Abstract:

Currently there is a fairly widespread tendency to investigate the use of mobile devices in education, as this type of devices makes learning more flexible given the possibility of use anywhere and at any time. In recent years the use of mobile technology for educational purposes, known as m-Learning, has had a great development in higher education, since there are universities in Europe and America that have mobile education systems. The use of mobile devices requires and demands, like all human activity, a set of minimum or basic skills and abilities on the part of the student, that is, knowing how to do in a context, for which a certain theoretical and practical knowledge is required and of a digital competence that allows the student to develop his capacity of analysis and critical sense having as main base the technology. There are numerous projects that refer to the use of m-Learning and its incorporation in educational processes, however only some projects have been dedicated to know what are the necessary skills to learn using in m-Learning environments. This paper presents the results of a study that was applied with a simple probabilistic and random sample to students of the Information and Communication Technologies of the Autonomous University of Baja California Sur (UABCS) with the objective of analyzing what is the practical appropriation of knowledge for the use of m-Learning environments. This study considered a descriptive-quantitative methodological approach, where data were collected on different aspects of the use of mobile devices. The development of research was a group of students at university level of Educational Programs (PE) of the DASC: Engineering in Development of Software (IDS, by its initials in Spanish), Engineering in Computational Technology (ITC, by its initials in Spanish) and Bachelor of computing (LC, by its initials in Spanish). Of the total number of students enrolled in the DASC (496) randomly selected a representative sample of 115 students. Factors related to the evaluation of mobile learning in higher education, were classified into three main categories: basic operations, management of information and communication and collaboration. The attitude of students about mobile learning is positive. The quantitative results of the research carried out reflect a heterogeneous population in terms of knowledge for the management of m-Learning environments. The work seeks to collaborate in the discussion about the results that have the application of knowledge for the use of m-Learning environments at this level of education.

Keywords:

Education, m-learning, digital skills, ICT, mobile devices, self-learning, teaching-learning, innovation.