Title: Engaging students using their own mobile devices for learning mathematics in classroom discourse: a case study in Hong Kong

Authors: Gary K.W. Wong

Addresses: Department of Mathematics and Information Technology, The Hong Kong Institute of Education, Hong Kong, China

Abstract: Mobile technology becomes more popular in our generation. Many students carry their mobile devices such as smartphones and mobile tablet devices to schools everyday. Research shows that technology in education is a promising approach for pedagogical change in learning and teaching. In this paper, we propose a new learning intervention in classroom discourse with Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) to enhance the student engagement. This work aims to investigate how students perceive their engagement in classroom teaching with BYOD. A mixed quantitative and qualitative methodology is adopted in this case study research. Survey was administered to 33 students participants (pre-service primary mathematics teachers), and five of them were interviewed in a follow-up focus group. The research results show that students are able to accept this new pedagogy with BYOD in learning mathematics in university. In addition, students also perceive an increase of their engagement in the classroom discourse through BYOD.

Keywords: mobile learning; m-learning; bring your own devices; BYOD; teacher training; educational technology; student engagement; mathematics education; Hong Kong; higher education; smartphones; tablets.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMLO.2014.062352

International Journal of Mobile Learning and Organisation, 2014 Vol.8 No.2, pp.143 - 165

Received: 13 Mar 2014
Accepted: 08 May 2014
Published online: 23 Oct 2014 *

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