Survey Results Continued: Barriers to Mobile Learning

As a class, we decided that it is important for us to not only discuss the advantages to mobile learning but the disadvantages and barriers as well. 

In our survey,  How Do You Use Your Mobile Device(s)?, we asked our 61 participants this question:

Again, we provided our respondants with a variety of choices based on our class' own barriers to using mobile devices to communicate with others and access information for education, work, and personal life.

When comparing our findings to those found in Chapter 7 of Ally' book, Mobile Learning: Transforming the Delivery of Education and Training, I learned that we discovered some similiar issues. And of course, other issues that we did not include in our survey.

Below is a list of their findings of the 'disadvantages' to using mobile devices:

• Battery problems, lost files
• Device is unreliable, it jams, speakers are poor
• Lack of WiFi in many locations
• Fiddly small screen, tasking on the eyes; best used as audio devices
• Interaction issues were also signaled:
• Easy to get distracted
• Text-based message lacks inflection
• Lacking interactive multimedia
• Interaction can be clumpy and stilted
• Everything has to be short and small making meaningful interaction difficult
• Limit to the depth of thinking and learning

The main similiarities between the two surveys are being distracted, poor design, issue with access to the internet (WiFi and connectivity/bandwidth).

While the researchers in Chapter 7 didn't include percentages, we discovered that 58% of the issue for our respondants is Poor Bandwith/Connectivity. 

In Manitoba, this concern is an ongoing challenge that needs to be addressed, especially for those who live outside the major cities.

On another note, we asked our respondants to tell us the type of supports they needed to facilitate mobile learning, since mobile devices are changing the way we learn, interact with others, and do business!

We felt that this question should be open-ended in order to allow respondants to respond freely.

Here are the comments that came up over and over again:

• Financial support
• Mobile friendly website/ education apps
• Training and development—How to use it? When to use it?
• Connectivity/Bandwidth—Too slow

As you can see, the connectivity/banwidth issue comes into play again!

Do you know what the bandwith is of your mobile device or even your home computer?

Well, if you don't, there is a site where you can go to find out this information for free! It's called Speed Test. 

(Thanks for the link Leslie).

I encourage you to check it out; you might be surprised with your results!