Smartphones and Learning: An Extension of M-Learning or a Distinct Area of Inquiry

Smartphones and Learning: Evaluating the Focus of Recent Research

The smartphone has become integral to most aspects of students' lives and is the primary conduit for accessing the internet. Objective research into the promise and dangers of this device is critical. While educational uses of the smartphone with young adults hold promise, the potential for harm is also present. While objectivity is valued, the focus of researchers can subjectively skew towards optimistic or pessimistic views of technology. The topics addressed in smartphone and learning research illuminate trends and potential biases in the field. This study investigates the issues addressed in smartphone and learning research in the past two years. These topics are compared with smartphone research in a similar field: psychology. The study, using a bibliometric approach, identified an overall negative arc of the literature towards topics such as addiction, depression, and anxiety in the psychology literature. The educational literature topics were comparatively more positive than psychology. Highly cited papers in both fields reflected explorations of adverse outcomes.

Urban Itineraries with Smartphones to Promote an Improvement in Environmental Awareness among Secondary School Students

Our world is undergoing a series of changes that are taking it to an unsustainable situation. In addition to alerting the population, we must seek education towards a more sustainable world. This research proposes the realization in Alcoy (Spain) of some urban itineraries with mobile devices and with secondary school students, in order to promote an improvement in awareness and action on environmental problems. This activity aims, among other objectives, through informal learning and outside the classroom, to raise awareness among secondary school students about the environmental problems that threaten us. With the completion of a questionnaire, after carrying out these urban itineraries, the results of 214 students confirm that, with this type of activity, there is a notable improvement in the level of awareness and concern for environmental problems. It is also detected that men prefer these types of environmental awareness tests, compared to women, who prefer tests that have a more creative and artistic theme. It is worth continuing to propose this type of activity among students and improve their approach by forecasting, planning, and improving the training of the teachers involved in it.

The Role of Quality Measurements in Enhancing the Usability of Mobile Learning Applications during COVID-19

Despite numerous studies offering some evidence about the significance of quality measurements in enhancing the success of m-learning applications, there are still limited studies about the role of quality measurements in promoting the usability of mobile learning systems. Therefore, our study explores the role of quality measurements in promoting the usability of m-learning systems during COVID-19. The results revealed that the service quality, information quality and system quality are the most important factors affecting mobile learning usability among learners during COVID-19. Moreover, these findings are valuable for classifying the significance of these quality elements, which provide guidance on assigning quality aspects to improve this mobile learning usage during COVID-19 in higher education institutions.

Smartphone Usage and Studying: Investigating Relationships between Type of Use and Self-Regulatory Skills

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationships between self-regulated learning skills and smartphone usage in relation to studying. It is unclear whether poor learning habits related to smartphone usage are unique traits or a reflection of existing self-regulated learning skills. The self-regulatory skills (a) regulation, (b) knowledge, and (c) management of cognition were measured and compared to the smartphone practices (a) multitasking, (b) avoiding distractions, and (c) mindful use. First-year undergraduates (n = 227) completed an online survey of self-regulatory skills and common phone practices. The results support the predictions that self-regulatory skills are negatively correlated with multitasking while studying and are positively correlated with distraction avoidance and mindful use of the phone. The management of cognition factor, which includes effort, time, and planning, was strongly correlated with multitasking (r = −0.20) and avoiding distractions (r = 0.45). Regulation of cognition was strongly correlated with mindful use (r = 0.33). These results support the need to consider the relationship between self-regulation and smartphone use as it relates to learning.

Smart Mobile Learning Success Model for Higher Educational Institutions in the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Smart mobile learning (M-learning) applications have shown several new benefits for higher educational institutions during the COVID-19 pandemic, during which such applications were used to support distance learning. Therefore, this study aims to examine the most important drivers influencing the adoption of M-learning by using the technology acceptance model (TAM). The structural equation modelling (SEM) method was used to test the hypotheses in the proposed model. Data were collected via online questionnaires from 520 undergraduate and postgraduate students at four universities in Saudi Arabia. Partial least squares (PLS)–SEM was used to analyse the data. The findings indicated that M-learning acceptance is influenced by three main factors, namely, awareness, IT infrastructure (ITI), and top management support. This research contributes to the body of knowledge on M-learning acceptance practices. Likewise, it may help to facilitate and promote the acceptance of M-learning among students in Saudi universities.