teachers and each other effectively and easily.
6. Ownership and increased motivation: When students own their devices, they are motivated to use them and learn through them.
7. Synchronization: where the learner can discuss with the teacher and interact with him at the same time by connecting to the mobile phone, and follows up the content displayed through the e-learning sites on the Internet in the synchronized educational presentations and sites for e-learning.
8. Cooperation: Where students and learners can cooperate with each other through a mobile phone during education, such as using messages, calls, and dialogue by connecting to the Internet using a mobile phone, which enhances cooperation between teachers and each other, and develops their social interaction skills.
9. Speed: Speed is one of the characteristics of mobile technology, as it helps to transfer ideas and information between learners, no matter how far the distances are between them at the same moment.
10. Privacy: As the mobile phone is a device for individual use and not for collective use, and its price and operating cost are available and within the reach of a large segment of users, which makes it a personal device and means of communication.
11. Expansion and inclusiveness: Mobile networks cover a wide range in all countries of the world, which makes the mobile phone an appropriate, effective and powerful means of communication everywhere in the world, which shows that the scope of communication and use of mobile technology is vast to a large extent.
The reviewer
1. Jamal Ali Al-Dahshan, Magdy Muhammad Younes (2009). Mobile Learning, a new formula for distance learning: The first scientific symposium on education and educational administration, entitled Virtual Learning Systems, Faculty of Education, Kafr El-Sheikh.
2. ↑ Mohamed Attia Khamis (2011). Theoretical and historical origins of electronic learning technology, 1st edition, Dar Al-Sahab Publishing House, Cairo
3. ↑ Talily Said Swailem (2013). Determinants of the demand of female students of the Faculty of Family Sciences at Taibah University to use mobile education and their relationship to some factors. Arab Studies in Education and Psychology: Association of Arab Educators, 42 (2), 219-183
4. ↑ Manal Shawky Badawi (2010). Designing a mobile learning environment based on Web 2.0 applications to develop computer maintenance skills for postgraduate students at the College of Education. Journal of Research in the Fields of Specific Education: Minia University – Faculty of Specific Education, (2), 791-1.
5. ↑ Sana Abdel-Hamid Nofal, Dina Abdel-Latif Nassar (2020). The impact of the interaction between infographic patterns and learning styles in the mobile learning environment on developing the skills of designing and producing electronic networks and visual-spatial intelligence among educational technology students. Studies in University Education, Ain Shams University – College of Education – University Education Development Center, (49), 1-392.
6. ↑ Huwaida Saad Musa (2021). Designing a mobile learning environment using cloud computing applications to develop the skills of developing electronic learning resources among students of the College of Education. The World of Education: The Arab Foundation for Scientific Consultation and Human Resources Development, 2 (72), 200-213.
7. ↑ Ahlam Muhammad Al-Sayed (2020). The effect of broadcasting volumes of mini-educational content “podcasts” in the mobile learning environment on the development of creative design and dissemination of information graphics among students of educational technology. The Educational Journal, Faculty of Education, Sohag University, 77, 949-1044 |
8. ↑ Jamal Mostafa Al-Sharqawi, Hasnaa Abdel-Aty Al-Tabbakh (2012). The impact of different navigational patterns of mobile learning programs on developing the skills of designing and producing electronic multimedia programs among postgraduate students at the Faculty of Education. Cairo, Volume 2, Mansoura: Faculty of Education, Mansoura University and the Center for Cognitive Studies, 310-413.
9. ↑ Zakaria Yahya Lal (2011). Modern technology in teaching superior mentality. Cairo: World of Books
10. ^ Alsaif, G. (2018). Benefits and Barriers toward Effectiveness of Mobile Learning from Students’ Perspective in the Higher Education. Journal of Educational and Psychological Sciences, 2(15), 139-156.