Clay, Collette (2020) How do learners make use of mobile technology and with what consequences? PhD thesis, University of Warwick.

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Abstract

Background
We live in a rapidly transforming society where digital technologies are shaping the way that we function and learn. One key area in which change has been noticed is in the field of mobile learning. Current and past literature has explored the nature of mobile learning and the opportunity that mobile technology affords learners to bridge constraints of time and distance. This research presents a reframing of our understanding of mobile learning through a critical exploration of attributes including ubiquity, immediacy, convenience and mobility. The thesis allows a shift in understanding mobile learning from novel gadgetry towards a valuable tool for learning. Traditional teaching and learning theories and strategies are questioned as new mobile technologies take hold.

The aim of the study
The innovative use of mobile technologies is the focus of this thesis. The context is professional midwifery education. This is an area in which limited research has been carried out. The study is based around a central question, how do learners integrate the use of mobile devices in professional learning? This study explores how learners made use of mobile technology for learning and if the learners’ attitudes were influenced by the opportunities afforded to them by digital technologies. The research explores the type of mobile devices the learners had and how these were used. It examined, from the learners' perspective, the benefits and challenges of mobile learning. The potential consequences of embracing mobile technologies within midwifery education were also explored.

Design
This is an interpretive qualitative bounded case study design. The case study provides an intensive, holistic description and analysis of a single cohort of second year student midwives (n=34) undertaking a BSc (Honors) Degree in Midwifery. The case study approach allowed for an in-depth explanation and understanding of the complex behavior patterns within this group of learners and their hand-held mobile devices. A mixed method research approach was used including questionnaires, interviews, focus groups, and scores collected pre- and post-Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) to assess clinical skill acquisition following use of a bespoke mobile device Application.

The quantitative data from the questionnaires in the study answered ‘what’ students used the mobile devices for in relation to learning. Similarly they provided answers to ‘how many’ students owned a mobile device, the type of device and the frequency (how often) with which they used a mobile device for learning. It also gave insight into the use of the bespoke shoulder dystocia App. Qualitative data methods such as the interviews and focus groups illustrated ‘how’ they used their devices and ‘why’ they chose to use particular tools. Data triangulation from the interviews, focus groups, questionnaires and OSCE analysis enhanced the credibility of this study.

Findings
The case study presents a picture of the ways in which students engage with digital technologies for learning and the influence social connectivity has on students’ engagement with the world around them. The findings show that mobile devices release the boundaries of physical location and that the learners seamlessly and rapidly switch between learning and everyday interaction on the move. In addition, the introduction of a bespoke App to enhance learners’ knowledge and clinical performance contributes to learning by providing a simulated experience, which can be view repeatedly beyond the classroom.

Perceived benefits and challenges of mobile learning are revealed and considered from the learners’ perspective. Based on the findings of this study the recommendation is made, that mobile learning should be appropriately embedded into the midwifery curriculum as it can provide learners with deep, meaningful learning experience in the context of today’s digital landscape.

Conclusion
From the findings a model is offered to shape the use of mobile devices within the midwifery curriculum. The model sets out how to develop a symbiotic approach to adopting mobile learning. It is valuable as the model draws on theoretical understanding of mobile learning and how the use of mobile devices can support meaningful connections within a community of learners across different learning spaces both within a social and professional context. This study helps in focusing attention from learning as driven by the device to learning being driven by the use of the device. It captures the ecology of real world learning experiences that midwifery learners’ encounter and argues for a symbiosis between mobile learning and face-to-face learning.

Clinical education is fundamental to professional midwifery education and competency-based education forms its foundation. This thesis recommends integrating the use of mobile technology and mobile learning into the context of midwifery education. This means more than making learning activities digital, technology needs to be integrated in a meaningful way so as to enhance learning, increase knowledge, enrich communication and augment contexts for authentic learning that engage students in their world. Learning can be enhanced through the use of bespoke Apps, for example to enhance the learners’ knowledge and clinical performance of an obstetric emergency.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Subjects:	L Education > LB Theory and practice of education L Education > LB Theory and practice of education > LB2300 Higher Education
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Mobile communication systems in education, Telecommunication in higher education, Cell phones and college students, Midwifery -- Study and teaching -- England -- Coventry, College students -- England -- Coventry
Official Date:	10 June 2020
Dates:	Date Event 10 June 2020 UNSPECIFIED
Institution:	University of Warwick
Theses Department:	Centre for Education Studies
Thesis Type:	PhD
Publication Status:	Unpublished
Supervisor(s)/Advisor:	Hammond, Michael
Format of File:	pdf
Extent:	199 leaves : colour illustrations
Language:	eng

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