An Exploration of Developing Mathematics Content for Mobile Learning

In this chapter, the authors explore the development of mathematics content for mobile learning. Firstly, some key factors which affect the development of mathematics content for mobile learning are considered. The development of content is challenging because of the limitations of a mobile device and the diversity of the mathematics content. The diversity of the content refers to the different types of mathematics content such as text, numbers, algebraic equations or graphs. The main challenge is determining the most effective way to represent this content on a mobile device. The need to consider factors such as the type of mathematics content, mobile device limitations, and the inclusion of mathematics pedagogy are discussed. The reason why each of these factors is significant is explained and a method for developing mathematics learning content is presented. The chapter closes with an example of a learning activity developed using this method. INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND There has been a rapid increase in the usage of mobile devices resulting in a surge of mobile learning research throughout the world. Mobile learning is learning across many contexts through social interactions using a personal electronic device (Crompton, 2013). Meeker (2012) illustrates the increase in usage of mobile devices in India where the users of the Internet via mobile devices were greater than that of desktop computers in 2012. Mobile device capabilities have improved drastically and its usage have increased, in some cases even more than that of the desktop computer. This increase a large number of mobile learning studies have been conducted throughout the world and several have reported learning gains in different subject areas, as well as learner preferences Vani Kalloo The University of the West Indies, St Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago Permanand Mohan The University of the West Indies, St Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago