Abstract:

Affordances of technology opens up a plethora of seamless learning environments that can effectively engage the learners because whatever they are learning is real and relevant. The paper looks at students’ learning and engagement through technology-rich authentic learning environment (TALE) using a mobile app for Elements of Business Skills. The paper will report on factors affecting student learning and engagement through a mobile app where learning occurs within and outside the classroom as well as in authentic learning environments like a shopping mall or the workplace.

The findings from the two-year study will inform the field of pedagogy on the use of mobile app for students’ knowledge acquisition, creation and transfer in and across different sites of learning. The students’ perceptions of the mobile app as a tool for learning content are explored through the theoretical lens of authentic learning as well as mobile learning (m-learning) such as informal or situated learning and collaborative learning and the features of m-learning: instant access, portability and context sensitivity.

Keywords:

Technology, authentic learning environment, mobile applications, m-learning.