(1) Researchers conducted a case study to explore how a meaningful mobile learning (m-learning) activity could foster engagement among older users not initially interested in information and communication technologies (ICT). (2) They designed a context-aware m-learning activity where participants answered questions about a novel on a route using mobile devices. Participants were involved in co-design workshops to create the questions. (3) Results showed that the meaningful, collaborative nature of the activity improved participants' views of technology over time and engaged them in learning, despite initial reluctance towards ICT. When mobile devices supported an enjoyable experience, anxiety towards them reduced.

1. NOT INTERESTED IN ICT?A CASE STUDY TO EXPLORE
HOW A MEANINGFUL M-LEARNINGACTIVITY FOSTERS
ENGAGEMENTAMONG OLDER USERS
Patricia Santos
Mara Balestrini, Valeria Righi
Josep Blat, Davinia Hernández-Leo
ECTEL 2013 – Paphos, Cyprus

2. Outline
I. Introduction
II. State of the art
III. Case Study
IV. Results
V. Conclusions
Not Interested in ICT? A Case Study to Explore How a Meaningful m-Learning Activity Fosters Engagement Among Older Users 2

3. Introduction
• M-learning + LBS  mostly used in formal educational contexts
• Lack of research understanding: M-learning + Older Lifelong Learners
How should context-aware m-learning be deployed to provide
fruitful outcomes for older learners who are not familiar with ICT?
1) can m-learning in situ foster the acceptance of mobile
technologies among older people initially not interested in ICT?
2) which strategies and combinations of tools can provide an
engaging m-learning in situ experience?
Not Interested in ICT? A Case Study to Explore How a Meaningful m-Learning Activity Fosters Engagement Among Older Users 3

4. State of the Art
• Previous works (Boulos et al, 2011) exploring the use of geo-
positioning systems by older people have mainly focused on e-
health applications
• Technology can be a source of stress among older users.
However, if correctly introduced, it can be perceived as useful
for improving their physical and mental health (Nycyk & Redsell,
2006)
• ICT contributes to older adults’ well-being and sense of
empowerment by affecting their interpersonal
interactions, promoting their cognitive functioning and
contributing to their experience of control and independence
(Shapira et al, 2011)
Not Interested in ICT? A Case Study to Explore How a Meaningful m-Learning Activity Fosters Engagement Among Older Users 4

5. State of the Art
• Adaptation of the UTAUT (Unified Theory of Acceptance
and Use of Technology) model (Wang et al, 2009), experiment
with 330 participants, concluded that:
“performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social
influence, perceived playfulness, and self-management of
learning were all significant determinants of behavioral
intention to use m-learning… age differences moderate the
effects of effort expectancy and social influence on
mlearning use intention”
Not Interested in ICT? A Case Study to Explore How a Meaningful m-Learning Activity Fosters Engagement Among Older Users 5

6. State of the art: QuesTInSitu
• The interaction context of the test had to be the city, a natural park...
Educational resources (questions) have to be associated to real positions and
distributed as a route in the physical environment “Assessment in situ” refers to a
type of activity where the questions
of a test have to be answered in
front of a related real location (in
situ) *.
Geolocated QTI questions and
tests (routes), can be created and
learners answer the tests using a
mobile device with GPS and 3G.
* Santos, P., Pérez-Sanagustín, M., Hernández-Leo, D. & Blat, J. (2011). QuesTInSitu: From tests to routes for
assessment in situ activities. Computers & Education, 57 (4), 2517-2534. R Q1) Impact factor: 2.617
Not Interested in ICT? A Case Study to Explore How a Meaningful m-Learning Activity Fosters Engagement Among Older Users 6

7. Case Study: Context
Educational context:
• Adult school that offers a variety of free courses supporting lifelong learning. The
center applies a dialogic approach empowers all the participants to have the
same rights in decision making, collaboration and co-design.
• 20 participants (60+ years old) who took part in the study were all enrolled in a
Catalan literature course. There is no teacher or instructor in the course but rather
a participant who volunteers to organize the discussion.
• Main task:
The book “La plaça del diamant” by Merçè Rodoreda was chosen ,
we asked them to come up with questions about specific facts in the
story that were related to areas of the district of Gràcia in Barcelona.
Not Interested in ICT? A Case Study to Explore How a Meaningful m-Learning Activity Fosters Engagement Among Older Users 7

8. Case Study:
Research Question: how performance, effort expectancy, and
playfulness affect the participants’ m-learning acceptance?
 We propose that adopting a co-design process to create and
perform the context-aware m-learning activity enhanced the m-learning
acceptance among our participants and reduced their anxiety towards
emerging and unfamiliar technologies
Goals:
1. Design and realize an m-learning in situ activity that consisted of a route of
geolocated questions based on the facts occurred in a novel that they had
previously read in a dialogic literary gathering offered by the adult school.
2. Two groups of learners complete the route in situ by answering the questions
Not Interested in ICT? A Case Study to Explore How a Meaningful m-Learning Activity Fosters Engagement Among Older Users 8

9. Case Study: Activity
1. The QTIS questions were defined by the 20 participants in two co-design workshops
• Workshop 1:
Participants voluntarily were divided in two groups.
Each group think about questions for the other group.
• Workshop 2:
• Each group selects 10 questions and use iPads to decide the location of
questions
2. 11 participants (divided in two groups) participated in the mLearning activity in situ
by interacting with QuesTInSitu and smartphones
Not Interested in ICT? A Case Study to Explore How a Meaningful m-Learning Activity Fosters Engagement Among Older Users 9

10. Case Study: activity in situ
Video: http://youtu.be/bBKvz9hYQ-k
Not Interested in ICT? A Case Study to Explore How a Meaningful m-Learning Activity Fosters Engagement Among Older Users 10

11. Data gathering and analysis methods
• Qualitative approach combining: participatory observations and
conversations with participants
• Thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006) extracting the main themes
from the data corpus
 Three themes: i) Progressive engagement with device, ii) Meaningfulness of the activity,
iii) Collaborative involvement
Not Interested in ICT? A Case Study to Explore How a Meaningful m-Learning Activity Fosters Engagement Among Older Users 11
Activity Type of data
Co-design
workshops
• Videos during the workshops (workshop 1 and workshop 2).
• Fieldnotes of 3 researchers’ observations and conversations with
participants during the activity
Activity-in-situ • Videos during the QuesTInSitu route.
• Fieldnotes of 4 researchers’ observations and conversations with
participants during the activity
• Questionnaire post activity
Debriefing • Fieldnotes of 3 researchers’ observations and conversations with
participants

12. Main Results
I - Progressive Engagement with the Technology
1. Participants initially refused to interact with the devices (i.e. mobiles
phone in the activity in-situ, iPad in the co-design workshop)
suggesting that their performance and effort expectancy was
negative.
2. When the mobile devices were entering in the activity in a natural
way, participants were no longer disturbed by their presence.
3. Users were so engaged (playfulness) in the activity that they
started to interact with the technology “naturally”.
4. Social influence is an important factor that has to be considered
when engaging older learners in m-learning.
Not Interested in ICT? A Case Study to Explore How a Meaningful m-Learning Activity Fosters Engagement Among Older Users 12

13. Main Results
II - Meaningfulness of the activities Supported by ICT
1. The increased acceptance of the technology was directly related with the
strong emotional involvement in the activity perceiving it as a playful
educational experience.
2. The use of prompts & location information engages the participants to
observe the physical space, improves their knowledge about the district
visited and the association of the real world with the questions augments
their point of view about the novel.
3. Participants reported that the context-aware m-learning activity allowed
them to deepen their understanding of the story, and have a more realistic
view of the scene.
4. Paper-map was a useful complementary instrument to have a global view
of the district that they had to explore
Not Interested in ICT? A Case Study to Explore How a Meaningful m-Learning Activity Fosters Engagement Among Older Users 13

14. Main Results
III - Collaborative involvement
1. Collaborative involvement in the co-design of the context-aware m-
learning activity encouraged participants’ engagement and fostered
participants’ acceptance of m-learning and LBS
2. When participants become familiar with the m-learning activity, their
outcome expectations–performance and self-efficacy improves and
their anxiety is reduced.
3. Despite the fact that only one person in each group carried the
smartphone, all the members of the team were engaged in the
activity and collaborated in the tasks
Not Interested in ICT? A Case Study to Explore How a Meaningful m-Learning Activity Fosters Engagement Among Older Users 14

15. Conclusions
 Participants’ performance and effort expectancy improved after doing the
activity.
 Participants found m-learning useful and meaningful because it enabled them
to accomplish learning activities putting in practice (in the real world) their
knowledge by doing a playful activity.
 The use of mobile devices and LBS allowed them to augment the knowledge
that they previously had about the book.
 The QuesTInSitu route mediated by smartphones was a successful activity
since participants were immersed finding questions, answering them in the
correct place and completing the routes.
The scenario and findings discussed in this paper contribute to
the limited existing body of knowledge around m-learning and
older users.
With further results, it will be possible to propose good practices for
lifelong learning applying context-aware m-learning for older users.
Not Interested in ICT? A Case Study to Explore How a Meaningful m-Learning Activity Fosters Engagement Among Older Users 15

16. Not Interested in ICT? A Case Study to Explore How a
Meaningful m-Learning Activity Fosters Engagement
Among Older Users
16

17. QUESTIONS?
THANK YOU!
Patricia Santos
Patricia.Santosrodriguez@uwe.ac.uk
LinkedIn: uk.linkedin.com/pub/patricia-santos-
rodriguez/54/207/a97/
GTI: http://gti.upf.edu
Not Interested in ICT? A Case Study to Explore How a Meaningful m-Learning Activity Fosters Engagement Among Older Users
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