IADIS INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE

MOBILE LEARNING 2008

ii

PROCEEDINGS OF THE
IADIS INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE

MOBILE LEARNING 2008

ALGARVE, PORTUGAL
APRIL 11-13, 2008

Organised by
IADIS
International Association for Development of the Information Society

iii

Copyright 2008
IADIS Press
All rights reserved
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Edited by Inmaculada Arnedillo Snchez and Pedro Isaas

Associate Editors: Lus Rodrigues and Patrcia Barbosa

ISBN: 978-972-8924-54-6

SUPPORTED BY

iv

TABLE OF CONTENTS
FOREWORD

xi

PROGRAM COMMITTEE

xiii

KEYNOTE LECTURES

xvii

CONFERENCE TUTORIALS

xx

FULL PAPERS
CO-DESIGN FOR CONCEPTUAL SPACES: AN AGILE DESIGN METHODOLOGY
FOR M-LEARNING

David E. Millard, Sue J Faulds, Lester Gilbert, Yvonne Howard, Dan Sparks, Gary B. Wills, and
Pei Zhang

MOODLBILE: EXTENDING MOODLE TO THE MOBILE ON/OFFLINE SCENARIO

11

Marc Alier Forment and M Jos Casany Guerrero

MOBILITY IN DIGITAL LEARNING ECOSYSTEMS

19

Irene Karaguilla Ficheman and Roseli de Deus Lopes

LEARNING THROUGH TREASURE HUNTING: THE ROLE OF MOBILE DEVICES

27

Peta Wyeth, Hilary Smith, Kher Hui Ng, Geraldine Fitzpatrick, Rose Luckin, Kevin Walker,
Judith Good, Josh Underwoo, and Steve Benford

USING MOBILE PHONES FOR EXAM PREPARATION

35

Dick Ngambi and Angie Knaggs

STUDENT PERSPECTIVES ABOUT USING MOBILE DEVICES IN THEIR

STUDIES

43

Agnieszka Bachfischer, Elaine Lawrence , Andrew Litchfield, Laurel Evelyn Dyson and
Richard Raban

BOOSTING INTERACTION UTILIZING MOBILE SYSTEM IN LECTURE

CONTEXT

51

Annu Ristola and Jaakko Sinisalo

IMPROVING STUDENT NURSES CLINICAL CARE EXPERIENCE THROUGH

THE USE OF A COMPUTERIZED MOBILE HAND-HELD DECISION

61

Paul J Fortier
69

M-LEARNING ADOPTION IN BRAZIL

Amarolinda Zanela Saccol, Eliane Schlemmer, Jorge L. V. Barbosa, Nicolau Reinhard and
Carolina Sarmento

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THE MOBILE DIGITAL NARRATIVE TOOL

Inmaculada Arnedillo-Snchez

SKETCH UML: A TABLET PC-BASED E-LEARNING TOOL FOR UML SYNTAX

USING A MINIMALISTIC INTERFACE

84

Bastian Tenbergen, Colleen Grieshaber, Lisa Lazzaro and Rick Buck

MOBILE GAME BASED LEARNING - METHODOLOGY TOOLS FOR USER

TRIALS FOCUS GROUPS

91

Dragan Cisic, Ivana Ilijasic Misic and Edvard Tijan

MOBILE LEARNING ACROSS CONTEXTS: METHODOLOGICAL

CONSIDERATIONS

98

Esra Wali, Niall Winters and Martin Oliver

SHORT PAPERS
TEACHING AND E-ASSESSMENT IN MOBILE CONTEXTS

109

Maria Joo Loureiro, Lcia Pombo, Ana Balula and Antnio Moreira

COMMUNICATION PLATFORM FOR MOBILE LEARNING APPLICATIONS

114

Ilhan Aslan and Lars Mller

MOBILE LECTURE INTERACTION: MAKING TECHNOLOGY AND LEARNING

CLICK

119

Joana Cruz e Costa, Timo Ojala and Jani Korhonen

GUIDELINES FOR THE DESIGN AND PRODUCTION OF A MOBILE LEARNING

OBJECT

125

Davide Diamantini and Michelle Pieri

DOES IT MATTER WHO IS HOLDING THE PDA IN A MOBILE LEARNING

EXPERIENCE?

130

Greg Hooper, Geraldine Fitzpatrick and Mark Weal

THE SIGNIFICANT FACTORS AFFECTING ENGAGEMENT OF VETERINARY

STUDENTS WITH MOBILE LEARNING

135

Kim Whittlestone, Jeffrey Bullock, Birgit Pirkelbauer and Stephen May

INTERDISCIPLINARY LEARNING USING LOW COST MOBILE PLATFORMS:

PROPOSAL IN GEOMETRY AND ARTS

140

Alexandre Antonino Gonalves Martinazzo, Andr Nascimento Mossinato, Rafael Barbolo Lopes,
Joyce Alessandra Saul, Nathalia Sautchuk Patrcio, Irene Karaguilla Ficheman and
Roseli de Deus Lopes

INTELLIGENT TUTORING SYSTEM FOR PEOPLE WITH COGNICTIVE

DISABILITIES
Irigoyen E., L. de Ipia K., Garay N., Goicoechea A., Ezeiza A., Peagarikano M., Bordel G.,
Conde A., Larraaga M., Rodrguez L.J., Lpez J.M., Zulueta E., Graa M., L. de Ipia J.M.,
Rubio J., Vaquero C. and Soraluze A.

vi

145

PEER-TO-PEER FRAMEWORK FOR MOBILE LEARNING WITH

CONTEXT-AWARE SERVICES

150

Michele Amoretti, Maria Chiara Laghi, Monica Mordonini and Francesco Zanichelli
155

MICROBLOGGING - MORE THAN FUN?

Martin Ebner and Mandy Schiefner

THE USE OF MOBILE TECHNOLOGIES BY THE PORTUGUESE ACADEMIC

COMMUNITY: AN EXPLORATORY SURVEY

160

Joo Batista Bottentuit Junior and Clara Pereira Coutinho

LEARNING ANYTIME, ANYWHERE: USING MOBILE LEARNING IN A LARGE

BLENDED CLASSROOM

164

Wanping Gao, Ruimin Shen and Minjuan Wang

USING A SMART MOBILE DEVICE TO LEARN TO LIVE WITH LONG-TERM

DISEASE TREATMENT

169

Steinar Kristoffersen and Rune Winther

LEARNING ON THE ROAD DESIGNING FOR CONTEXTUAL AND ENGAGING

MOBILE LEARNING

174

Lisa Gjedde
177

PREPARE, PLAY LEARN!

Maria resund and Carl Heath

NEW MOBILE TECHNOLOGIES TO SUPPORT AND IMPROVE EDUCATION IN

THE FINNISH ARCHIPELAGO MUNICIPALITIES

182

Kristian Packaln, Erkki Patokorpi, Franck Ttard and Ville Harkke

VIDEO PODCASTS TO AUGMENT THE TEACHING OF PHARMACEUTICAL

MICROBIOLOGY

186

Malcolm Andrew

COMBINING AUGMENTED REALITY WITH MOBILE TECHNOLOGIES TO

ENRICH LEARNING EXPERIENCES

191

Irene Karaguilla Ficheman, Joyce Alessandra Saul, Gilda Aparecida de Assis, Ana Grasiele
Dionisio Correa, Jorge F. Franco, Romero Tori and Roseli de Deus Lopes
196

M-LEARNING, TOWARDS U-LEARNING

Miguel ngel Conde Gonzlez, Carlos Muoz Martn and Francisco J. Garca Pealvo

EXPLORING NFC FOR SUPPORTING MOBILITY IN LEARNING SCENARIOS

201

Gustavo Ramrez Gonzlez, Mario Muoz Organero and Carlos Delgado Kloos

A REFERENCE MODEL AND TECHNICAL FRAMEWORK FOR MOBILE SOCIAL

SOFTWARE FOR LEARNING

206

Tim de Jong, Marcus Specht and Rob Koper

FACTORS INFLUENCING THE USE OF MOBILE DEVICES AS EFFECTIVE

TOOLS FOR FOSTERING REFLECTIVE WRITING AMONG LEARNERS

211

Michael Ghebru

MOBILE LEARNING WITH CELL PHONES AND MOBILE FLICKR: ONE

EXPERIENCE IN A SECONDARY SCHOOL
Adelina Moura and Ana Amlia Carvalho

vii

216

EMPOWERING AN EDUCATIONAL COMMUNITY THROUGH USING

MULTIMEDIA TOOLS IN COMBINATION WITH MOBILE LEARNING ACTIONS

221

Jorge Ferreira Franco, Irene Karaguilla Ficheman, Roseli de Deus Lopes, Arlete Lopes da Silva
Ferreira, Maria Eunildes Sales Barbosa Santos, Glaucilaine Ferreira, Vaneide Rodrigues do
Santos Arajo and Marlene Moreno

LEARNERS AWARENESS IN A KNOWLEDGE TRANSFORMING SOCIAL

SPACE

227

Raymond M. Kekwaletswe

REF LECTION PAPERS

MOBILE LEARNING: MOVING THROUGH PHILOSOPHICAL SPACE

235

John Traxler

ARE UNIVERSITY STUDENTS READY FOR M-LEARNING? A PILOT STUDY IN

GREECE

240

Apostolia Pange, Eugenia I. Toki and Jenny Pange

245

THE EDUCATORS DILEMMA

Carolina Marcacci Rossi, Giada Mossi, Sara Da Vinci-Ehrat, Simona Pianezzi and Marco Sassi

REFLECTIONS ON MOBILE AND LIFE LONG LEARNING: MUSEUMS AS

APPLICATION FIELDS

249

Angeliki Antoniou and George Lepouras

SCHOOL GOES MOBILE WITH MOODLE: DIMENSIONS OF MOBILITY IN A

SHOWCASE INTRODUCTION OF MOBILE LEARNING IN SECONDARY
SCHOOLS

253

P.D. Gerrit Kalkbrenner and Leonore Dietrich

MOBILE LEARNING IN A STUDENT-CENTRED LEARNING ENVIRONMENT: A

SURPLUS VALUE?

257

Klerkx L., Tott N., Vriens M. and Buelens H.

POSTERS
265

WHILE I LIVE, I LEARN!

Thais Waisman, Robson Lisboa and Rosaurea Magalhes

TALKING ABOUT COMPROMISES: THE MERGING OF EDUCATION AND

TECHNOLOGY
Davide Krhenbhl and Marco Sassi

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ARE UNIVERSITY STUDENTS READY FOR MLEARNING? A PILOT STUDY IN GREECE

Apostolia Pange
Laboratory of New Technologies and Distance Learning, Department of Education, University of Ioannina
Panepistimioupoli, Ioannina, 45110 Greece

Eugenia I. Toki
Department of Speech and Language Therapy, Technological Educational Institute (TEI) of Epirus,
4th Km National Road Ioanninon- Athinon, Ioannina, 45500 Greece
and
Laboratory of New Technologies and Distance Learning, Department of Education, University of Ioannina
Panepistimioupoli, Ioannina, 45110 Greece

Jenny Pange
Laboratory of New Technologies and Distance Learning, Department of Education, University of Ioannina
Panepistimioupoli, Ioannina, 45110 Greece

ABSTRACT
The aim of this study is to investigate students needs and attitudes on ICTs and mobile learning, in order to design an
effective solution for university e-learning services. This is a pilot study that aims to investigate the introduction of
mobile learning (m-learning) to Higher Education students in Greece. The results of this pilot study have shown that
students are ready to use new technological opportunities in Higher Education because they offer a different and more
flexible scenario of learning.
KEYWORDS
e-learning, m-learning, Higher Education.

1. INTRODUCTION
In todays life, there is a continuous need to consider alternative ways of learning, in order to educate the
economically active population. Our society is characterized by a rapid and continuous technological
evolution. The technological achievements have had an important effect on the way people work and, to a
great extent, on the way they learn. According to Grohmann et al. (2005) human knowledge and capabilities
must constantly be renewed and enhanced. Technology, more than ever, is recognized today as a valuable
tool in the process of learning, and new educational practices are applied in all educational levels as well as
in lifelong learning.
The growing use of mobile devices and wireless communication technologies provide a new and flexible
educational model at all types of Education (formal, informal, non-formal), mobile learning, which is
frequently referred to as m-learning. Brown (2005) suggested that m-learning is a form of e-learning that
specifically employs wireless communications and mobile devices to deliver content and learning support.
Additionally, Georgiev et al. (2006) suggested that m-learning enables access to contents at any place at any
time. According to Keegan (2002) m-learning has emerged as an educational application from the
technological advances in mobile computing and mobile devices (phones, Tablet PCs, iPods, smart phones,
PDAs, etc.), intelligent user interfaces, context modeling, wireless communications and networking
technologies, like WI-FI, BlueTooth, GPS, GSM, and GPRS (Sharples 2000; Knowledge Anywhere 2002).
Recent research, (Sharples 2005) specifies mobile device as PDAs, digital handheld devices and cell phones,

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IADIS International Conference Mobile Learning 2008

or even better as any device that is small, autonomous and self-effacing enough to accompany everyone in
everyday life.
Additionally, mobile devices can also be used in learning settings of any type. These portable tools can be
seen as instruments for accessing educational content, either stored locally on the device or accessed through
the mobile network. Trifonova & Ronchetti (2003) suggested that handheld devices can enhance the
educational process, due to their ability to support communication through voice, written messages, still or
moving images and videos.
The unexpected proliferation of the handheld devices and the need of mobility in education make mlearning a very challenging research area in the e-learning field. The main advantage of these devices, for
teachers and learners, is the freedom to use what is needed wherever it is needed (Trifonova & Ronchetti
2006). Uther et al. (2005) have shown that users of m-learning applications, in comparison to e-learning
application users, can choose to be engaged in learning activities across a greater time span and in a variety
of different environments. Thus, learners are able to decide on the context, the place, the time and the pace of
their learning experience.
The mobile devices available today, such as portable computers, telephones, PDAs, etc., are equipped
with all the necessary software and hardware for an appropriate m-learning application. These new devices
have more memory capacity, as they make use of supplementary memory cards, and their screen size is
larger with better resolution, compared to elderly devices. In addition, mobile providers in most countries
worldwide offer nowadays high Internet speed connection packages in affordable cost.
In Greece, recently, all major mobile network providers (www.vodafone.gr, www.wind.com.gr,
www.cosmote.gr) have announced commercial packages offering broadband Internet connections for mobile
devices in economical prices, making the necessary technology available and affordable. Precisely, the
nowadays mobile devices, present in the Greek market, are enhanced with technologies like GPRS (2.5G)
and UMTS (3G) presenting the user with the opportunity to exploit all the advantages of an actual Internet
connection. Additionally, the new technology announced by the network providers, High Speed Packet
Access (HSDPA), offer a download speed of 3,6 Mbps, which, in the near future, will be shifted to 7,2 Mbps.
On the other hand, many Universities and Higher Educational Institutes in Greece provide e-learning
courses and educational material through their web pages in both terms of traditional and distance courses for
teachers
and
learners
(www.gunet.gr,
http://www.auth.gr/admin/services/teledu/index_el.html,
http://www.aueb.gr/yphresies/kethl.htm). For instance, the University of Ioannina offers an e-learning
service, through which students and teaching staff can have access to the electronic material and can
communicate amongst them (www.ecourse.uoi.gr).
The aim of this pilot study is to investigate the current situation in Greece concerning m-learning. In the
recent Greek bibliography we did not find any other studies (pilot or full) concerning m-learning.
Analytically, we examine whether students are willing to be engaged with the new opportunities that
technology provides, so as to be able to use a different and more flexible learning pattern, m-learning.

2. MATERIALS AND METHODS

As pilot study group of our survey, we considered a sample of students within the Educational department of
the University of Ioannina, in order to investigate the possibility of using mobile phones to access
educational material. The main reason of investigating this sample is because of the nature of their studies
and their later profession. As future educators, students within the Educational department are highly
probable to use a variety of teaching styles and educational methodologies, including m-learning.
This pilot study took place within the Laboratory of New Technologies and Distance Learning of the
Department of Early Childhood Education, at University of Ioannina, during 2007.
A random sample of undergraduate students (N=66), age range 18-30 years old, filled in a questionnaire.
Sixty six (66) students have answered the questionnaire; sixty three (63) of them were females and three (3)
males. This is due to the fact that the majority of the students in the Educational Department are females.
The questionnaire designed for the purpose of this project consisted of three sections with a total of
twenty two (22) questions. The first section considered demographic characteristics. The second section
gathered information about their ICT skills in order to investigate the participants familiarity with

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technology. Finally, the last section focused on the students capabilities to use mobile devices and in
particular cell phones, as well as their knowledge and point of view regarding m-learning.

3. RESULTS DISCUSSION
The data collected was processed and statistically analyzed through SPSS v.13.0. In our sample we found
that one in every ten students was working during his/her studies for living. The 8% of the participants lives
with their family in Ioannina while the rest 92% of the sample consists of non-permanent citizens of
Ioannina. More than 75 % of the participants have a computer at parents home, nearly 56 % have a computer
at the place where they study, while 43.9 % of the sample does not have a computer in Ioannina, but they
have access to University computer laboratories. The following table (Table 1) resumes the students
percentage of having computer and Internet access at their parents home, as well as at their home in
Ioannina, respectively.
Table 1. Samples results on owning a computer and having Internet access
Means of ICT / Place
Own a Computer
Have Internet Access

Parents Home
75.8 %
40.9 %

Students Home in Ioannina

56.1 %
24.2 %

Concerning the ICT skills, 85 % of the participants stated that they feel confident in using Microsoft
Office programs and more than half of the participants reported that they make use of different forms of
communication, like email, chat, blogs, etc., as shown in Figure 1.
120

P
ercentage

100
80
Elementary Knowledge

60

Advanced Knowledge

40
20
0
Internet Search W eb Browsers

Chat and other

forms of
electronic
communication

Email

Figure 1. ICT Skills

The 90 % of the sample have had experience with e-learning activities, among which only five (5%) is
familiar with m-learning term.
Concerning the use of mobile devices, all participants state that they own a cellular phone and they send
and receive SMS, among which the 57.6 % send and receive MMS regularly. The majority of these cell
phones present advanced characteristics like taking and displaying photos and videos (98.5% and 95.5%
respectively). Almost all cell devices have some kind of wireless connection. Figure 2 summarises the mobile
technologies that enable wireless connection with the mobile network or between two or more devices like
WiFi, Bluetooth, GPRS or Infrared, used on current mobile devices.
90
78,8

80

P
e
rc
e
n
ta
g
e

70
60

W iFi
Bluetooth

50

GPRS
40

Infrared

28,8

30

Nothing

20
10

7,6
1,5

4,5

Figure 2. Mobile Technologies

Finally, the majority of the sample, 86.4 %, shows interest in receiving SMS containing information and
announcements on course material. More than 84 % of the participants is keen on using m-learning practices,
and confirms a wider intent to access the University site and receive educational material relevant to the

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IADIS International Conference Mobile Learning 2008

Percentage

studies. The 78.8 % of the participants is willing to pay an additional cost in order to have Internet access
through cell phones (Figure 3).
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0

Yes
No

Interested in
receiving informative
SMS?

Interested in
accessing course
material from
mobile?

Interesting in
involving in mlearning activities?

W illing to pay
eventual additional
cost?

Figure 3. M-learning perspective

To summarize, the results of the study indicate that the students in the Educational Department possess all
the basic knowledge and ICT skills in order to engage themselves to m-learning activities. In addition, the
majority of the students use advanced mobile devices that could support the extended platform, proposed in
the final section. Therefore, the results strongly indicate that the participants have all the necessary
competences and instruments to participate in m-learning programs. In precise, they appear eager to use their
mobile devices in order to receive information, educational material, and any further services relevant to their
courses.
Concluding, further research could focus on a bigger sample including students from other departments,
as well as other Universities. In addition, further investigation should take into account that m-learning is a
promising but new teaching style that needs to be tested and evaluated thoroughly.

4. PROPOSED M-LEARNING PLATFORM FOR UNIVERSITY

STUDENTS
The design of the m-learning platform and material should be aligned with the following principles:

Mobile applications should rely on network connectivity as little as possible (Gong & Tarasewich
2004), as the mobile network is often subject to disconnections. In other words, m-learning content should be
consistent and readily available whether the device is connected to the mobile network or not. For such
reason the platform proposed should support the pure mobility of m-learning, thus no constant connection
to the mobile network should be required. Any additional needed data should be downloaded to the device
and then it can be used offline.

For privacy reasons, the platform should include user identification and authentication.

Authorized students should be able to receive via SMS, information and announcements regarding
the subscribed courses. They should also be able to communicate with other authorized users, perform tests,
etc.

The material should be delivered to a variety of handheld devices with different capabilities, screen
sizes, input and output facilities. Thus, the portability is a crucial aspect in the implementation of such a
platform, as the material should be displayed properly in a variety of mobile devices. Ideally, the system
should detect the different mobile devices capabilities and limitations and select the services that could be
provided in each case. Furthermore, the platform should be extensible in order to support different devices
and different types of educational material.

Finally, the existing educational material should be appropriately formulated in order to concur with
some basic guidelines proposed by researchers like Grasso and Roselli (2005) and Gong and Tarasewich
(2004). These guidelines concern the structure of information displayed, and more precisely matters such as
aspect (fonts, colours, etc.), type (word documents, spreadsheets, etc.) and elements included (photos, text,
multimedia, etc.).

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REFERENCES
Brown, H.T., 2005. Towards a model for MLearning, International Journal on E-Learning, (4)3, p. 299-315.
Georgiev, T., et al., 2006. Transitioning from e-Learning to m-Learning: Present Issues and Future Challenges, Seventh
ACIS International Conference on Software Engineering, Artificial Intelligence, Networking, and
Parallel/Distributed Computing (SNPD'06), pp. 349-353.
Gong, J. & Tarasewich, P., N.K. Guidelines for Handheld Mobile Device Interface Design, [Internet]. Available at:
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Grasso, A. & Roselli, T., 2005. Guidelines for designing and developing contents for mobile learning, IEEE International
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Grohmann, G. et al., 2005. ARIS MOBILE: Helping to define the future of mobile learning, International Conference on
Mobile Business, ICMB, p.213-219.
Keegan, D., 2002. The Future of Learning: From eLearning to mLearning, [Internet]. Available at:
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Knowledge Anywhere, 2002. Flexible Learning: Mobile Learning Objects, [Internet], A White Paper. Available at:
www.ottersurf.com/MLO-WP.pdf [Accessed 23 October 2007].
Sharples, M., et al., 2005. Towards a theory of mobile learning, [Internet] Proceedings of mLearn 2005. Available at:
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Sharples, M., 2000. The design of personal mobile technologies for lifelong learning, Computers and Education, (34),
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Trifonova, A., & Ronchetti, M., 2006. A General Architecture to Support Mobility in Learning, Proceedings of the IEEE
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Trifonova, A., & Ronchetti, M., 2003. Advances In Technology-Based Education: Towards A Knowledge Based Society,
[Internet]. Available at: www.formatex.org/micte2003/micte2003.htm [Accessed 23 October 2007].
Uther, M., et al., 2005. Mobile Adaptive CALL (MAC): A case-study in developing a mobile learning application for
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