MOBILE LEARNING IN ENGINEERING EDUCATION: HOW EFFECTIVE IS IT?

In the current mobile age, the scope of mobile learning has vastly expanded into various realms of educational systems. A number of alternative approaches to traditional classrooms are being experimented with in higher education context. For instance in our college, we have adopted flipped learning which involves the use of mobile learning technologies. Mobile learning (M-Learning) possesses the potential to encourage and support learning anywhere with access to resources and in the absence of a formal classroom set up. It encourages the learner to take up the responsibility to become part of a collaborative learning community.

This paper evaluates the effectiveness of mobile learning as a complement to the traditional classroom in the context of engineering education. A Mobile class room was created using padlet and Google apps for a group of 70 fourth year students of Electronics and communication Engineering to provide them with an out of class continued learning experience. This was used for encouraging supervised group discussions on various topics handled in class; for resource sharing by both students and teaching staff and for pre-assessment discussion sessions. An online survey was conducted to elicit students’ perceptions of the effectiveness of mobile learning as an addition or replacement to face to face interactions inside classroom. One of the main findings of this study is that students were generally positive about the mobile learning experience. However they also indicated preference for in-class interactions with the tutor. This presentation will highlight student experiences and overall benefit of using mobile learning as a complement to the traditional classroom approach.