Learning with Mobile Technologies, Handheld Devices and Smart Phones: Innovative Methods

Citation

Parry, F. (2013), "Learning with Mobile Technologies, Handheld Devices and Smart Phones: Innovative Methods", Online Information Review, Vol. 37 No. 3, pp. 482-483. https://doi.org/10.1108/OIR-04-2013-0088

This is a collection of case studies from contributors drawn mainly from the University of Huddersfield. The acknowledgment appears to indicate that they were originally presented at a conference, but this is not made explicit anywhere else in the book.

There has been much interest in the use of mobile technologies to enhance the learning experience. Most students have smartphones, tablets or other handheld devices that can enable mobile learning. There are several problems, however, for those designing new interactive systems, and also several questions that I would like to have seen addressed in this volume. Such questions include:

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  how to deal effectively with a multiplicity of technologies;

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  how students interact with mobile technologies;

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  the costs involved in what may be transitory systems; and

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  how those with disabilities can use mobile technology without feeling excluded.

Some of these concerns are addressed, though not always in sufficient detail.

The majority of case studies describe student response systems (SRS) at some point. Chapters 4, 6 and 12 stand out not only in their critical examination of the pedagogical theory and background of SRS, but also in the close analysis of the design and evaluation of such systems. At one point I was beginning to wonder whether SRS constituted the primary function of mobile technology. There are, in fact, some other interesting topics to discuss, some of which made it into this collection. There are, for instance, two studies on the distribution, compression and security of XML documents and data for the technically minded, a study on video tools in Romania, another on e‐learning content for engineering education in Bahrain. In addition, most of the case studies will probably be of interest to ICT specialists and technical designers who are developing their own systems.

However, there is a lack of structure to the book as a whole, with some studies only tangentially about mobile technologies. There are whole areas of the subject that are not covered. In addition there are some chapters which clearly could have done with some more careful proofreading, containing as they do some unwanted capitalisation of words in sentences and poor grammar. Nonetheless, there is still much of value and some very good technical advice to be gleaned from the studies in this collection, albeit at a hefty price.