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A Study on the Pattern and Trend of Students’ Typical Usage of Mobile Devices in Learning Activities

  • Simon K. S. Cheung
Conference paper
First Online:
Part of the Communications in Computer and Information Science book series (CCIS, volume 843)

Abstract

This paper investigates the pattern and trend of university students’ typical usage of mobile devices for learning purposes. Based on the surveys conducted to the full-time students at the Open University of Hong Kong in the past 5 years, it is revealed that the majority of students usually use mobile phones for communication using social media whilst less than half usually use mobile phones in reading e-books and doing assignments. Tablet computers are usually used for connecting to learning portals and reading e-books. Notebook computers are still used for conventional usage, such as doing assignment. It is also revealed that the use of tablet computers for doing assignment becomes popular because of the availability of cloud-based storage. The use of mobile phones for connecting to learning portals becomes popular since many mobile apps for learning portals are available. As compared to mobile phones, tablet computers and notebook computers become less popular for communication using social media. The results affirm that the pattern and trend of typical usage depends on not only the nature of the learning activities but also the functional features, limitations and technological development of mobile devices.

Keywords

Mobile learning Mobile devices Learning activities Mobile device usage 
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Copyright information

© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2018

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.The Open University of Hong KongHomantin, KowloonHong Kong

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