A Review of Research on Mobile Learning in Teacher Education

Mobile devices have become attractive learning devices for education. While the majority of the existing research has focused primarily on the value of mobile learning for students, researchers have recently started exploring its potentials within teacher development. The present qualitative synthesis of quantitative and qualitative research aimed to address trends and gaps observed in the literature regarding the integration of mobile learning into teacher education. Six main findings emerged: (a) there is an increasing trend in integrating mobile learning in teacher education contexts; (b) theoretical and conceptual perspectives are scarcely reported; (c) variations exist in perceptions, attitudes and usage patterns; (d) engagement with mobile learning and devices is primarily reported as being beneficial; (e) challenges were scarcely reported; and (f) several pedagogical affordances support mobile learning integration into teacher education settings. These findings have been interpreted to determine their implications on the development of mobile learning experiences in teacher education, including programmatic directions for integration and study.