Mobile Active Participative Learning Environments for the 21st
Century Classroom : THE MAPLE PROJECT
Michel Eboueya, Deirdre Lillis, Jun Jo, Gregory Cranitch and Philippe Martin

Abstract— The objective of MAPLE is to design and
evaluate a pedagogical framework for a mobile, active and
participative learning environment. A MAPLE classroom
enhances the traditional face-to-face delivery mode in that all
learners can provide immediate feedback to the teacher
through a ubiquitous mobile device which is summarised in
real-time on the teacher workstation. MAPLE can be used for
immediate feedback, real-time assessment, collaborative
problem-solving, building learning communities, participative
simulations and peer-directed learning and in the training of
teachers.
A MAPLE classroom is applicable in most educational
contexts but the target group for this project is learners in
higher education. A taxonomy of learner cohorts will be
developed to permit holistic comparisons of the effectiveness
of MAPLE which will include: minority groups (gender
imbalance, races/cultures, disadvantaged, special needs);
undergraduate and postgraduate levels; disciplines
(education, computing, business, engineering etc) and
maturity (adults, school leavers).
The main project activities are actually the development of
the pedagogical framework and technical infrastructure,
implementation and use of MAPLE with the taxonomy of
learner cohorts and a comprehensive evaluation of its
effectiveness, supported by project management and
dissemination activities. The expected long-term outputs are:
the proof or recognition that it is the learner that is mobile
and the device is secondary, that there are pockets of
innovative and creative use of mobile and portable
technologies, that there is little evidence of embedded practice
of mobile and portable learning.
We feel that there is an urgent need for more research,
high-quality evaluation and a greater synergy between
research, practice, pedagogy and technological developments.
As technology moves faster than pedagogy, there may also
be a need for developing more mobile capacity in teacher
training institutes and the hope that lessons learned by early
adopters can benefit later adopters.
This work is supported in part by the Region Poitou Charentes France
: BACheliers et Universitaires, vers un enseignement Personnalisé (BacUp), Innova-TIC European funds for regional development,
and by the European Commission EUI-net program.
M. Eboueya is with the La Rochelle University, Laboratoire
d'Informatique Image et Interaction (L.3.I.); Avenue Michel Crepeau,
17042 La Rochelle Cedex 01, France (phone: (+33)(0)-6-88-21-62-53;
fax: (+33)(0)-5-46-45-82-42; e-mail: michel.eboueya@univ-lr.fr).
D. Lillis is with the Institute of Technology Tralee, Ireland. (e-mail:
deirdre.lillis@staff.ittralee.ie).
J. Jo, is with the School of ICT, Griffith University, Gold Coast
Campus, Australia.(email: j.jo@griffith.edu.au).
G. Cranitch is with the School of ICT, Griffith University, Gold Coast
Campus, Australia.(email: g.cranitch@griffith.edu.au).
P. Martin with the School of ICT, Griffith University, Gold Coast
Campus, Australia. (email: p.martin@griffith.edu.au).
I. INTRODUCTION
T
HE promise of mobile devices in education is in
providing low-cost interactive computers to every
learner to improve learning but it is still a relatively new
area [19] and few examples of MAPLE-style classrooms
exist in the Higher Education sector worldwide. MLearning can greatly expand the range of activities that
learners can undertake by supporting everyday activities
unobtrusively and seamlessly in a classroom context but
technology by itself will not achieve the required paradigm
shift that is required to enhance learners learning
experiences and subsequent learning outcomes - it must be
used in partnership with innovative pedagogy. There are a
number of barriers to the adoption of mobile devices in
education including the lack of relevant educational
content,
business-related
and
technical
issues.
Consequently there have been few if any comparative
research studies or studies, which examine in depth the
views of all participants. Very little research has focused
on learners with special needs for example. Saville-Smith
et al acknowledge there is a paucity of studies that relate
the research outcomes to theories of learning [3]. For the
first reading, this project is driven from the pedagogical
perspective and will focus on examining the impact of
MAPLE in providing mechanisms for immediate feedback
and social inclusion in the traditional face-to-face delivery.
For the in deep reading, which is not detailed in this paper,
the theoretical question is also to know if The Teaching
acceptance model (TAM) adapt well. The TAM model is
an adoption of the theory of reasoned action, developed by
Davies [6]. TAM is a widely used model of IT adoption
[5]; and we intend to use it for determining the significant
system acceptance factors that could contribute to the
success of Maple.
II. MAPLE GOAL AND OBJECTIVES
The goal of the MAPLE project is to design, implement,
test and evaluate an active and participative learning
environment for teachers and learners, with an associated
pedagogy, using ubiquitous mobile devices and
wireless/GSM networks in a higher education setting. The
specific project objectives are:--To design, implement and test the MAPLE
technological framework in a real world classroom
environment using a combination of the following
technologies: wireless networks, GSM MicroCell which
supports on-campus communications, mobile phones,
Tablet PCs and Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs).
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--To design and implement a new teaching & learning
pedagogy to take advantage of the enhanced features of a
MAPLE classroom.
--To use the MAPLE classroom in a variety of settings
with different disciplines, cultural contexts and learner
profiles, including learners with special needs and
disciplines with significant gender imbalances.
--To systematically evaluate the effectiveness of the
framework in enhancing the teaching and learning process
--To produce detailed report and research papers on the
outcomes of the MAPLE project for wide dissemination.
The approach explicitly supports two objectives :
“Understanding innovation” is supported by gaining deep
insights on the role of the feedback process in teaching and
learning through action research and “Designing,
developing and testing new methods and educational
resources” is supported by developing a novel classroom
technology and associated pedagogy which is transferable
to many domains of learnin.
The authors are not aware of any MAPLE-style system
which is being used in an international partnership network
in different countries. Griswold et al report on the use of
an ActiveCampus system which is similar in concept to
MAPLE in the University of San Diego however their
research is limited to a small number of classes in one
physical location, and they do not attempt to relate the use
of the mobile technology to pedagogical theory [16]. Other
related projects in mobile learning include the use of SMS
for scheduling information [15] [13], teacher training [4]
supporting undergraduate students and language learning
[18]. Some projects look at delivering course material on
mobile devices [2][12]
[13][17][19]. Other research
has concentrated on university medical education [28]. A
limited amount of research is being undertaken on the
pedagogical aspects of mobile learning in different
contexts [7][20] [24].
There are no systematic evaluations of the effectiveness
of MAPLE-style classrooms in pedagogical terms which
are based on empirical research [10][22] in an
international context, or with a wide variety of learner
cohorts that the authors are aware of [14][26]. The
pedagogical approach developed for and tested in the
MAPLE classroom will therefore be a unique contribution
to the literature on mobile and/or portable learning. The
GSM mircocell system which is used in the technological
infrastructure is unique in the Higher Education sector in
Ireland and allows a college to have an on-campus mobile
phone
network
independent
of
the
main
telecommunications operators, providing a unique test bed
to develop mobile learning applications. The question is
whether we should have an equivalent system in La
Rochelle.
III. PEDAGOGICAL & DIDACTICAL APPROACHES
The MAPLE concept, we consider the following
example:- the teacher poses multiple choice questions to
the class and immediate feedback is obtained via the
learners mobile devices of their understanding of the topic.
This feedback allows the teacher to gain deeper insights
from all learners in relation to the level of understanding of
the topic being covered. He/she can then adjust their
teaching methods in real-time to ensure that the value of
the face to face contact is maximized. It also permits the
teacher to expand their role to that of teacher, mediator,
supporter or facilitator as required, promoting
collaborative and participative learning by actively
engaging each individual learner and by augmenting the
understanding and relationship between the teacher and
learner. The MAPLE framework actively promotes equal
opportunities for learners from both genders, from
minority races/cultures, from disadvantaged backgrounds
and/or learners with special needs, by giving them an
opportunity to contribute anonymously and on an equal
footing to the feedback process.
In traditional settings, teachers can obtain holistic
feedback from the all learners only through mechanisms
which have an intrinsic time delay factor, which does not
permit adjustment of teaching methods in real time. A key
theme to be explored in this project is the impact of the
availability of instant feedback on the professional
development of teachers through employing an action
research methodology to give ‘the practitioners' better
understanding of their practices [11][24]. The second key
theme to be investigated is that of social interaction
between teacher and learner, and between learners, which
is a cornerstone of the constructivist approach to learning.
While effective technology (such as the MAPLE
classroom) offers the opportunity for socialization, it will
not in itself create social interaction [23]. The project will
explore the opportunity afforded by the MAPLE classroom
for social interaction through contribution to the feedback
from all learners when traditional obstacles to learning
such as fear of embarrassment, peer pressure, intimidation,
group think etc are negated. This project will therefore be
a unique contribution to the literature on the role of the
feedback process in teaching and learning.
IV. EDUCATIONAL PROCESSES
Most traditional teaching methods concentrate on
curriculum content however new trends are moving toward
a learner-centered and participative approach. The project
will develop a new educational process by providing an indepth understanding of the role of immediate feedback and
social inclusion for all learners in the teaching and learning
process. The literature on mobile learning outlined
[4][9][10], demonstrates that although much work remains
to be done on the pedagogical and cogitative aspects,
learners are enthusiastic about accepting these
technologies. The classroom becomes a much more
interactive environment. The teacher poses the problem,
guides and encourages, brings solutions found by learners
to the rest of the class. This is a significant departure from
the traditional lecture format. MAPLE can also be used in
the teacher training process, when novice teachers are
learning teaching methods and styles and the availability of
real-time feedback in this training process has many
important implications.
The educational context for the project is primarily
156
Higher Education although the principles are applicable in
any educational context. The primary target user group is
volunteers and up to 4 teachers and small groups of
learners in Higher Education in partner colleges. A diverse
mix of learner cohorts will be developed between the
partner colleges involving representative samples from: a
diversity of disciplines (including Education, Computing,
Business Studies, Engineering and Mathematics); different
nationalities/cultures; a range of levels ranging from first
year undergraduate to Masters Level; and a range of age
profiles from school leaver to mature learners.
The project will explicitly seek to engage learners with
special needs and identify classes where there is a minority
cohort (e.g. Females in a Computing or Engineering class
[21]).
This diversity will permit comparative studies of
effectiveness with different cohorts. There is also an
opportunity to study MAPLE in use in remote delivery
whenever two partners offer a MSc in Computing with
some identical contents, using video conferencing and elearning [1][27]. Others that will benefit from involvement
in the MAPLE project or through dissemination activities
will include IT management and technical support staff,
researchers in higher education; Higher education
management/policy makers, second level schools and
industry through project showcase activities and
organizations and individuals involved in ICT in education
at all levels.
The first year of the project (2006) is devoted to
developing and testing the MAPLE classroom and
pedagogy in a pilot environment, with successive iterative
roll-outs to primary and test site partners. Reliability of the
system and the availability of teaching and learning
scenarios are a key factor as subsequent studies of
effectiveness depend heavily on a stable and user friendly
system. The next years of the project is devoted to using
and evaluating MAPLE in a real-time environment with
different cohorts in partner countries. An adapting,
modifying all components of the project, from the
basement of Maple to is implementation: this is a
continuous activity.
Work has been completed, in the Tralee Institute of
Technologie (ITT), in 2006 on developing an interface
between a Learning Management system (WebCT) and
mobile phones. In La Rochelle University, the LMS used
is actually Moodle for the same objective and it works
fine, despite the small screen of PDA. All result will be
implemented in the new version of the local LMS
TICEUR, actually in released; also, PDAs are not
supposed to be the only terminals to be used for mobility.
Further work is underway on extending this to a live
teaching environment. A parallel project is underway
which is concentrating on the pedagogical aspects of
mobile learning.
An SMS texting service system has also been
implemented in ITT and is currently being piloted in one
of the partners. The use of this will be extended in the next
phase of the project. Preliminary research has
demonstrated that the project approach has significant
potential. Surveys undertaken of first year undergraduate
students (in the Irish partner) and students from a second
level school have demonstrated that the ‘next generation’
of third level students are becoming increasingly amenable
to the use of mobile technology. There was a significant
difference between attitudes to the use of mobiles for
teaching between the first year undergraduates (age 18-19)
and the second level students (age 15-16) with the second
level students more receptive to the use of mobile phones
for learning.
More over, all the observations from Maple practice will
serve as a case study results for theoretical research about
the extension of the TAM model. Two key factors
determine the behavioral intention to use a technology:
perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use. Perceived
ease of use is defined as the degree to which the
prospective user expects the target system to be free of
effort [6]. Perceived usefulness is defined as the
prospective user’s subjective probability that using a
specific application will increase his or her job
performance within an organizational context.
Is TAM able to allow the prediction of the successes of
mobile and portable learning? [2][5][10]. In other terms
we intend to use Maple as a case study, to make a
prediction on the acceptance of a new learning strategy.
V. CONCLUSION
We have shown one way to integrate research results in
teaching thru a project. Undergraduate students are
working on smaller components of the MAPLE project as
part of their coursework. The results of the project are
influencing curriculum design and one partner institute is
revising part of its curriculum to include a full stream
devoted to mobile and portable technology in 2006/07.
MAPLE is also providing a useful common ground for
collaborative international postgraduate projects between
the partners and there are currently both masters and PhD
students involved in MAPLE from different countries. As
for perspectives, MAPLE enhancement is expected to
derive from theoretical models as TAM.
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