Enhancing student learning through ubiquitous
technologies – the case of UCT
By
Dick Ng’ambi, PhD
Annette Lombe
WSU E-learning Conference
November 3-4, 2009
Overview
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Introduction
Mobile landscape in SA context
Global literature on m-learning
Theoretical underpinning
Current practices
Web2.0 in SA context
Educational rationale for m-learning in SA context
UCT case study & Observations
o DFAQ
o Podcasting
•
Recommendations / Conclusion
SA ICT Indicators
Indicator
Per 100 inhabitants
Computers
8.25
Fixed telephone lines
8.91
Internet users
8.43
Broadband Internet subscribers
0.77
Mobile cellular subscriptions
90.60
Radio sets
24.24
TV sets
19.50
% population covered by mobile
signal
99.79
ITU website
Mobile learning
…learning on the move and learning
in any location enabled by wireless
technologies
…computing to come to education
instead of education going to the
computer [education in right context]
…people can use odd bits
of time
ACCOMPANIES
STUDENTS
24/7
CONNECTED
24/7
STUDENT
OWNED 100%
ON BUS TO /
FRO CAMPUS
COMPUTER
LAB
MINGLING /
INFORMAL
AREA
Learning
resources
/ collective
knowledge
STUDY ROOM /
LIBRARY /
RESIDENCE
Mobile landscape in SA context
•
•
Access to mobile phones among high school
students in Cape Town is high (Kreutzer,
2007)
Most common mobile devices among varsity
students
◦ Mobile phones
◦ MP3 players
• Why mobile phones?
◦ Cost; investing and maintaining
◦ Ease of use
◦ More robust
Global Literature on m-learning
•
In both developed and developing countries, use
of mobile technologies has been limited to social
interaction
• Limited uses for educational purposes is reported
•
Why m-learning?
◦ Access to content in new ways
 Re-packaging content in different formats
 Response to new forms of learning
◦ Communication infrastructure
 Convergence of wireless networks, Web services and enterprise
applications
 Emphasis is on HOW computing and telephony devices SHARE
and DISTRIBUTE content
Global Literature on m-learning
◦ Mobile phones connectivity vs nonconnected devices
 Desktop experience is extended through mobile learning
(both connected / non-connected)
 Leveraging classroom activity/ interaction
 Devices with no connectivity have not proved popular or
sufficiently useful (FutureLab Handbook, 2006)
 MP3 players and iPods are used along side mobile phones.
 Most mobile devices are not integrated into institutional
networks
 students and educators see no linkage between mobile devices
and learning
 Significant blurring of distinction between mobile phones
and data-centric handheld devices e.g. PDAs (Becta, 2004)
21ST CENTURY
STUDENTS
NOT OWNED BY
MOST OF OUR
STUDENTS
University Missouri, USA
OWNED BY
NEARLY ALL OUR
STUDENTS
Theoretical underpinning
Mobile devices are both media as well as
tools for human activity
 To have a medium view of mobile devices
is to see them as being used for reaching
understanding

◦ Examples: education and social networking uses

To have a tool’s view of mobile devices is
to see them as tools for human activity
◦ Example: carrying it for immediate access to a deluge
of resources if needed, or in case of emergency
Communication
outcomes / goals
Medium view of
technology
Mobile
learning
Tools view of
technology
Communication to
achieve
understanding
e.g. consultation,
learning,
socialization, etc
Features / facilities
of devices e.g.
bluetooth, camera,
MP3 player etc
Empowerment
& social
inclusion
Current practices
 There is a growing popularity of social media
among students
 Example: Peer to peer file sharing like DC++,
Facebook, Hi5, MXit, MySpace
 There is an increasing ownership of handheld
devices by students
 Example: mobile phones, MP3 players, iPods
 The value is derived when the popularity of
social media is used on handheld devices
owned by students, anytime and anywhere
 The educational potential lies in exploiting
students’ social practices of using social
media on own mobile devices to achieve a
learning task oriented towards learning
Web2.0 in SA context
• Internet and Web-based technologies
 Access is THE issue
◦ Off campus access for most students is problematic
(Czerniewicz & Brown, 2009)
◦ Of 159 1st year ‘digital strangers’
 Computer based technologies
•
•
•
•
58% never or hardly use email
71% never or hardly use internet for social purposes
52% no access to PC off campus
RATHER THAN
32% access through public facility/third party
IGNORE THIS
 All own mobile phones
FACT, WE
DECIDED TO
EXPLOIT IT
• 72% use SMS often
• 34% use MXit
• 38% use mobile phone as only source of off campus ICT access
Educational rationale for m-learning in SA
•
Allow anywhere, anytime collaboration and
learning
◦ Effects extend beyond the classroom into the
general learning environment (Alexander, 2006)
◦ Provide access to learning resources as and when
need arises
• Observed benefits (Hodgkinson-Williams &
Ng'ambi, 2009)
◦ Enhance communication between lecturers and
students
◦ Introduce anonymity, empowering shy students
◦ Improve course management
◦ Monitor student performance
UCT Case Study 1
•
Dynamic Frequently Asked Questions (DFAQ) Tool
◦ An anonymous consultation environment designed and
developed by the Centre for Educational Technology, UCT
◦ Aimed at addressing segregated knowledge production in
diverse classes
◦ DFAQ allows shy and less confident students to
anonymously SMS questions into a shared knowledge space
visible to the rest of the class
◦ Members of class respond to questions anonymously, and
the educators watch the space and responds as seen fit
◦ Responses are automatically SMSed back to the questioner
•
•
Users also SMS to DFAQ to retrieve latest course
notice
An educator can post a class notice to a virtual
notice board via SMS
EMPOWERING
SHY &
LEARNERS
WITH LOW
SELF ESTEEM
ANONYMOUS
KNOWLEDGE
SHARING
DFAQ Project
ADDRESSING
SOCIAL
INEQUALITY IN
KNOWLEDGE
PRODUCTION
EXTENDING CLASS
INTERACTION
BEYONG
TIME/SPACE/DISTA
NCE LIMITATIONS
Cases were DFAQ is used
Undergraduate
Film & Media
 Information Systems
 Information Technology in
Business
 Law
 Organizational Psychology

Postgraduate
Education
 Information Systems
 Information Technology &
Production Management
 Organizational Psychology
 Health Sciences

Non-academic
•Office of Discrimination & Harassment Office;
anonymous facilitation of reporting of and
advice/counseling on assault, rape & violence within
the community
•Research Ethics Committee; anonymous advice
seeking
Hodgkinson-Williams & Ng'ambi, 2009
IS courses where DFAQ is used
INF1003
Programming
INF1002
Introduction to IS
INF2009F
System Dev A
INF2008F
Database Systems
INF2011S
System Dev B
INF2010S
Info & Comm Tech
INF3003W
Group Project
INF3012S
IT Applications
INF4014W
IS Honours
INF3014F
eCommerce
Ng'ambi & Brown, 2009
Information Systems 1st year
Online questioning environment

Cases were used
◦ 2004 INF1003;Programming
35 students
◦ 2005 INF1003;Programming
63 students
◦ 2006 INF1002F;Introduction
to IS 610 students

Why?
◦ Empower shy students to ask
questions anonymously
◦ Create personal learning
support for students
Observations
◦ Anonymity enables honest
communication on curriculum,
pedagogy and emotional
confusion typical of 1st year
experience
◦ Online consultative
environment enhances
classroom learning
◦ Provides immediate feedback
on how course is running, i.e.,
ongoing course evaluation
◦ Reveals students’ grasp of
content through level
questions and answers –
lecturers learn
Ng'ambi & Brown, 2009
Film & Media 1st year
Collaborative learning and preparation
for exams
• Creation of a virtual revision
environment
 Students can retrieve
announcements on demand by
SMS
 Postings can be made by SMS or
web
Observations



Use of DFAQ during term
time was minimal
25 postings over the
semester; 75% of these
were made during
consolidation week
No easy access to internet,
tutors & friends during
consolidation week
Ng’ambi & Knaggs, 2008
UCT Case Study 2
•
Podcasting on mobile devices
◦ Students in large first year classes experience a
personalised teaching experience through
listening to podcasts on mobile devices
◦ Students who struggle to understand English and
/ or accents listen to lectures again to enhance
their understanding of lecture content
•
Postgraduate students use podcasts to
scaffold reflective learning
•
Students create podcasts as portfolios of work
•
Podcasts uploaded to a Learning Management System
(LMS) and students use Really Simple Syndication (RSS)
to download to mobile devices
RSS feed to mobile devices
Educational uses of podcasting
Lectures – for listening again or extension
 Supplementary learning resources
 Collaborative and active learning support
 Cultivation of confidence in a subject
 Instructions & guidance e.g. lab work
 Support for distance learners
 Feedback on assessments
 Reflections

Podcasting for effective learning





Decide the pedagogical rationale and the
driver
Select the medium; audio only or video
Choose convergence, i.e. how much the
podcasts are integrated with other e-learning
Choose authors and contributors to podcasts
Decide on structure of podcasting; frequency
& timing
Decide on reusability
 Choose length
 Select presentation style; interview,
dialogue
 Decide on framework of content
organization
 Select access system, via LMS or internetbased feeder service

Edirisingha et al. 2008
Cases were podcasting is used
Undergraduate
Information Systems Dept
 2008-MP3
• 428 1st year students (28
tutors)
• Lectures; theory/prac in
lecture theatre
 2009-MP4
• 608 1st year students (44
tutors)
• Lectures; theory/prac in
computer lab
Pedagogy



Podcasts in pedagogy
loosely coupled
Didactic teaching approach
Learner choice and
flexibility high
Cases were podcasting is used
Postgraduate
Pedagogy
Graduate School of Humanities;
School of Education

 2008
• 16 postgraduate students
• 8 week module (4-7PM Tues
& Thurs)
 2009
• 18 postgraduate students
• 1 week block release module
(Mon-Sat)


Podcasts in pedagogy tightly
coupled
Reflective learning teaching
approach
Learner choice and
flexibility medium
Observations






Chance that frequently accessed podcasts
represent a topic of interest to students
Chance that both student & educators may want
to share these resources or recommend them
Lecturers in SoE or IS cannot access these
resources without being a member of a course
site
Potential of podcast reuse beyond a module
Resources are not accessible to students outside
the module
Self ranking of podcasts by frequency of use
Recommendations 1 of 3
Designing tasks for learning while on the
move requires both educators and
instructional designers to focus on the
medium possibilities of mobile devices
 Aligning pedagogical goals with
affordances at medium view level that
draws on existing device uses, reduces the
learning curve and engages learners

Recommendations 2 of 3

Ensuring that none of the learners are
excluded, use a tools view to determine
type of devices that learners have
◦ Don’t develop learning tasks that requires an
iPhone when learners don’t have the device
or a wap application when only a handful of
learners have wap-enabled phones
◦ NB:
 For DFAQ case studies, all mobile phones could
SMS so no student was excluded
 In podcast case studies, learners had MP3 players
Recommendations 3 of 3


Design learning activities to combine the
rigidity of lecture schedules, fixed desktops,
learner mobility and ubiquitous technologies
Leverage institutional LMS with popular social
media so as to:
◦ Maximize use of tools
◦ Provides multiple ways of accessing content and social
networking

Value of using ubiquitous tools
◦ No additional costs in acquiring & training students to use
new tools
◦ Ensures more equitable access to content
Thank you
Contact:
Dr Dick Ng’ambi
Centre for Educational Technology
Email: dick.ngambi@uct.ac.za
References

Alexander, B. (2004). M-Learning: Emergent pedagogical and campus issues in the mobile
environment. ECAR Research Bulletin, Boulder, Colorado, USA: Educause Centre for Applied Research.

Becta (2004). Becta Home Page [Online]
http://www.becta.org.uk/subsections/foi/documents/technology_and_education_research/handheld_co
mputers.doc Accessed: October 26, 2009.

Czerniewicz, L. & Brown, C. (2009). Debunking the ‘digital native’: Beyond digital apartheid, towards
digital democracy.

Edirisingha et al. (2008). Podcasting for learning in universities. P. Edirisingha & G. Salmon (Eds.).
London: Open University Press.

Faux, F., McFarlane, A., Roche, N., & Facer, K. (2006). Learning with handheld technologies: A
handbook from FutureLab, Bristol, UK: FutureLab.

Hodgkinson-Williams, C. ,& Ng'ambi, D (2009). Opening Scholarship, case study 5: Mobile
learning. Cape Town, South Africa: Centre for Educational Technology (CET).

Kreutzer,T. (2007). Generation Mobile: Online and Digital Media Usage on Mobile Phones among
Low-Income Urban Youth in South Africa. Available from
http://tinokreutzer.org/mobile/MobileOnlineMedia-SurveyResults-2009.pdf Accessed October 26, 2009 .

Ng'ambi, D., & Brown, I. (2009). Intended and unintended consequences of student use of an online
questioning environment. British Journal of Educational Technology , 40 (2), 316-328.

Ng’ambi, D., & Knaggs, A. (2008). Using mobile phones for exam preparation, In Proceedings of the
IADIS Mobile Learning Conference, 11-13 April , Algarve, Portugal.

ITU (2009). ITU website http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/icteye/DisplayCountry.aspx?countryId=7 Accessed
October 26, 2009.