New Pathways in Higher Education: An Introduction to Using Mobile Technologies

Abstract

The chapters in this book focus on three key areas of innovation in teaching and learning in higher education today: smartphone devices, texting applications, and multipurpose, multimedia mobile communicative applications such as Skype. Today's educators have at their disposal a wide array of digital technologies that enable them to enhance the teaching and learning process. These technologies, coupled with more valid and reliable learning theories, are revolutionizing the way we teach and are altering our notions of what it means to learn and live in a post-industrial, globalized world. Both individually and socially, these new mobile technologies are becoming increasingly popular and useful as educational tools across a wide range of disciplines as a means to engage and retain students. If used appropriately and purposefully, these mobile technologies are well suited for the increasingly interconnected and interdependent world we live in and they provide educators with another set of tools by which to enrich the teaching and learning process and educational outcomes (Kukulska-Hulme, 2012).

Citation

Wankel, L.A. and Blessinger, P. (2013), "New Pathways in Higher Education: An Introduction to Using Mobile Technologies", Wankel, L.A. and Blessinger, P. (Ed.) Increasing Student Engagement and Retention Using Mobile Applications: Smartphones, Skype and Texting Technologies (Cutting-Edge Technologies in Higher Education, Vol. 6 Part D), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 3-17. https://doi.org/10.1108/S2044-9968(2013)000006D003