Esra Wali Institute of Education, London Knowledge Lab EWali@IoE.ac.uk

1. Are they doing what they think they’re doing? Tracking and triangulating students’ learning activities and self reports Esra Wali Institute of Education, London Knowledge Lab EWali@IoE.ac.uk

2. Introduction • Mobile learning is mainly investigated in the literature through investigating learners’ utilisation of portable devices in different learning settings (e.g. Hennessy, 2000; Waycott, 2002; Corlett et al., 2005). • These methodologies relied on students’ self reports as the main source of data.

3. Introduction • Research in mobile learning requires studying students’ learning activities that take place in different context. • Researching mobile learning requires a methodology that enables: • Collecting data that represents students’ activities in different contexts (e.g. formal and informal). • Collecting detailed description of students’ activities in these contexts. • Collecting data about the context (physical and social) where learning activities take place. • Triangulating students’ self reports

4. The studies • Higher Education institutes • Implement campus wide laptop program Students and instructors are provided with laptops Laptops were used to accomplish routine activities (e.g. learning, communication, administrative) • Does not implement such program Students mainly using handouts • 12 participants

5. Observations Questionnaires Interviews Log files Triangulate students’ self reports and collect descriptive data Clarify and validate the collected data Collect students’ self reports Research methodology

6. Example • Questionnaire: using the laptop to engage in learning activities and communicate with others in formal and informal settings • Observations and log files: validated the self reports and provided more information. The laptop was used to engage in learning activities directed towards the same objective at the classroom, home and another classroom. • Interviews: provided more information about the purpose of the learning activities • The spaces where the student was in were determined based on the: • Observational notes • Log files: (a) conversations through instant messaging software and (b) comparing the time logged in the log files with the student’s timetable • Interviews

7. Challenges and concerns • Ethical concerns • Students’ informed consent to install system-monitoring software and observations in different contexts • Students’ anonymity and privacy • Ethical and practical challenges • Getting the university’s agreement • Getting students’ consent to participate • Technical problems • Methodological challenges • Log files • Observations

8. Reflections • The methodology enabled studying mobile learning through investigating learners’ activities in different contexts. • The methodology enabled studying the relationship between context (physical and social) and learning activities • Students’ self reports were generally honest and correct, however, they lacked detailed description of learning activities.

9. Questions?