Mobile Learning Data: An Analysis of Student Use of Mobile Devices in Higher Education

How are mobile devices actually being used by students to learn in higher education? Our survey data reveals where, when, and how students are using mobile devices in their college courses. We will explain and discuss our analysis of the data. The data and analysis can be used in instructional design choices and strategies for online courses. We believe that data on where, when, and how mobile devices are being used by online students in their learning activities is a basic requirement for effective instructional design. We decided to gather, analyze, and share, this data to provide a reliable basis for a conceptual pathway to design in mobile learning. We surveyed over 1,500 students in a wide variety of academic disciplines in Post University's online degree programs. They were a mixture of traditional and non-traditional students. The courses were offered in an accelerated eight week format. Our questions were designed to elicit reliable responses that would allow us to pinpoint where, when, and how mobile devices are used by students in online university courses. In a 2007 peer reviewed article entitled, A short take on design challenges in the mobile education world, published a few months after the introduction of the iPhone, one of authors of our survey offered a number of theories about why mobile devices would emerge as an important factor in learning. At the time, no one knew what would emerge. Our 2011 data allows us to advance the early thinking into a basis for instructional design in mobile learning. It impacts the field of mobile learning by precisely identifying the modalities of mobile device use by students in higher education and is an additional basic step in understanding mobile learning.