Affordances of PDAs: Undergraduate Student Perceptions

Abstract

This paper reports on an empirical study of undergraduate students’ exploration and use of PDAs for educational purposes over a period of six months. In previous studies, educational applications of PDAs have focused mainly on exploring designed research or experiments, in which students have used this technology for prescribed learning tasks. Students have fewer opportunities to explore how PDAs can be used effectively for general educational and study purposes. How students perceive and use PDAs on their own is not well understood. This study explores student understandings and use of PDAs to support their academic studies at a university. It investigates students’ free exploration and use of PDAs for various educational purposes through applying rich, descriptive qualitative research methodology. Two cases are reported in this study. Data collection methods included: interviews with students, a review of student artifacts created using the PDA, student electronic journals and observation of student PDA uses. Seven emerging categories of PDA affordances were identified. They include: multimedia collection, multimedia access, communication, scheduling, data processing , connectivity and representation. Each category is presented both at rich descriptive and interpretive levels. I mplications regarding findings are explored.

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Journal of the Research Center for Educational Technology (RCET)
Vol. 4, No. 1, Spring 2008



www.rcetj.org



Volume 4, Number 1
Spring 2008

Edited by:

Karen Swan
Editor




Alison Bland
Managing Editor
Special Issue: Learning While Mobile

Guest Editor:

Mark van ‘t Hooft
Kent State University
Research Center for Educational Technology

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Journal of the Research Center for Educational Technology (RCET)
Vol. 4, No. 1, Spring 2008




Editor
Karen Swan
Managing Editor
Alison Bland

Advisory Board

Joseph Bowman, Ph.D.
State University at Albany

Rosemary Du Mont
Kent State University

Ricki Goldman, Ph.D.
NYU

Aliya Holmes
St. John's University

Cheryl Lemke
Metiri Group

Robert Muffoletto, Ph.D.
Appalachian State University
Elliot Soloway, Ph.D.
University of Michigan


Review Board

Kadee Anstadt, Perrysburg City Schools
Savilla Banister, Bowling Green State University
William Bauer, Case Western Reserve University
Sebastian Diaz, West Virginia University
Evelyn Goldsmith, Kent State University
Albert Ingram, Kent State University
Jan Kelly, Mogadore Local Schools
Annette Kratcoski, Kent State University
Mary MacKay, Wake County Public School System
Theresa Minick, Kent State University
Jason Schenker, Kent State University
Chris Simonavice, Murray State University
Karen Swan, Kent State University
Mark van 't Hooft, Kent State University
Maggie Veres, Wright State Universit
Yin Zhang, Kent State University

The Journal for the Research Center for Educational Technology is published twice a year by RCET
(http://www.rcet.org). It provides a multimedia forum for the advancement of scholarly work on the effects
of technology on teaching and learning. This online journal (http://www.rcetj.org) seeks to provide unique
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grounded practice.

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Journal of the Research Center for Educational Technology (RCET)
Vol. 4, No. 1, Spring 2008





Volume 4, Number 1
Spring 2008



A Message from the Guest Editor
Mark van ‘t Hooft 1
Bridging the Gap? Mobile Phones at the Interface Between Informal
and Formal Learning
Professor John Cook, Norbert Pachler, and Claire Bradley 3
Affordances of PDAs: Undergraduate Student Perceptions
Yanjie Song and Robert Fox 19
The Effect of Information Visualization and Structure on Mobile Learning
Hyungsung Park
39
Using Place as Provocation: In Situ Collaborative Narrative Construction
Matthew Schaefer, Deborah Tatar, Steve Harrison, and Alli Crandell 49
A Personalized Mobile Mathematics Tutoring System for Primary Education
Xinyou Zhao and Toshio Okamoto 61

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RCETJ 4 (1), 19-38

Affordances of PDAs: Undergraduate Student Perceptions
Yanjie Song
Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong
Robert Fox
Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong
Abstract
This paper reports on an empirical study of undergraduate student s’ exploration and use of PDAs for
educational purposes over a period of six months. In previous studies, educational applications of PDAs
have focused mainly on exploring designed research or experiments, in which students have used this
technology for prescribed learning tasks. Students have fewer opportunities to explore how PDAs can be
used effectively for general educational and study purposes. How students perceive and use PDAs on
their own is not well understood. This study explores student understandings and use of PDAs to support
their academic studies at a university. It investigates students’ free exploration and use of PDAs for
various educational purposes through applying rich, descriptive qualitative research methodology. Two
cases are reported in this study. Data collection methods included: interviews with students, a review of
student artifacts created using the PDA, student electronic journals and observation of student PDA uses.
Seven emerging categories of PDA affordances were identified. They include: multimedia collection,
multimedia access, communication, scheduling, data processing , connectivity and representation. Each
category is presented both at rich descriptive and interpretive levels. I mplications regarding findings are
explored.

Introduction

In recent years, Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) have been increasingly designed, developed, and
adopted in education (Roschelle, Sharples, & Chan, 2005). PDAs have been used as a technology tool
for encouraging classroom collaborative learning (Zurita & Nussbaum, 2007), supporting experiential
learning in the field (Lai, Yang, Chen, Ho, & Chan, 2007), supporting lifelong learning (Sharples, 2000),
enhancing interactivity both in/out of class via a messaging system (Markett, Arnedillo Sanchez, Weber, &
Tangney, 2006), helping improve administrative work via a handheld testing system (Segall, Doolen, &
Porter, 2005), creating a powerful and engaging learning experience for young learners through game-
based learning (Facer et al., 2004), enhancing face-to-face group interactions (Liu & Kao, 2007),
scaffolding learners in context-aware learning (Chen, Chang, & Wang, 2008; Uden, 2007), and
empowering learning outdoors, indoors, or in mixed environments (Robinson & Dodd, 2006; Schwabe &
Goth, 2005; Swan, van 't Hooft, Kratcoski, & Unger, 2005). A majority of these applications have been
carried out in the context of empirical studies, in which students have used handheld devices for pre-
defined tasks. This research explores how students perceive and use affordances of PDAs on their own
in varied settings for their academic studies at a university. Many learning technology innovations are
often designed to exploit the capabilities of the technology itself rather than to meet learners’ needs
(Margaryan & Littlejohn, in press) . There is, therefore, an emerging need to explore affordances of PDAs
as perceived by students themselves. This research will help teachers and researchers better understand
student needs and preferences, which in turn, will help improve mobile technology pedagogical practices
in higher education.
In the sections that follow, we review the literature of educational affordances of PDAs, introduce the
research methods, present and discuss the research results, and draw conclusions.
Journal of the Research Center for Educational Technology (RCET)
Vol. 4, No. 1, Spring 2008
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Affordances of PDAs for Learning
To describe functional and meaningful properties of the environment, Gibson (1977) coined the term
“affordance”. Affordance refers to “what it [the environment] offers the animal, what it provides or
furnishes, either for good or ill” (Gibson, 1977, p. 127). This concept emphasizes possible actions that the
observer perceives as feasible in the environment (Gaver, 1996), and is interpreted as the properties of
the environment that offer “the possibilities for action” (e.g., Young, 2004, p. 171). Further, Jonassen,
Hernandez-Serrano and Choi (2000) posit that if learning technologies are tools for mediating the practice
of learning, “the affordances of any [learning] technology are the properties of that environment that
enable the effectivities of the technology, the abilities of the learner to take learning actions” (p.113).
Affordances are concerned with both the capabilities of the technology and the abilities of the learner to
take learning actions effectively using the technology in certain environments. Affordances of the PDA
therefore in this paper are defined as ‘properties of the environment that offer the learner possible uses of
the PDA for learning.’
Affordances have been explored not only in the human-computer design process (e.g., Kafai & Ching,
2001), but also in the area of information communication technology (ICT) applications in education to
investigate the possibilities that computer technologies provide for students in ICT-based learning
environments (e.g., Klopfer, Yoon, & Perry, 2005; Laurillard, Stratfold, Luckin, Plowman, & Taylor, 2000).
PDAs, like other ICTs, can also provide many affordances in mobile learning environments. Klopfer,
Squire, and Jenkins (2002) describe five properties of handheld devices that produce unique educational
affordances: (a) portability (can take the device anywhere); (b) social interactivity (can exchange data and
collaborate with others; (c) context sensitivity (can gather data ‘just-in-time and place’); (d) connectivity
(can connect handheld devices to other devices to create a shared environment), and (e) individuality
(can provide scaffolding for individual paths of investigation). Churchill and Churchill (in press) carried out
an empirical study on examining educational affordances of PDAs from classroom practitioner’s efforts,
and found five educational affordances: PDAs as (a) a multimedia-access tool (e.g., access to e-books,
web pages, presentations, interactive resources, audio files); (b) a connectivity tool (e.g., exchanging
ideas and files, collaboratively building understanding); (c) a capture tool (e.g., capturing videos and still
photographs); (d) a representational tool (e.g., creating representations that demonstrate student
thinking); and (e) an analytical tool (e.g., using scientific and graphic calculators to aid students’ tasks).
Liang et al. (2005) define educational communication affordance of handheld devices as consisting of two
attributes: a communication mechanism and an educational application. These attributes include five
affordances: po sting, pushing, controlling, file-exchanging, and instant-messaging. The communication
and portability affordances have also been indentified in a ubiquitous mobile learning environment (Chen
et al., 2008).
Patten, Arnedillo-Sanchez, and Tangey (2006), summarized handheld device functionality from a host of
research studies, and developed a functional framework containing seven categories of handheld
educational applications: (a) administration (e.g., calendars, contacts); (b) referential (e.g., dictionaries,
translators and e-books); (c) interactive (e.g., drill and test); (d) microworld (e.g., constrained models of
real world domains); (e) data collection (e.g., note-taking, data logging); (f) location aware (e.g., museum
guides and augmented reality); and (g) collaborative (e.g., knowledge sharing). Patten et al.’s framework
is further developed and revised by Clough, Jones, McAndrew, and Scanlon (in press) in their empirical
study of adult workers’ informal mobile learning. Their main categories of applications are referential,
location aware, reflective, data collection, constructive and administrative. The term ‘functionality’ of
handheld devices in the frameworks is understood as educational affordances by Churchill and Churchill
(in press). However, these are categories of handheld educational functionalities rather than ‘possibilities
for action’ that reside in the relationship between users and handheld devices in certain environments.
As the affordances of handheld devices mentioned above are either obtained from varied designed
experiments in which learners have used handheld devices for prescribed learning tasks, or from
empirical study from the perspective of a practitioner, whether students themselves will be able to
perceive and implement these properties of the technological environment is unknown. Therefore, this
research study aims to investigate the affordances of the PDA that the students perceive and use for their
Journal of the Research Center for Educational Technology (RCET)
Vol. 4, No. 1, Spring 2008
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