Mobile phone appropriation and pedagogical mediation by students in educational contexts

1. University of Minho, Braga, Portugal – adelina8@gmail.com
Mobile phone appropriation and
pedagogical mediation by students
in educational contexts
MoLeNET Mobile Learning Conference 2009
1st December, London
Adelina Moura & Ana Amélia Carvalho

2. University of Minho, Braga, Portugal – adelina8@gmail.com
• Analysis of the students' mobile phone
appropriation as learning tools
• Assessment of how the mobile phone
mediates learning
• Studying the mobile technology
implications in learning: creating learning
strategies and monitoring within and
outside the classroom.
Goals

3. University of Minho, Braga, Portugal – adelina8@gmail.com
Methodology
A qualitative research methodology with
multiple cases, involving a range of data
collection techniques (questionnaires,
interviews, focus group, observations, and
diaries).

4. University of Minho, Braga, Portugal – adelina8@gmail.com
Framework - Activity Theory
Two concepts
i) appropriation ii) mediation
• How mobile phones were appropriated
as a learning tool by students;
• How they mediated the learning activities.
Activity Theory principles helped us to frame the
analysis in our study:
• i) to identify the socio-cultural factors that influenced
the process of mobile phone appropriation;
• ii) to determine how mobile mediated activities
introduced new possibilities.

5. University of Minho, Braga, Portugal – adelina8@gmail.com
Study
We carried out a study
looking at how the mobile
phone has been used in
different learning settings
as a learning tool within
and outside a secondary
school classroom, both in
Portuguese and French
languages.

6. University of Minho, Braga, Portugal – adelina8@gmail.com
Mobile Devices
We examine the use of students mobile
phone in the following contexts:
• i) as a repository of learning content;
• ii) as a production tool for writing and
reading and exploring multimedia features
(audio, video and image;
• iii) as an SMS-based learning scenario.

7. University of Minho, Braga, Portugal – adelina8@gmail.com
Environment description
• Curricular and extracurricular activities
• Individual and collaborative learning
Background
• Inside and Outside classroom

8. University of Minho, Braga, Portugal – adelina8@gmail.com
Curricular Activities
• Video in Portuguese and
French classes for discussion
Podcasts:
i) to study Portuguese Literature
and language;
ii) to improve French language
and reading.
• Photos and videos creation by
students for individual and
collaborative activities
• SMS-based learning scenario

9. University of Minho, Braga, Portugal – adelina8@gmail.com
Individual & Collaborative Activities
• Micro stories creation
• Mobile Quizzes:
i) grammar
ii) curricular learning
iii) general culture
• iDictionary – both in Portuguese &
French languages
• Three SMS-based scenario:
i) Receptive activities
ii) Productive activities
iii) Collaborative activities

10. University of Minho, Braga, Portugal – adelina8@gmail.com
Geração Móvel - Mobile Generation
http://geramovel.wirenode.mobi

11. University of Minho, Braga, Portugal – adelina8@gmail.com
Findings
Outcomes showed that:
i) Students' competences (writing and reading) in
French language had benefited from mobile
phone use (podcasts);
ii) Students' engagement in learning Portuguese
and French languages was enhanced (SMS-
based learning):
iii) We noted an increase in students' motivation in
both individual and collaborative learning.

12. University of Minho, Braga, Portugal – adelina8@gmail.com
Thank you for your presence!
Comments?
Adelina Moura