YOUTHS’ PERCEPTIONS OF LEARNING WITH SMARTPHONES: ME, MYSELF AND OTHERS

Current developments in mobile applications and social software using Web 2.0 technologies have made smartphones more dynamic and ubiquitous and, promise more learning and teaching potential. The aim of this paper is to investigate the use of smartphones for learning by Malaysian youth in their everyday lives and their perceptions of the meaning and influences of this learning. Hermeneutic phenomenology is the research methodology used to access a phenomenon that is often subconscious in order to understand and interpret the participants’ learning experiences. Twelve youths in Malaysia participated in three rounds of semi-structured interviews over a period of six months. The findings suggest that the experience of learning with smartphones was largely perceived as valuable as it was highly personalized and multifaceted. Participants’ learning was generally associated with multiple self-identities and management of their images; dependent on their perception of its value and subject to influences from their peers, parents, teachers and the community at large. As participants’ self-identities, patterns of use and motivations are affected by the complex interplay of friends’, parents’, teachers’ and media influences, further research on the effect and extent of these influences may yield important knowledge on mobile learning in everyday practices.