The Social & Mobile Learning Experiences of Students Using Mobile E-books

This research was designed to explore the learning experiences of state college students using mobile electronic textbook (e-book) readers. The purpose of the study was to build a rich description of how students used e-books delivered on mobile computing devices for college-level, introductory sociology courses at a public state college in the southeastern United States. This research employed a multiple case study design that investigated and documented student experiences with this instructional technology. The bounding frame was comprised of the literature on mobile technology, mobile learning theories, and e-books. A theoretical lens of learning theories commonly found in the literature on mobile learning (constructivism, social cognitive theory, self-efficacy theory, expectancy x value theory, selfdetermination theory, and situated cognition) was situated within the mobile learning framework. The theoretical lens was used to provide insight to the student’s learning experiences. Six conclusions were drawn from the study: (1) students expressed competence in their use of the mobile e-books, (2) students expressed feelings of high self-efficacy when using the mobile e-books, (3) students valued the use of the mobile e-books for their learning, (4) students were individualized and metacognitive in their learning with the mobile e-books, (5) students enhanced their learning socially and within situated learning opportunities, and (6) the students and the instructor had divergent views on the value and utility of social, interactive textbooks.