Educational Uses of Handheld Devices: What are the Consequences?

Educational Uses of Handheld Devices

Handheld devices are being used increasingly in schools and higher education. Many researchers assume that the use of these devices will exert considerable impact on educational practices (Lai & Wu, 2006). However, to date, it appears that such use has not been sustainable and transferable (Song & Fox, 2007).The impact of educational uses of handheld devices does not yet seem apparent.

Conclusions

Current educational uses of handheld devices, more often than not, have been concerned with planned or controlled practices. Learners have had few chances to explore how handheld devices would benefit their learning. Second, in many cases, handheld educational uses merely replicate desktop computer practices. These new means for old educational practices usually have gone hand in hand with offsetting consequences. Classroom use of handheld devices together with other technologies usually has not only achieved limited interaction but required complicated design at the expense of other interactive practices. Third, innovative contextual uses of handheld devices such as context-aware applications and data collection are emerging, yet these applications have not achieved scale, due in part to technical constraints and design difficulties. In addition, more recent research findings show that using available features of handheld devices to support educational practices is feasible, plausible, and innovative, yet such applications remain underdeveloped. Finally, some constraints of the technology are inherent such as the screen size, inputting method, and computational power. Technical problems still exist. Therefore, in many cases, current handheld educational uses neglect contextual factors and merely provide an add-on experience for the students. This means that basically, these applications have brought about the first-level effects of handheld uses.