Mobile Learning m-learning Theoretical Review

26 Figure 2.2. Distance Learning and its Subsets Distance Learning d- learning is defined as “a process to create and provide access to learning when the source of information and the learners are separated by time or distance, or both” Honeyman, 1993. Formerly, d-learning has many constraints related to time and location restrictions, climate factors, and the limited access because the lesson is delivered via satellite. In the recent years, it relies much on the development of technologies so that the delivery process of knowledge and information is easier than before. Meanwhile, electronic learning e-learning is defined as “learning that takes place using technology, such as the internet, CD- ROMs, and portable devices like mobile phones or MP3 players” Dudeney and Hockly, 2007. Conceptually, e-learning can be divided into online learning and mobile learning m-learning. As defined by Dudeney and Hockly 2007, online learning is learning which takes place via the internet, while m-learning refers to learning which promote the use of mobile phones, MP3 players, Personal Digital Assistants PDAs and use Windows Mobile Computing platforms such as iPAQ Dudeney and Hockly, 2007: 156. Then, from the third point of view i.e. augmenting formal education, mobile learning has correspondence with distance education which are very different from formal education that is stereotyped as 27 face-to-face teaching, yet it still belongs to formal education. The last perspective is learner- centered in which the focus is on the mobility of the learners. O’Malley et al. 2003 define mobile learning as “any sort of learning that happens when the learner is not at a fixed, pre-determined location, or learning that happens when the learner takes advantage of learning opportunities offered by mobile technologies”. There are three fundamental pillars to implement m-learning in the teaching-learning process. Ali 2013 mentions three pillars for establishing m- learning, namely the learner style, the mobile devicesapplications, and the learning content. The three pillars are presented in the following figure. Figure 2.3. Three Pillars for m-learning Ali, 2013 As depicted in Figure 2.3, each pillar of the m-learning system environment depends on or influences one to another. Capretz 2006 in Ali 2013 defines learning style as individual characteristics and consistent approach to perceive, organize, and process information. To achieve learning progress, different kinds of learning styles of the students should be taken into account. The next pillar is mobile application which can be a means to deliver the learning content in an effective way 28 to meet the learners’ needs. Ali 2013 states that the mobile applications can be pre-installed on phones during the manufacturing process, downloaded by users from different mobile software distribution platforms, or through web applications. The last pillar is the learning content i.e. the information that has to be delivered to the learners for them to obtain knowledge. For obtaining knowledge, the learning content should be new and not be introduced before Ali, 2013. To implement m-learning, language educators need to select the applications which are appropriate with the learning contexts. Jones 2011 states that m-learning is not new, but new devices with more various capabilities have attracted the interest among language educators. With the existence of language dictionaries, e-book grammars, and flashcard programs, it helps students to learn language. Chinnery 2006 in Jones 2011 surveyed the state of mobile language learning. The report was about some projects using mobile phones, such as vocabulary practices, quizzes, live tutoring, and email lesson content delivery. The result shows that many technical problems happened because of the limitation of the devices, such as low-resolution screens, poor audio quality, limited storage memory, and slow internet connections. Therefore, language educators should consider those factors in choosing the devices to be used in the learning activities. In addition, Motiwalla 2007 has also conducted research on mobile learning framework. The research explores the extension of electronic learning e- learning into wirelesshandled WH computing devices with the assistance of a mobile learning m-learning framework. M-learning can create flexibility in self- learning because through the use of mobile devices, the learning process can happen either formally at schools or informally outside the classroom contexts. Learners 29 can also learn using the mobile devices recursively and comprehensively because they have their own access to the materials. Heinich et al. 1996: 47 propose some criteria for selecting instructional materials. The criteria can be formulated in the following questions: 1 Does it match the curriculum?, 2 Is it accurate and current?, 3 Does it contain clear and concise language?, 4 Will it arouse motivation and maintain interest?, 5 Does it provide for learner participation?, 6 Is it of good technical quality?, 7 Is there evidence of its effectiveness e.g. field test results?, 8 Is it free from objectionable bias and advertising?, and 9 Is a user guide or other documentation included?. There are some principles of mobile learning proposed by Elias 2011. These Universal Instructional Design UID principles have been developed to incorporate both instructional design and operating systems of educational materials so that they can meet the differences among students. Those principles are: 1 equitable use, 2 flexible use, 3 simple and intuitive, 4 perceptible information, 5 tolerance of error, 6 low physical and technical effort, 7 community of learners and support, and 8 instructional climate. The first principle i.e. equitable use means that contents should be accessible to learners with various abilities and different locations. It is necessary to develop the contents that can be accessed through a wide variety of devices. Second, flexible use means that the design should accomodate a wide range of individual abilities, preferences, schedules, levels of connectivity, and choices of methods. Next, simple and intuitive design means that unnecessary complexity should be eliminated. For perceptible information, it is recommended to add captions, descriptors, and transcriptions. Furthermore, there should be high tolerance of error i.e. minimizing 30 hazards and adverse consequences of errors in software operation. Then, low physical and technical effort means that the design has simple operation. Next, the community of learners and support can be done by developing groups and support from appropriate tools, thus learners can scaffold and help each other. The last one is instructional climate. The instructor should interact with the learners course delivery in various ways. c. Mobile Assissted Language Learning MALL As the users of mobile devices including smartphones, tablets, and other PDAs increase and the access of the internet gets easier and broader, it becomes more common to make use of mobile devices to support language learning. Related to enhancing technology in language learning, Computer Assisted Language Learning CALL has been familiar so far. Beatty 2003 defines CALL as “any process in which a learner uses a computer and, as a result, improves his or her language”. Generally CALL promotes the learners to develop various language skills, including oral skills listening and speaking, written skills reading and writing, grammar, vocabulary, and other language aspects depending on the learning objectives. Nowadays, because of the advance of technology, CALL has gradually changed into MALL Mobile Assisted Language Learning. Kukulska- Hulme and Shield 2008 have differentiated MALL from CALL in the use of personal and portable devices which enable new ways of learning focusing on the continuity and spontaneity of access and interaction across different contexts of use. Learners can use their mobile devices, such as smartphones, tablets, or other gadgets, to improve their language skills. Learners can have their own control toward their learning progress. Viberg and Gr ӧnlund 2012 states that Mobile 31 Assisted Language Learning MALL is a subarea of the growing field of mobile learning. Meanwhile, Stockwell and Hubbard 2013 have tried to draw a link among the three concepts of learning: Mobile Learning ML, Computer Assisted Language Learning CALL, and Mobile Assisted Language Learning MALL as presented in the diagram below. Figure 2.4 The Relationship of Computer Assisted Language Learning CALL, Mobile Learning ML, and Mobile Assisted Language Learning MALL According to the figure above, the shaded area shows the overlap or similar characteristics of those three learning types. MALL has some principles which are similar to those in CALL and ML. Those similar characteristics should be understood as belonging to the other two disciplines, rather than being apart from them. There are some considerations in integrating mobile devices into the language learning. Stockwell and Hubbard 2013 propose ten principles as the basis for developing and implementing mobile language learning. These principles focus on general lessons from implementing technology applications in language learning. The first principle is that mobile activities, tasks, and applications should distinguish both the affordances and limitations of the mobile devices and the 32 environment where the device will be used. As the focus is on language learning, the affordances and limitations should be linked to the principles in second language learning and relate them to the real context in which the learning process occurs. The second principle is limiting multi-tasking and environmental distractions. Many people are not good at multi-tasking so it causes stress, errors, and less productivity. Therefore, the activities and the environment should be conditioned in such an effective way that learners can concentrate more on the given tasks. The third principle is pushing, but respecting boundaries. The push mechanism can prompt the learners to do an action, but it can also help learners understand when and how frequently they will receive the reminders. It may distract learners’ attention toward the learning task. In that way, learners should be able to control and accomodate when the push events occur. The next principle is striving to maintain equity. It is necessary to gather information about whether learners have mobile devices, what devices they have, the connectivity, and the expense needed. All those factors should be considered in maintaining the equity within the learning environment. The fifth principle is acknowledging and planning for accomodating language learner differences. In developing mobile application, different kinds of students’ learning styles should be taken into account. Mobile learning should facilitate various learner styles so that all learners can learn comfortably. Next, the sixth principle is being aware of language learners’ existing uses and cultures of use for their devices. Students commonly use their mobile devices 33 for personal usage and social media, rather than for educational tools. That is why the application should be consistent in providing useful tasks for developing students’ skills so that learners will get used to it. The seventh principle is keeping mobile language learning activities and tasks short and concise when possible. The tasks should be designed in smaller and coherent chunks so that learners will get access into the tasks easily. Besides, the tasks should be adjusted with the learning goals and objectives in the syllabus. The next principle is letting the language learning task fit the technology and environment, and vice versa. The tasks should consider the mobility of the learners, the time allocation, the skills to be focussed on, the technology or devices that are used and also the environment where learners do the tasks library, classroom, or homes. The ninth principle is that some or most learners will need guidance and training to effectively use mobile devices for language learning. To use mobile devices in language learning faces some challenges. The implementation of using mobile devices in language learning is in the hand of the users. In this case, learners need to be trained in order to use the devices as efficient as possible. The last principle is recognizing and accomodating multiple stakeholders. To implement MALL, it will be more helpful to involve other parties beside the learners, including the principal and the parents to support and monitor students’ progress in learning by using mobile devices. Those ten principles can be used as guidance to develop a mobile application which can meet the learner needs and also the contexts in which the MALL is applied. The selection of mobile devices and the applications to be used should 34 consider the availability, the utility, and also the accessibility of those devices for language learning.

4. Android

Nowadays technology has grown vastly around the world. The existence of gadgets and many other electronic devices, especially mobile devices, supports the development of information and communication. According to Riggs and Vandenbrink 2001, mobile device refers to any type of computer device that has the capability to connect to the internet without a permanent cable connection. The device allows users to have access to the internet through wireless connection. Meanwhile, Trifonova et al. 2004 state that mobile devices commonly refer to PDAs and digital cell phones, but more generally they refer to “any device that is small, autonomous and unobstrusive enough to accompany us in every moment”. In brief, the characteristics of mobile devices are the practicality, portability, and usability for various kinds of tasks. There are many types of mobile devices which can be explored as educational tools. Nosrati et al., 2012 mention some kinds of mobile devices, such as Personal Digital Assistants PDAs, smartphones, tablet computers, Ultra-Mobile Personal Computers UMPCs, and wearable computers. All of those devices have advanced features and applications that can be used to facilitate users in doing many kinds of activities, like accessing the internet, using social media, getting live news updates, playing musics and videos, and many others. Mobile devices are built with particular mobile Operating System OS. There are some popular operating systems as presented by Nosrati et al. 2012 and Sharma et al. 2013, namely 35 Symbian OS, Windows OS, Palm OS, Blackberry OS, iPhone OS, Android OS, and Bada OS. One of the most broadly used operating systems is Android. a. The Nature of Android Android is one of operating systems which is launched by Google that is famous for its dominating web search portal. Based on Google Android website, as cited in Schmidt et al. 2009, Android is “a software stack for mobile devices including an operating system, middle- ware, and key applications”. The operating system has been enriched with various important elements which are required to provide basic functions, like a networking stack and Java methods which enable developers to create a wide range of software for mobile application. In addition, Android is also desribed as the first truly open comprehensive platform for mobile devices, all of the software to run a mobile phone but without the proprietary obstacles that have hindered mobile innovation Meier, 2009. Mobile devices which employ Android OS are multitasking and provide opportunities for users to do many kinds of activities. Android consists of some parts including a hardware reference design for supporting the software stack, a Linux operating kernel system for providing the low-level interface with the hardware, memory management and process control, open source libraries for application development, a run time for executing and hosting Android application, an application framework for system services, a user interface framework for launching application, preinstalled applications, and a software developmental kit for creating applications, including the tools, plug- ins, and documentation Meier: 2009. Kloss 2012 states that Android was first released in October 2008 by the Open Handset Alliance OHA i.e. an alliance of 36 producers, Net companies, and service providers within the telecommunication sector, and it is marketed by Google. Android gives opportunities for many developers who want to create new applications because it has no licencing as well as distribution and development fees. b. Android Development Program There are some ways to develop an Android application, such as Eclipse and App Inventor. Many Android developers use Eclipse as the Integrated Development Environment IDE because it has many features and plug-ins which can be used to build a software Pratama, 2011. It is also supported directly by Google so the sources of the software are supplied by Google. Schmidt et al., 2009: 12 also state that Google has provided a rich framework for developers who want to start developing Android applications. Additionally, Google offers Android Development Tools ADT i.e. a plugin to Eclipse IDE. After installing Eclipse, the developers will know how to create Android projects, start up the emulator, offer interfaces to some mechanisms in Android. Eclipse is a software development program in which the developers need to work with coding, compiling, and deploying Android applications. Another Android development program offered by Google is App Inventor. According to Kloss 2012, App Inventor is a program which is developed by Massachusets Institute of Technology MIT. At first, in July 2009, App Inventor was an experimental teaching and learning tool for a selected circle of American institutes aiming at facilitating students in programming in general and mobile phones in particular. One year later, in July 2010, it was announced to public as approved by Google App Inventor Team. In 2011, App Inventor was established as 37 the alternative to the Java-based Android Software Development Kit SDK. Since then, it is available for the interested developers who want to build an application. This program can be run online by accessing ai2.appinventor.mit.edu or beta.appinventor.mit.edu. By accessing one of those websites, a developer can build an android application. App inventor is designed for those who have little or no programming experience and want to develop mobile applications for Android based phones. Penta n.d. mentions some components of a mobile application, namely visual components, non-visual components, events, behaviours, event-handlers, and variables. Visual components are things the users can see on the phone screen, such as buttons, labels, and images. Non-visual components are invisible things an application interfaces with, such as sound and twitter service. Events are things that can happen, usually initiated by the user of the phone, e.g. button being touched, something in the list is selected, etc. Behaviours are actions executed by the application, e.g. play a sound, move an image around a game board, etc. Event- handlers are behaviours executed in response to some event. The last component is variable i.e. memory kept by the application e.g. the score of the game. To create a mobile application, those components are combined and connected for particular tasks. Using App Inventor, the developers should understand the four elements required in designing a mobile application. They are App Inventor Designer, App Inventor Blocks Editor, Android Emulator, and Android phone Penta, n.d.. Those elements should be present as the requirement for designing, building, and testing the Android application that has been made. The elements can be seen as follows. 38 Figure 2.5. The Elements that are Required for Making an Android Application Using App Inventor Penta, n.d.