Abstract:

With the evolution of new technologies, learning is no longer restricted to the classrooms, in order to spread to any part of the world, through a network of knowledge and work. The development of new technologies allowed the creation of devices that have a new paradigm, the mobility, which has transformed the way we work, we communicate, we have fun and learn. The teaching and learning processes are also no longer dependent upon fixed communication infrastructure, with the democratization of wireless technology.

In fact, the evolution of mobile devices and the change of the educational paradigm has promoted in recent years, the emergence of a new concept in the process of teaching and mobile learning. However, the development of a new educational environment through mobile learning provides several implications for how students learn, the role of the teacher and the operation of the process of teaching and learning. Although, this model raises some questions that do not appear in the traditional teaching model. According to several authors, educational models supported by mobile learning are still in early stages of development, making it necessary to reconsider technological, educational and cultural aspects of the same.

In this context, this paper seeks to understand the potential receptivity and willingness of students and teachers towards this new paradigm of teaching and learning, identifying interests, motivations and expectations in their potential stakeholders (students and teachers). Thus, a study was carried out at the Industrial Studies and Management School (ESEIG) of the Polytechnic Institute of Oporto, where we tried to identify the preferences, expectations and motivations of students and teachers of ESEIG, face in this new paradigm of teaching and learning. This study also seeks to understand the main functionalities and services considered most relevant by the academic community, in a mobile learning platform. To carry out this study a questionnaire survey was prepared and addressed to the ESEIG students and teachers, in order to know their expectations and potential receptivity to the mobile learning paradigm. The data were collected between May and June 2014 and it was analyzed in order to respond to the issues identified above, and to define a typical mobile learning user at ESEIG.

The second section of this paper discusses the contribution of mobile learning in the educational process, while the third section describes the methodology adopted for this study. The fourth section presents the results obtained in the questionnaire survey, followed by their analysis and discussion. The paper ends with some conclusions and points out some future work directions.

Keywords:

Mobile learning, mobile devices, receptivity to mobile learning, higher education.