"What's the tab's apps?": Piloting low-priced-tablet-aided course delivery in teacher education

Abstract

Mobile learning generally offers delivery of blended learning or simply as tool for course enhancement in university setting. A small teacher education institution piloted a low-priced-tablet-aided instruction in its language courses via exploratory case study. Through focus groups and journal writings, students favorably reported most aspects of mobile-aided learning experiences and confirmed some challenging technical issues. Moreover, qualitative analyses on the device, learners' engagement and course-activities revealed these five key categories: (1) tableting pros and cons; (2) making adjustments and connectivity issues; (3) moodling, googling and strategizing use; (4) trending apps and functionalities; and (5) changing views on technologies and pedagogies. Finally, lessons learned and future works on the tablet adoption, applications and strategic implementation in aid of teacher education course delivery and related disciplines are suggested.