Note: achieves a distinction but the report does not fully reflect what was shown at demo] Mobile Devices and Their Impact on the Learning Environment.
By Stuart Greig – GT320827

MSc Web Development
A project submitted in partial fulfilment of the award of Master of Science In Web Development from Staffordshire University Supervised by Philip Windridge and Alastair Dawes March 2014

Word Count: 14422 For the Attention of Philip Windridge
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Faculty of Computing, Engineering and Sciences

Table of Contents
Table of Contents 2 Abstract 5 Acknowledgements 6 List of Figures 7 Introduction 8 Chapter 1: Research Methods 9 1.1 Qualitative or Quantitative? 9 1.1.1 Quantitative Research 9 1.1.2 Qualitative Research 10 1.2 Methods to be used 10 1.3 Conclusion 10 Chapter 2: Current Mobile Learning Initiatives 11 2.1 Entrust: Learn Anywhere 11 2.2 Apple in Education 11 2.3 Conclusions 12 Chapter 3: Barriers to E-Learning 14 3.1 Introduction 14 3.2 Attitudes as a barrier to E-Learning and M-Learning 3.3 Financial Barriers to E-Learning and M-Learning 3.4 Conclusions 20 Chapter 4: The Benefits of E-Learning 21 4.1 Distance and Collaborative Learning 21 4.2 Personalised Learning 22 4.3 Increased Interactivity 23 4.4 Additional Resources 23 4.5 Conclusions 24 Chapter 5: Educational Theory 26 5.1 Student Centred Learning (SCL) 26 Chapter 6: Application Development 29 6.1 Initial Web, Database and Application Design 29 6.1.1 Requirements List 29 6.1.2 UML Use Case Diagram and UML Class Diagram 6.1.3 ERD 32 6.1.4 Sitemap and Wireframes 33 6.2 Further Reading 37 6.3 Final Design of the Finished Application 38 6.3.1 Database Design and ERD 38 6.3.2 Web Design / Navigation 39 6.3.3 Monitoring and Moderation 42 6.3.4 Interview with Sue Lee 42 6.3.5 Conclusions 43 Chapter 7: Testing 45 7.1 Testing Evaluation 45 Chapter 8: Survey Questionnaires 46 8.1 Conclusions 46 Chapter 9: Critical Analysis 49 9.1 Evolution of the project 49

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9.1.1 The Research 49 9.1.2 The Application 50 9.1.3 Overall 51 9.2 The Conclusions 55 9.2.1 What objections would a school have to mobile devices in the classroom? 55 9.2.2 What can mobile devices add to the classroom and learning experience? 55 9.2.3 Is this application capable of making mobile devices more appealing? 56 9.3.3 Overall 56 References 59

Appendix A

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Section 1 E-Learning 64 1.1 Introduction 64 1.2 Evolution of e-learning 65 1.3 Why even attempt to educate using M-Learning? 1.4 Conclusions 70 Section 2 Current Initiatives 72 2.1 Learn Anywhere 72 2.1.1 Cost 72 2.1.2 Management 72 2.1.3 Reported Benefits 72 2.1 APPLE IN EDUCATION 73 2.2.1 Management 73 2.2.2 Reported Benefits 74 2.3 Other Schemes of Possible Interest 75 2.3.1 UNESCO Mobile Learning 75 2.3.2 Learning 2 Go 75 Section 3 Barriers to E-Learning 76 3.1 Attitudes as a barrier to E-Learning and M-Learning 3.1.1 Pedagogy as a barrier 76 3.1.2 Attitudes related to advanced age 78 3.1.3 Attitudes of software developers 79 3.1.4 What is Technophobia 80 3.1.5 Ignorance or Lack of Exposure 81 3.2 Cost Based Analysis 82 3.2.1 Purchasing 82 3.2.2 Leasing 83 3.2.3 Purchasing Desktop Devices 83 3.2.4 Leasing Mobile Devices 84 3.2.5 Purchasing Mobile Devices 85 Section 4 The Benefits of E-Learning 86 4.1 Accessibility Benefits 86 Section 5 Educational Theory 88 5.1 Student Centred Learning (SCL) 88 5.1.1 The Pupils Learning Experience within SCL 88 5.2 Action Based Learning 89 5.3 Problem Based Learning 92 5.4 Potential SCL Application Features 94

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5.4.1 Social Media Integration 94 Section 6 Application Development 95 6.1 Development Technologies 95 6.1.1 What does this Application need 95 6.1.2 Responsive Web or Native Application 96 6.1.3 Mobile Website 97 6.1.4 Native Applications 98 rd 6.1.5 3 Party tools and frameworks 98 6.3 REMOVED FEATURES 101 6.3.1 Collaborative Work 101 6.3.2 Aiding and Supporting Learning 103 6.3.3 Library Functionality 103 6.3.4 Further work 104 Section 7 Testing 105 7.1 Testing Results 105 Section 8 Questionnaires 121 8.1 Compiled Results 121 8.1.1 Question 1 121 8.1.2 Question 2 121 8.1.3 Question 3 121 8.1.4 Question 4 122 8.1.5 Question 5 122 8.1.6 Question 6 122 8.1.7 Question 7 122 8.1.8 Question 8 123 8.1.9 Question 9 123 Section 9 Online Learning 125 5.1 Online Learning 125 5.2 Conclusions 129 5.3 Further Reading Section 10 Aims and Objectives 130 10.1 Primary Aim 130 10.2 Key Objectives 130 10.3 Topics that are included but not the focus of this project

131

Appendix B

133
133

Section 1 Application Diagrams 1.1 Class Diagram 133 1.2 Use Case Diagram 134 1.3 ERD Version 1 136 1.4 ERD Version 2 138 1.5 Siteamp 140 1.6 Wireframes 141 1.7 Gantt Charts 150 1.7.1 Original Gantt Chart 150 1.7.2 Final Gantt Chart 152 Section 2 Consent Forms 153 Section 3 Questionnaires 169

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Abstract
This project aims to conduct research into a number of disciplines related to web development and educational theory with the intention of identifying the key barriers preventing the adoption of mobile devices into secondary education, the potential benefits of doing so and then developing an application as a proof of concept. This project will attempt to identify key barriers preventing the adoption of mobile devices into the classroom with a view to then finding solutions to these problems and where possible apply these to a proof of concept application. This will be done through a combination of primary and secondary research. Initially secondary research will be used as the foundation for the project, providing a baseline for the current situation surrounding the project, and the primary research will provide specific data regarding this project and its application. Part of the primary research will be carried out at a local high school with members of staff providing their opinions regarding mobile devices. This data will be directly fed back into the project and will be tested against any previous assertions made in the project and will influence any conclusions made in the project. Primary research will also be carried out by the way of interviews with experts in dealing with educational applications, this data will shape the applications contents, direction and ultimate functionality. After the application has been completed further interviews will be conducted in which feedback on the completed application will be assessed and any feedback will be factored into the final conclusions. The application will be designed to be as appealing to secondary education as possible be offering solutions to key barriers of mobile devices and offering tools and features that play to the advantages offered by mobile devices. This application will be designed to be used all types of devices with a web browser.

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Acknowledgements
I would like to acknowledge Sir Thomas Boughey High School, Mr Gould the Head and all the staff who have supported and aided me in the build up to the project, and a special thanks to those who took time out of their busy school day to take part in the survey.

I would also like to acknowledge Sue Lee who offered invaluable help with the design and evaluation process of the application built as part of this project.

Without their assistance this project would not have been able to reach to conclusions it has come to and would have been left all the poorer for it.

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List of Figures
Figure 1.1 - Use case Diagram …………………………………………… Page 30 Figure 1.2 – Class Diagram ……………………………………………..... Page 30 Figure 1.3 - Entity Relationship Diagram Fig 1.3 ………………………... Page 32 Figure 1.4 – Sitemap ……………………………………………………... Page 33 Figure 1.5 – Desktop Wireframe …………………………………………. Page 35 Figure 1.6 – Mobile Wireframe …………………………………………... Page 36 Figure 2.1 – Entity Relationship Diagram ………………………………... Page 38 Figure 2.2 – Desktop Screenshot …………………………………………. Page 39 Figure 2.3 – Mobile Screenshot ………………………………………….. Page 39 Figure 3.1 – Compiled Survey Results …………………………………… Page 47 Figure 4.1 – Original Gantt Chart ………………………………………... Page 51 Figure 4.2 – Final Gantt Chart …………………………………………… Page 52 Appendix B – Full list of figures

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Introduction
With my five years’ experience in education working in a number of different capacities, and with the help of current literature on education I will attempt the form some sort of consensus on the attitude towards mobile devices in the classroom, the potential they could have on the learning experience and identify any of the pros and cons. I also plan to conduct primary research gathering data first hand from teacher and support staff working in education, this will include gathering their opinions on the proposed systems and any pros and cons they might foresee. This project was born through my work as in various technical positions within secondary education and through many conversations held with both students and staff about the topic of mobile devices in the classroom. Throughout my own high school years and working experience I have only ever encountered negative attitudes towards mobile devices within the classroom and so have sought about both attempting to find out why, and to then attempt to find a solution to the problems. Through initial talks with staff they seem optimistic about the potential impact mobile devices could offer however they are reluctant to allow students to use their mobile devices for a number of reasons. Many of the devices currently owned by some pupils are for all intents and purposes mobile computers capable of performing many of the tasks performed by desktop computers. If the attitudes could be changed for the better towards mobile devices, it may be possible that student’s devices may be able to provide additional computing resources to the classroom already supplementing the ones provided by the school. As an accompaniment to the research gathered a prototype for a mobile Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) will be produced, this will serve as a proof of concept and if time and circumstances allow will be showcased to students and staff at a school in order to garner feedback. The research performed will be a mixture of primary and secondary research using the experience of others through interviews and questionnaires, and existing research. The aims and objectives for this project have been outlined and discussed in Appendix A Section 11. 8|Page

Chapter 1: Research Methods
One the key tasks that must be undertaken before undertaking any research project is to understand what research methods are going to be used to gather and analyse data. There are two key research methods, both of which approach data collection and analysis in different ways and may impact the course of the project in different way. This chapter will aim to briefly outline both qualitative and quantitative research methods and the types of projects they lend themselves to, and then chose the most appropriate method for this project.

1.1 Qualitative or Quantitative?
Before picking one method over the other, a clear definition of the project including topics to be researched and its desired goals must be in place as this will help you pick the most effective research method. It is important to remember however that there is no right or wrong research method and that both could equally apply to most projects and some projects may even employ both methods side-by-side, but careful consideration much be given to both as this will greatly affect the nature of research undertaken in the project. 1.1.1 Quantitative Research Quantitative research, as the name would suggest, focuses on quantifying data and drawing precise measurements from data. Blaxter (2010) offered the following definition “Quantitative research tend to involve relatively large-scale and representative sets of data, and is often, falsely in our view, presented or perceived as being about the gathering of 'facts'.” Blaxter highlights a potential issue when pursuing a Quantitative approach, in that it is easy to think that a quantitative approach requires the research and data to lead to an absolute truth or a definitive course of action, while in many instances this may not be possible. When researching a complex social topic as this project aims to do there may be a myriad of social and technological factors at play influencing the outcome of the project, and researching all of these to come to a definitive course of action may be beyond the scope of one project. A solution to this may be to then conduct further research using a more qualitative approach in order to further explore the issue, however given the limited time and resources available for this project this is not feasible. 9|Page

1.1.2 Qualitative Research Davies (2007, p135) states that “Qualitative research uses its gathered data to create theoretical ideas, compared with experimental research that starts with a theoretical position and accumulates data in order to test its validity.” Here Davies highlights the core principles behind Qualitative Research Methods, looking at data in order to formulate ideas which is in stark contrast to the Quantitative approach. Qualitative Research Methods afford a greater freedom to explore the reasoning behind complex personal and social mechanisms without the need to come to a concrete solution to a problem, which in many cases may not be possible.

1.2 Methods to be used
There are number of different methods with which to collect qualitative data and which methods are chosen will greatly affect the data that will be gathered, so understanding what data is required for a project is vital. This chapter is not an exhaustive list of all research methods but will explain the methods that this project will aim to employ. This project will seek to gain insight and opinions from various experts across a broad range of subjects, and towards the end of this project a prototype application will be developed and showcased to a group of volunteers within higher education, this will be used not only to gather feedback on the application but also ideas and opinions from people within education. The type of data this project aims to gather will greatly influence the methods of data collection, so firstly it is important to identify what data this project requires.

1.3 Conclusion
For the purposes of this project Qualitative Research offers a greater freedom in exploring the social factors behind the project with its emphasis on uncontrolled observations and freedom from quantifying data that may not always be quantifiable. Not forgetting that one of the chief goals of this project is to understand the thinking behind why certain figures in education harbour negative attitudes towards mobile devices in the classroom, qualitative research affords much more freedom to explore the fuzzy logic peoples experiences and current opinion and will not require any anomalies within the data to be discarded or explained away. 10 | P a g e

Chapter 2: Current Mobile Learning Initiatives
The potential benefits of widespread adoption of mobile devices in the classroom have been explored by a number of different people and organisations and this chapter aims to explore the current technological landscape and provide an indepth look at a small number of the current initiatives on offer and attempt to assimilate the best ideas from each.

2.1 Entrust: Learn Anywhere
The summary of this initiative been found in Appendix A Section 2.1. Learn Anywhere is an initiative launched by Entrust, a company that delivers various technical and support services to schools and business, these range from installing and supporting IT Infrastructure to offering software training to teachers and support staff. Their Learn Anywhere scheme offers a cost effective way of providing a range of mobile devices, including laptop and tablet computers to schools and then offers further management packages. First impressions of this scheme are that, besides from the leasing of devices on a yearly basis, offers no real incentives to get mobile devices into the schools. The Mobile Device Management system seems to offer little benefits in the way of integrating devices already owned by staff or students, and would really provide nothing but an additional burden for the IT Support department. While this scheme may not be suitable for most schools with a smaller budget there are certainly certain elements that could be taken from this and applied to a more inclusive scheme, the main one being the spreading of the cost to parents as well as affordable leasing of mobile devices.

2.2 Apple in Education
The summary of this initiative been found in Appendix A Section 2.2 Apple is a company famous for popularising mobile devices and bringing them to the forefront of consumer technology with products like the iPhone and iPad, and to help bring their products into the classroom Apple has launched its Apple in Education program. This program promotes the iPad's interactivity and the large collection of applications (apps) available, suggesting that the iPad is a more appealing and versatile alternative to the textbook. Apples iTunes U certainly gives the iPad an edge over other non Apple devices, as 11 | P a g e

a large and diverse store specialising in education software would allow quick and easy integration into the classroom. The ability to utilise the devices on a standalone basis or deployed within a schools network would certainly make them appealing to schools at either end of the budgetary spectrum.

2.3 Conclusions
From the initiatives currently in practice it is possible to see that the potential benefits of mobile devices within education is becoming increasingly apparent to a number of different companies and organisations, and while not fully normalised within education organisations such as UNESCO are developing guidelines to standardise the introduction of mobile devices into the classroom. The study conducted by Oxford University in 2009 (UNESCO, 2013) has provided some useful insight into the use of mobile devices in the assistance of administrative duties around the school, and has already demonstrated the utility of mobile devices at assisting in the day-to-day duties of both students and staff. Using the foundations already put down by the organisations discussed above, it is possible for this project to assimilate the existing ideas and expand on them providing the basis for the application and additional scope to the project as a whole. From the commercial initiatives it is possible to identify a potential issue facing this project, the cost of acquiring enough mobile devices to effectively service students may prove to be costly for a public school with a limited budget, a cost based analysis will be conducted in and included into Appendix A Section 3.2 and will analyse the cost of acquiring mobile devices and will aim to identify the most cost effective way. The Learn Anywhere initiative offers the potentially cost effective idea of splitting the cost of the mobile devices between the school and parents of the pupils which could potentially save the school a large sum of money depending on the investment provided by the parents, and while the success of this method of payment will depend heavily on the parents of the students it is an option that could be explored. From the initial study of mobile initiatives it is possible to draw up a number of good ideas which this project can take on-board and potential hurdles that may need to be addressed:   The cost may prove to be a major barrier The payment methods proposed by Learn Anywhere could provide a 12 | P a g e

possible solution  The application of mobile devices demonstrated by Oxford Mobile could provide the basis for this projects application Other schemes of possible interest have been summarised and discussed in Appendix A Section 2.3.

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Chapter 3: Barriers to E-Learning
3.1 Introduction
This chapter will attempt to identify and then analyse possible barriers to the adoption and use of E-Learning and technologies in the modern classroom, with the eventual aim of finding a method to either overcome or limit the problems caused by these barriers. The purpose of this is to allow for the effective design and implementation of the final phase of this project by identifying any potential issues early on and ensuring these are taken into consideration during the design of the application. Studies conducted by UCISA (2012) over a number of years have identified three consistent barriers to E-Learning, time, money, and the culture within the school. These barriers will serve as the basis for this chapter with the results of this research being factored into the final design for the application. As of 2012 the top five barriers preventing schools adopting E-Learning as identified by UCISA (2012) are:  Lack of Time  Lack of Money  Department / School Culture  Lack of recognition for career development  Lack of academic staff knowledge While some of these issues would require a change in culture within a school to be completely removed, which is obviously beyond the scope of this project, all of these issues must be taken into consideration when designing any educational application and this project will attempt to offer either solutions or compromises to these key barriers. The research conducted by UCISA (2012) while identifying the constant barriers to E-Learning also documents the shifting barriers that have either fallen or risen in prominence over the past ten years. These constant shifts in certain barriers may provide some insight into the long-term goals of this project. Even after a school has overcome these barriers and made the decision to invest in E-Learning are a number concerns and demands facing the staff to maintain and 14 | P a g e

make the most of their new investments. UCISA (2012) noted that the top five demands facing staff when using E-Learning are:  Mobile Technologies, supporting, creating content and compatibility with systems.     Staff Development Legal/Policy Issues including Copyright and Data Security E-Assessment Lack of support staff or staff with the necessary skills

From this initial assessment of it is possible to see that issues facing the adoption of E-Learning are two-tiered, firstly E-Learning must be appealing enough and a school must have the requisite means and motivation to invest in E-Learning, and secondly after the initial investment a school must have the expertise and an effective pedagogy with which to fully utilise E-Learning. As mentioned earlier this project and the application can offer only limited solutions to these barriers and challenges, schools and staff must also adapt in order overcome these issues. UCISA (2012) have gathered the most common methods of tackling these challenges:      Staff Development Investment of time, resources and support staff Effective Strategies and Policies Self-service support materials Sharing good practice and case studies

These methods may seem simple but could greatly improve the mind-set of a member of staff who is unfamiliar with E-Learning, and it is these kind of methods that will help to change to culture of a school, and when further combined with a well designed application could make E-Learning not only a more viable consideration but also more appealing.

3.2 Attitudes as a barrier to E-Learning and M-Learning
Further research on attitudes as barriers to E-Learning can be found Appendix A Section 3.1 15 | P a g e

While not many people would deliberately chose to have an attitude that hindered or otherwise prevented the learning of new skills, there are a number of age related barriers that are the direct result of an individual’s attitude or behaviour. Whether it be as a result of a belief in the validity of ones way of thinking or the general reluctance to make major changes to the way one conducts business, these barriers are not directly imposed by an external force. “Interaction based on trust, understanding and acceptance will provide a firm basis for positive response” (Shaw, 1991). For a user to stand any chance of making the most of a new technology either at home or at the workplace there must be a mutual understanding between all parties involved. Users must be willing to put aside any prejudices, employers must be attempt to make the deployment and integration as seamless and straightforward as possible, and where possible developers must attempt to make their system as user-friendly as possible. Simply changing existing policies and procedures with little consideration for the people using them will invariably lead to some resistance, and this resistance will reduce the effectiveness of the new systems. In order to effectively put into place a new system the existing skill set of the staff must be taken into consideration, and where applicable effective training must be given to alleviate any anxiety that the less tech-savvy staff may have. While each member of staff will have their own concerns and while it may not be possible to address every concern, offering an incentive and management approach to the introduction of a new system combined with effective training and a sufficiently well designed application, the key concerns that may be held by the less tech-savvy members of staff should be addressed to some degree. In order to lessen the impact on users M-Learning must fit as seamlessly into an existing pedagogy as possible, with great care being made to ensure that there are as a little changes to both staff and students methods of teaching and learning as possible and any changes that are required must be offered up in an appealing manner to lessen the impact.

3.3 Financial Barriers to E-Learning and M-Learning
The cost based analysis and further research on the financial impact the cost of investing in mobile devices can be found Appendix A Section 3.2. As briefly discussed in this chapter a problem facing this project is the concept of 16 | P a g e

fairness and ensuring that this project as able to affect all students regardless of financial barriers. From the outset of this project it has been identified that this project would neither be appealing or feasible for all schools to take on board, however it would be hugely beneficial to ensure that the project is accessible to as many schools as possible. The cost based analysis which can be found in Appendix A Section 3.2 provided scope for the assessment of financial feasibility of this project and while this analysis will vary depending on the individual needs and means of each school, it should give reasonable insight into the level of financial investment required to ensure that there are sufficient resources available to successfully take on board the concept behind this project. While this project is aimed at getting schools to make the most of a currently untapped resource – students mobile devices – as discussed in this chapter it would be unreasonable and short-sighted to expect all students to own a smartphone or similar device and to them bring it with them to school. To ensure that all students have access to the same resources the school will be required to have at their disposal a certain number of devices, through the initial research it is possible to come to the conclusion that the two main methods of procuring mobile devices are either purchasing or leasing the devices. UCISA (2012) have identified the recent economic situation as an issue facing institutions wanted to invest in E-Learning. It is important that the limited resources available to a school are invested wisely to ensure the highest quality of services are available to students and to this end it the question must be asked, do mobile devices offer good value for money? The importance of this question is enhanced by the relatively low cost of purchasing refurbished desktop computers and the ease of integration and maintenance into an existing computer network, and all factors must be taken into consideration including, cost, warranties, support, maintenance, and usability. To help illustrate this point a realistic budget of £2500 will be set and the devices that could be realistically bought for with that budget will be compared to see which type of devices and methods of procurement gives the best value for money. There is no one-size-fits-all solution when it comes to computer equipment and there are many factors that will need to be taken into consideration when making the decision to go mobile, simply investing in mobile devices without carefully considering the needs of the school and the resources currently available could 17 | P a g e

lead to investing in devices that either cannot or will not be used effectively. As previously discussed in this chapter and in Appendix A Section 3.2 this project may not be suitable for all schools, especially those with limited money to invest, as to properly invest in mobile technologies requires a large sum of money to gain sufficient devices to get the program started and continual investment either in the form of bulk purchases or new leases to ensure that older and broken devices are able to be replaced. From this initial cost-based analysis it is possible to draw up a list of questions that must be answered before considering investing in mobile devices:  Do we need them?

This is the most important question and should be asked before any action is taken, identifying valid reasons for needing mobile devices over desktop devices must be done will ensure that costly investments are not made on a whim, potentially wasting resources that could be better invested elsewhere. Mobile devices will not suit all schools and a school should seek to ensure that there are enough desktop devices to service their needs beforehand, as previously discussed desktop devices generally offer better value for money and have a wider range of educational applications and software available.  Are we able to provide enough to properly invest?

After identifying the reasons why investing in mobile devices is necessary, it must then be determined how many devices are required to ensure that enough students can be effectively serviced. While many students may own their own mobile device, it is important in the issue of fairness to ensure that the school is capable of providing to students who might not. The issues of fairness will discussed in more detail in Appendix A Section 3.2. Another consideration when calculating the amount of investment required is the management and integration of the devices onto any school networks, mobile devices in order to be properly utilised will require at least a basic Wi-Fi signal to allow internet access, or may require integration into an active directory network to allow students to access files and local resources.  What sort devices do we need?

As an extension of the previous two questions, identifying what sort of devices are 18 | P a g e

required and how they are going to be used will shape the amount of investment required. As discussed previously in this chapter there are different types of mobile devices such as smartphones and tablet computers, and there are many different brands and specifications of each. If it has been agreed upon that new Apple tablets are absolutely necessary, this will invariably increase the unit cost over an older Apple or other branded tablet.  Buy or Lease?

The decision to buy or lease the devices will depend heavily on the amount of money that can be invested, how long the investment is likely to continue and the quantity of devices required, a small number of devices would not warrant a potentially costly and lengthy lease and vice versa.  Can we afford to maintain this level of investment?

With the limited lifespan and relative difficulty that can be faced when maintaining mobile devices, investing in mobile devices is an on-going process that should not stop with the first batch of devices. Any investment cycles must be planned and budgeted for in order to ensure that there are always enough mobile devices to service the number of students and that these devices are in working condition. From the cost-based analysis and by carefully asking the questions posed in this chapter it is possible to come to the conclusion that going mobile would require a specific set of criteria to be met, firstly there must be the need for mobile devices to help overcome a deficit in desktop devices, secondly there must be the monetary resources to start and continue the investment process, and thirdly there must be the means with which to effectively support and deliver learning through mobile devices. While this project has also proposed that schools may allow students to use their existing mobile devices in the classroom, in the interest of fairness the school must also be able to provide devices to those who are unable to supply their own. This chapter should provide schools with the framework required to assess their current situation and whether or not investing in mobile devices would be advisable.

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3.4 Conclusions
One of the questions posed at the beginning of this project was “What objections could a school have to the introduction of mobile devices into the classroom”, the aim of this chapter was to identify any obstacles and where possible offer a solution, and while not exhaustive this chapter has identified a number of obstacles that must be overcome in order to make mobile devices as appealing and accessible as possible. The two main obstacles identified and discussed in this chapter are the cost and availability of mobile devices, and the attitudes of staff towards the management of devices and the students using them. The issue of acquiring the required amount of mobile devices to adequately service the required number of students is certainly a major issue facing the introduction of mobile devices, and while this chapter has attempted to offer solutions through a cost based analysis and taking potentially attractive ideas for funding from existing mobile initiatives, the final application will not be able to test this issue and any conclusions will remain purely hypothetical for the time being in this regard. While any solutions to this barrier may remain hypothetical this does not to invalidate them in any way, owing to the situational nature of this barrier it would be difficult to prove its validity one way or the other even with extensive real world testing. Altering the attitudes of staff is a process that may need to occur over a prolonged period of time and may require cultural changes within certain institutions which can only be hypothesised in this project. A person’s attitude towards a technology or approach to learning could be the result of many experiences and interactions over the course of a person’s life, and expecting these beliefs and attitudes to change over a relatively short period of time may be beyond this project. While acknowledging the limitations of this project in terms of changing attitudes, this project will develop the application with these attitudes and barriers in mind with the aim of making the application as accessible and easy to use as possible to make mobile devices as presentable and appealing as possible. This chapter has offered solutions wherever possible to these questions and while recognising that there is no magical solution to instantly overcome these problems, this project will attempt to incorporate the solutions discussed in this chapter into the application and final conclusions of this project. 20 | P a g e

Chapter 4: The Benefits of E-Learning
Having discussed the potential barriers to E-Learning and M-Learning the next step is to identify why they are topics worthy of discussion and then briefly outline the benefits so they can be discussed and analysed later on in this project. JISC (2004) discussed a number of benefits when introducing E-Learning, these include:       Connectivity Flexibility Interactivity Collaboration Extended Learning Opportunities Motivation

These general benefits can apply to all forms of E-Learning in varying degrees depending on its application and execution, this chapter will seek to explore the benefits that could apply to this project.

4.1 Distance and Collaborative Learning
The internet and online social networks have radically changed the way people communicate and interact with each other and how we share ideas and information, and these networks have the possibility of adding a whole new dimension to distance and collaborative learning. Universities are already offering distance learning courses as learning no longer needs to be confined to a certain time or place, and as the downfalls of traditional methods of transportation and communication over a large distance are negated, the popularity of distance learning may be justified. While the possibility of replacing traditional High Schools with online institutions may be some way off, Preece (2000) has highlighted some areas in which online collaboration may benefit students work:    Working Together Exchange Information Critique Work 21 | P a g e



Share Resources

If implemented properly an online environment tailored to and effectively run by a school could greatly enhance not only the quality of a student’s work but also their social and team working skills, skills which are always in demand in the modern workplace but not easily developed when emphasis is put on working individually. A discussion on the accessibility benefits of E-Learning and M-Learning can be found in Appendix A Section 4.

4.2 Personalised Learning
Personal computers and mobile devices open up opportunities for personalised learning, as briefly discussed in Chapter 5 and Appendix A Section 5 there is no one-size-fits-all solution to teaching a classroom of thirty children as each child learns in different ways and at different rates. In order to create an effective learning environment in which students are able to learn in their own way and at their own pace, a significant culture change may need to occur within educational institutions and this change in culture must be focused on recognising each student’s individual needs. Middlewood (2005) proposed the idea of a 'Learning School' which would focus on instilling in children the desire to learn as well as teaching them facts. Middlewood outlined the experience that students could expect to receive from a learning school:   Being recognised as an individual Discovering their own preferred method of learning and to assess their own development  The opportunity to learn with their peers and other students

These experiences may require too some degree a shift in teaching priorities which may require retraining of teachers and restructuring of the curriculum, but all of which will depend heavily on the strategic implementation of e-learning and m-learning technologies and teaching practice. This topic will be discussed in more detail Chapter 5 and Appendix A Section 5.

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4.3 Increased Interactivity
Where traditionally less exhilarating subjects such as algebra and physics may require the students to copy notes from a textbook or blackboard, interacting not only with other students and their teachers but also interacting with electronic devices and other classroom resources can make the classroom a much more stimulating environment. The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) launched its National Literacy Strategy (NLS) aimed at “[bringing] about a dramatic improvement in literacy standards” within primary education. The NLS sought to identify successful strategies and to then create “Points of Action” to be implemented at a national level to help raise literacy. The NLS identified interactive activities as being particularly successful at getting pupils to engage and become active participants within the classroom stating, “Where there was a good variety of relevant activities and the teaching was lively and interactive, even the youngest pupils took a good part in the work; they sustained their concentration and enthusiasm well.” (Ofsted, 2002) Making particular note of the use of technologies such as smartboards, “interactive whiteboards were used effectively in the literacy hour for shared writing, enabling all the pupils to see and contribute to the composition of texts.” (Ofsted, 2002) The findings of Ofsted show clearly that interactive teaching methods when used in conjunction with e-learning and its technologies can have a significant impact on the enjoy ability of a lesson which in turn can have a positive effect on the students learning.

4.4 Additional Resources
This project is aimed at amalgamating a number of different topics and disciplines into an application that will make the adoption of mobile devices into the classroom more appealing. As discussed in this chapter there a number of broader benefits offered by e-learning as a whole and these benefits can also be applied to this projects application, it is important however to discuss the softer nontechnical benefits offered by a system like the one proposed within this project. It is unfair to expect a schools to be able to provide a computer to student ratio of 1:1 as both the financial burden of purchasing and maintaining the increased 23 | P a g e

volume of equipment, and the logistical practicalities of housing many hundreds of computers is highly unrealistic. This project will attempt to utilise an existing and so far untapped resource, the mobile devices currently owned and operated by students by providing a system that allows students to conduct e-learning when otherwise it would not be possible. Whereas access to computers and e-learning resources may be limited by access to resources, this project will attempt to liberate the learning process and bridge the gap between the resources provided by the school and the resources owned by the students by providing a secure and engaging platform through which students can use their mobile devices. An example would be a class of this resource shortfall would be a class of thirty-five students enters a computer lab with thirty available computers, whereas the remaining five students would either be required to share a computer or move to another classroom, the ability to allow five students to use a mobile device either owned by themselves or the school would ensure that all students are given to opportunity to learn independently. While ownership of smartphones within the 18-29 age bracket is at 80% (Brenner, 2013) the assumption that all students will have access to a mobile device of their own will invariably leave a number of students at a disadvantage, the concept of fairness will be discussed in Chapter 3.3 and Appendix A Section 3.2

4.5 Conclusions
Although only a brief summary of a small number of reported benefits of elearning it is clear to see that technology when used effectively can enhance the learning experience for students and increase the effectiveness of classroom learning, and although not an exhaustive list, all of the benefits discussed in this chapter can also be applied directly to e-learning and m-learning. There are numerous advantages to learning through modern technologies that would not be possible otherwise, and these combined with the mobility of mobile devices make m-learning an exciting prospect. The key technological advantages offered by elearning and m-learning are:    Interactivity Accessibility Online/Collaborative Learning 24 | P a g e



Increased Engagement and Motivation

Besides the technological benefits, the particular application of the technologies proposed by this project take further advantage of the relative abundance of mobile devices within the classroom adds another dimension to this project. JISC (2004) states that a lack of a clear strategy for the development of ELearning can prove to be a barrier to E-Learning and aimlessly investing in elearning without careful consideration to its application within an effective pedagogy may lead to at best a waste of money and at worst a detrimental effect on the learning experience for both staff and students. While E-Learning offers many benefits too many different aspects of the learning experience, from the research above and other existing research it can be established that E-Learning and M-Learning is best used to enhance an already existing and effective pedagogy. Simply investing in E-Learning and M-Learning without careful consideration to the existing pedagogical approach and how E-Learning and MLearning will merge with and enhance it will yield little in the way of positive results.

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Chapter 5: Educational Theory
Before even considering what technologies will be used or what features will be implemented into the application, it is important to understand the purpose that application is indented to serve. In order to create an effective application this chapter will research various student centred and teacher centred teaching methods and which methods are best suited to this project. In order to ascertain the most appropriate method for this projects application the requirements of the application will be listed and both methods will be compared against one another.

5.1 Student Centred Learning (SCL)
Further research on student centred learning, problem learning and action learning can be found in Appendix A Section 5.1 This project seeks to embrace the core principles behind SCL in order to enhance the students learning experience by making it more engaging and giving them a sense of responsibility and ownership over their own education. The e-learning disciplines of m-learning and online-learning provide an ideal technological platform with which to do this, by not only providing students with the tools with which to take control of their learning but by also allowing them to conduct learning outside of schools hours and school grounds. Although the scope of educational theory is far larger than the topics discussed in this chapter, what has been discussed has attempted to highlight the various approaches to Student Centred Learning and how these could be delivered through the use of E-Learning and M-Learning. From the research conducted in this chapter it has become apparent that a core set of principles runs through a large number of approaches to SCL, so rather than attempting to implement support for a large number of different “Teaching Modes” within the application it may be more practical to identify and provide support for the common principles. The reasoning behind the limitation of features within the application is twofold, firstly it would be wildly impractical to attempt to support all known SCL approaches and principles and secondly one must also consider the usability of the application, this software is indented to be used by students ranging from 11-18 years old and staff with differing levels of ICT competency. E-Learning and M-Learning systems are the ideal medium through which to conduct SCL by offering a great deal of flexibility to students allowing them to 26 | P a g e

take a larger responsibility for their learning, and also to staff by given them the tools to more effectively monitor and moderate a student’s progress through a project or module. The theory behind SCL has been well established and put into practice by higher education and enterprise with well documented case studies detailing its implementation and impact, but for whatever reason have not been adopted into secondary education. This is likely to be a cause of myriad factors with no single one-size-fits-all solution over the horizon, this project will attempt to find on possible solution through the construction of an application focusing around supporting an SCL approach to learning. It is important to acknowledge the need for evolution in order to ease the transition between TCL and SCL, to this end the application will also offer tools and support for more traditional methods of learning found in more common Virtual Learning Environments and educational software. This will hopefully ease the transition for certain members of staff from a more traditional paper based curriculum to an electronic curriculum by providing an experience similar to the one they are accustomed to, this may also have the additional benefit of providing an alternative to SCL for subjects or projects that are not suited to a SCL approach. From this chapter a few basic features which may aid the desired approach to learning can be put together for this projects application. The focus on SCL and the delegation of responsibilities from Teacher to Student, group interaction and collaboration could be reflected by the design of the application:  Interaction. ◦ Instant Messaging ◦ Group interaction between Students ◦ Group interaction between Students and Teachers ◦ Collaborative work on a single item of work ◦ One-to-one interaction between Students ◦ One-to-one interaction between Students and Teachers ◦ Peer Assessment  Administration 27 | P a g e

◦ Administration of groups by Teachers and elected 'Student Leaders', this will include setting of group rules, personal action points for each student and notification of completion of action points by the respective student. ◦ Teachers to enable certain students or groups of student limited administration privileges over their work. ◦ External Login and Web Access ◦ Activity Monitor (Mobile)  Features ◦ Social Media Integration ◦ E-Portfolio for students, categorised into subjects ◦ Interactive Canvas ◦ User Created Media Support

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Chapter 6: Application Development
6.1 Initial Web, Database and Application Design
Discussion and reasoning behind the technologies used as part of this project can be found in Appendix A Section 6.1. In order to achieve the aims set at the beginning of this project an application will be developed to test the theories discussed and conclusions come to during phase of this project. Throughout course of conducting the research this project each chapter has identified a number of requirements in order to achieve the aims of this project, here these requirements will be gathered and translated into a list of functional requirements which the application must perform, which in turn will used to create a series of models and diagrams to form the logical basis for the application. This application will be built using the Model-View-Controller (MVC) design pattern thus breaking down the development of this application into three clearly separate, but related parts. Reading related to MVC architecture can be found at the end of this chapter. The part of the MVC to be designed for this application will be the Model, within the scope of this project the Model will be the database supporting the websites functionality, the Model will be the part most heavily influenced by the requirements of this project and will in turn heavily influence the design of the View and Controller. The Model will be designed through the various Unified Modelling Language (UML) stages in order to come to a design for the Model that fits the requirements set throughout the research and also functions in real world scenarios. The stages this project will progress through are the Use case, Class, and Entity Relationship Diagram (ERD) phases. The View and Controller stages represent the Front End and Back End design of the application and as a result will be developed after the Model in order to allow these two stages to assimilate the Model design. The View will need to work on both mobile and desktop devices in order fulfil the requirements of this project, to achieve this the View will be built using a responsive web design. 6.1.1 Requirements List The completed requirements list for this chapter can be found in Appendix A Section 6.2. 29 | P a g e

The Use case diagram provides a visual representation of the intended interactions of the various users, these users can be translated directly into classes for use in the further steps of UML Modelling. From these interactions it is possible to create a list of requirements needed to fulfil the various needs and requirements of this application, this will serve as the basis of the logical modelling of the application. This list outlines in details the level of functionality the application will aim to deliver, identifies a number of objects that will need to be created, and when used in conjunction with the UML Use case diagram will allow for the creation of a Class Diagram in which interactions and classes will be mapped out giving a visual representation of the interactions within the application. 6.1.2 UML Use Case Diagram and UML Class Diagram Taking the requirements above it is possible to create a Use Case Diagram (UCD) that will visually illustrate the interactions between various types of users and the system. Fig 1.1 illustrates that this system will have three different types of users, admin, teacher and staff. These users will have different levels of permissions within the system which in turn will allow them to access certain information and perform various tasks. As can be seen in the UCD there will be three distinct sets of users each with their own set of permissions allowing them to perform the required tasks for their user level.

Use case Diagram Fig 1.1 30 | P a g e

A full size version of F 1.1 can be found in Appendix B Section 1.2 Building on the Use Case Diagram it is possible to identify differing classes and their attributes and functions that will make up the system. This class diagram will serve as the bases for the Database Entity Relationship Diagram which will map out the objects within the database and how data and processes defined here will be implemented. Fig 1.2 demonstrates the need for a number of different user classes to allow different users to access different parts of the site and its data, this will be practically illustrated in the Database Entity Relationship Diagram (ERD).

Class Diagram Fig 1.2 A full size version of F 1.2 can be found in Appendix B Section 1.1 The classes identified in the ERD identify major areas of data objects within the system that will need to be addressed and their relationship with other classes, the interfaces that users will interact with and the functions each class will be required to perform. A preliminary list of database objects derived from this Class Diagram are:  User ◦ Student ◦ Teacher ▪ Head of Department ◦ Administrator 31 | P a g e

◦ User Logs  Subject ◦ Class ◦ Lesson ◦ Events ◦ Announcements / Alerts ◦ Homework ◦ Resources ◦ Tutor Groups   News Items Portfolio ◦ Work Item  Message Board ◦ Messages  Library ◦ Book 6.1.3 ERD The database will be a key component of this application so before designing the ERD a set of requirements must be drawn up using the previous Class Diagram and other requirements of the application. Firstly the ERD designed for this site will need to be extensible as possible to allow for the easy addition and integration of tables, objects and attributes to the database before, during and after completion to allow for any last minute alterations. Where possible all potentially repeating sets of data will be stored in a separate table and joined to their parent table with an intersection entity using a composite primary key comprised of the relevant primary keys from each table. This will allow relational data to be called using primary keys from both sets of tables. Furthermore this design will also allow for larger sets of relational data to be called from a web page with a single SQL query. 32 | P a g e

Where possible data will be generated and calculated at the client end rather than storing easily calculable data in the database, this will reduce call times, strain on the database, and overall complexity of the database design. In a further attempt to increase the responsiveness of the site, reduce the complexity of the MVC controller, and to reduce load times at the user end, views or virtual tables will be used to store commonly used and sufficiently complex table joins, this method of querying the database will prove especially useful in certain circumstances as this database contains a large number of tables and intersection entities. The ERD shown in Fig 1.3 shows tables, their attributes and relationships to other tables.

Entity Relationship Diagram Fig 1.3 A full size version of F 1.3 can be found in Appendix B Section 1.3 This database will attempt conform to the third normal form (3NF) removing all instances of repeating data where is it beneficial to do so, and placing them into tables which will be joined via intersection entities to all relevant tables. This will provide extensibility to the database allowing data from tables to be easily shared amongst other tables and will allow for the easy addition of other tables into the database. 6.1.4 Sitemap and Wireframes The requirements are closely linked the requirements outlined in the Model stage of design as the controller performs the tasks required with the Model simply being a method of storage and the View being a method of presentation. The site map in Fig 1.4 shows the logical layout of the pages of the website and the paths of user navigation. 33 | P a g e

Sitemap Fig 1.4 A full size version of F 1.4 can be found in Appendix B Section 1.5 The View is the Front End design of the website, the interface that the users will interact with. As this is the part of the application the user sees it will need to both visually appealing and simple to use as well as support the functionality of the Model and Controller. The bulk of the project requirements have been fulfilled in the Model and Controller design stages, however the View will still perform a key task and as such will need to meet a set of requirements.     User Friendly Simple Navigation Responsive Design Logical Layout of Data

As can be seen in the sitemap chart in Fig 1.4 this application will be split into three distinct areas, two of which will cater specifically to the two different types of users this application is intended for. The student section will provide ready access to all of the key information resources required by students which will be 34 | P a g e

personalised for each students needs such as timetabling information and any pending deadlines. The staff section will only be visible to authenticated staff users and will provide them access to staff tools and resources such as creating lessons for their classes and uploading resources for each lesson. The subject’s page will provide ready access to information on all subjects for nonauthenticated users and will provide personalised information on subjects for authenticated users. This layout is designed to be as simple as possible from the outset for a number of reason, first of all being certain users will only require a certain amount of information so users will be guided to information relevant to them by removing any choices which are not relevant to their user type (also increasing security for certain areas). Secondly Mehta (2008) advises keeping a minimalistic approach to mobile navigation, and as this application is designed to work on mobile devices with the same level of functionality as desktop devices, the limitation of mobile devices such as processing power and the possible limitations of a Wi-Fi connection will require each page to contain as much relevant detail as possible and the navigation must aid the user to find this information with as little frustration as possible. To further aid the intuitive navigation of this site and the presentation of as much relevant detail on each page as possible the layout of each page must provide a logical extension of the navigation of the site. As can be seen Fig 1.5 and 1.6 the each page of the site has been designed to fit desktop, tablet and mobile devices. This responsive design will allow the movement and insertion / deletion of elements depending on the device, aiding the overall usability of the site and providing a minimalistic set of data to users composing of only the most essential information. Further wireframe diagrams can be found in Appendix B Section 1.6.

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Desktop Wireframe Fig 1.5 A full size version of F 1.6 along with other wireframe diagrams can be found in Appendix B Section 1.6

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Fig 1.6 Mobile Wireframe A full size version of F 1.6 along with other wireframe diagrams can be found in Appendix B Section 1.6 The sitemap and wireframes illustrate the dynamic nature of the application and what it aims to achieve in catering to as many devices and device sizes as possible. As one of the key objectives of this application is to make mobile devices as appealing as possible to educational institutes ensuring any and all objections that may arise from the design of the application is of paramount importance. Providing a fluid and seamless experience for all users will greatly aid the aims of this project.

6.2 Further Reading
Kumar (2012) Sencha MVC Architecture Galloway, Haack, Wilson (2012) Professional ASP.NET MVC 4

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Siemer, Kimber (2011) ASP.NET MVC 2 Cookbook FRAIN B. (2012) Responsive Web Design with HTML5 and CSS3. Birmingham: Packt Publishing Ltd. CHAUN, S. (2012) HTML 5 Mobile Development Cookbook. Birmingham: Packt Publishing Ltd. PATHAK, N. (2008) Database Management Systems. Mumbai: Global Media

6.3 Final Design of the Finished Application
The design and function of an application can often change throughout the course of development, this can be the result of a number of factors ranging from time and resource constraints to technological limitations. This application is no different in that throughout the course of development certain requirements have been modified, added or removed resulting in an application that is both more well-rounded and usable yet meets a specification different to the one outlined previously in this chapter. This chapter will compare the specification of the finished application to the original and then offer a rational for the changes. The overall performance of the application will be discussed and any issues, improvements or potential for future work will be discussed. A list of the features removed from the initial design and the reasoning behind this, along with a description of third party applications used can be found in Appendix A Section 6.3. 6.3.1 Database Design and ERD In the initial design for this application an ERD was created to visualise the design of the database which the application will be built upon. This ERD was the result of various UML design processes including Use Case Diagrams and Class Diagrams was designed to translate the classes and objects into a structure which could effectively store and calculate the data that was intended to be stored in the application, the original design for the application is illustrated in Fig 1.3 earlier in this chapter. Throughout the development of the application and as the requirements of the application have been revised and updated and this has required the design for the underlying database to be modified, the revised design for the database is illustrated in Fig 2.1. 38 | P a g e

Final ERD Fig 2.1 A full size version of F 2.1 can be found in Appendix B Section 1.4 As can be seen when comparing Fig 1.6 and Fig 2.1 that the final ERD has removed a number of extraneous tables and intersection entities. The tables associated with the Library and Group work functionality have been removed as well as a number of tables containing user data. The User log table has been removed as logs are now stored in text files and a table has been added to store the details of users currently online. The main change to the ERD is the addition of the Date, Period and Timetable tables, these tables will store various chunks of information regarding a specific details regarding the timetable structure which are then combined in a View to create a completed picture of the timetabling information of all classes and rooms. The Timetable table ensure that all specific variations of data are unique which ensure that no room can be double booked on any given time of day. Within the remaining tables certain attribute have been added, modified or deleted to accommodate the changes to the other tables by either retaining additional data or by removing relational data. These changes are rather minor in the overall context of the ERD but have allowed for the creation of Views using simpler SQL joins with fewer tables while still having the same level of extensibility as originally designed. The required alterations would have been very difficult to spot on the ERD alone and only became apparent after constructing and testing all parts of MVC structure. 6.3.2 Web Design / Navigation Another aspect of application which evolved during the development process was 39 | P a g e

the visual design of the website and the navigational structure of the website, these changes went hand-in-hand and a change in one often required a change in the other as the two aspects are working simultaneously to a single goal, a simple layout with data rich pages for both mobile and desktop devices. The difference not only in the structure and data content of each page but also the navigation structure can be demonstrated by simply comparing the original wire-frame design and the finished application. Fig 1.5 and Fig 2.2 shows the original design for the desktop site and the finished application and Fig 1.6 and Fig 2.3 show the original and finished mobile designs.

Desktop Application Fig 2.2

Mobile Design Fig 2.3 As the aim of the design and layout of the application was to have as few pages as possible displaying as much pertinent information as possible, throughout the development of the application as certain features were removed, changed or 40 | P a g e

added the data displayed on each page changed which in turn required modifications to the structure of each page and the navigation. The most obvious change would be the homepage, where initially it was intended to simply display announcements and global news items, the homepage has been changed to accommodate key data for each user, and this data changes not only a per user basis but also changes depending on the user type. For example students will see on the homepage their upcoming lessons for the day, any outstanding homework and any recent feedback they have received on their uploaded work, whereas teacher users will see a list of their classes and lessons as well as any recent messages that have been flagged as inappropriate by other users. These changes to the homepage are designed to decrease the potential number of page clicks for both mobile and desktop users and increase the speed at which certain users can access key data which they would require. The navigation originally consisted of three main navigation Fig 1.4 elements which contained a number of sub-categories, and while originally designed to be as simple as possible and reduce the number of clicks made by mobile users or the 'drill-down effect', the navigation proved to still be rather cumbersome and lacking in refinement. So over the course of the development pages and functionality were merged and extraneous data was omitted to create a page structure and navigational structure more suited to mobile devices. The new navigational structure simply contains links to the two main data hubs the homepage and the user account page, and a drop down list of all the subjects. Each subject page contains all of the relevant information for that part subject, such as the head of department, all announcements for that subject, a link to the subject group discussion and a link to all of the classes within that subject area. As discussed above all classes, lesson and homework pages associated to a particular user are displayed on a user’s account homepage so for a user to navigate to their particular classes of interest requires at most two clicks. The subject homepage serves as a hub for that particular subject allowing all users to find other nonrelevant classes and other information if they so wish. This 'hub' functionality is extended downwards to both classes within a subject and lessons within a class, allowing users to view limited information from outside their own area of interest. The account homepage for each user serves as another information hub providing in more detail data which is relevant to the user. These two main hubs will provide 41 | P a g e

the user with all the data or link to relevant data for the user. 6.3.3 Monitoring and Moderation In this chapter the needs and possible methods for the effective monitoring of the application were discussed and the conclusion that monitoring and moderating would need to be an essential consideration when designing the application. To this end the application has implemented a number of tools and functionality to ensure that the relevant users are kept abreast of all users activities where required. First of all pages and users have their own log files so each time a page is loaded the time, date, page details and user details are logged in a log file. This logging system was the result of an interview with Sue Lee who discussed the issue certain staff may face when attempting to identify if a student user has visited a page or downloaded a particular resource, or just how long a user had participated in a group discussion. In keeping with this all messages sent between users are logged so a permanent record of all messages are kept should any issues arise from an abuse of the messaging system. The messaging system itself has built in safeguards such as a profanity filter to minimise the chances of inappropriate messages being sent, and should such a message slip through the filtering system the message can be flagged which will remove the message from the log and alert staff and admin staff to the message and its sender. These flagged messages can be deleted and the offending user can have their account suspended. These monitoring and moderating tools provide staff and admin users with a certain level of control over the application which should provide some piece of mind and alleviate any apprehension. 6.3.4 Interview with Sue Lee Initial discussions with Sue Lee helped shape the final application, so in order to gain feedback on the finished application Sue Lee was given a brief demonstration of the application and asked to offer any comments and criticism. In this discussion a number of points were raised about the direction of the application. One of the key points regarding the final application was the need to clarify the purpose of the application and define where it falls between a learning tool and a support tool, this point was raised as the final application contains elements of both types of application. This was likely to be caused by the change in focus midway through the research and design stage of the project. Would the 42 | P a g e

application have been designed as support platform from the onset the research process and requirements gathering processes could have been geared fully towards creating a focused and clearly targeted application. With this in mind the almost hybrid nature of the application allows it to benefit from the advantages of both types. The final application provides a constantly evolving online ecosystem in which students and staff alike can access data relevant to their work, not only their timetables and messages, but also a potential wealth of data and resources on their classes and subjects that may not be otherwise accessible on a simple administrative application. Another key point raised was the potential shortcomings of the application should users fail to adopt the application as part of their daily teaching and learning routine. The application is only as good as the content it provides and this must be input and maintained by users, and should users fail or refuse to supply adequate content into the application this would have a detrimental impact on the applications effectiveness. This point was raised in this chapter as a potential issue and has been further highlighted by this discussion, however this problem is not one that can be simply solved by technical means, it is one that can only be changed by the attitudes of the users. To lessen the potential burden that may be perceived by users any application of this nature must be designed and sold as a support to existing pedagogical practice and as a tool that will aid the learning process, not something that will replace, be intrusive or otherwise distract users from existing teaching routines. 6.3.5 Conclusions The potential scope of this application and project could be almost limitless and could span many projects, because of this is was important to limit the functionality of the application to strike a balance between creating a sufficient proof of concept and creating an application that could be built within the time frame of the project. Overall the application has sufficient depth to visually illustrate the research undertaken in this project and provides a suitable proof of concept for a mobile VLE. The evolution of the application demonstrates the difficult nature of designing such an ambitious application and the potential scope of this project. The deviations from the original design have taken the application in slightly a different direction, however these changes have made the application more user43 | P a g e

friendly and accessible which is always a consideration for mobile applications, but also makes the appeal of the application broader and more fitting with what students and schools are demanding as shown by JISC (2012, 1). A summary of further work that would enhance this project can be found in Appendix A Section 6.3.4.

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Chapter 7: Testing
The testing of the application will take part in two phases. Phase one will attempt to ensure that all functions, inputs and interface elements are working as indented by testing all possible combinations of input to ensure that all errors are captured, and when expected input is input that the expected actions happen. The second phase will attempt to force errors from the application by putting either erroneous or malicious input and ensuring the application handles the errors correctly. As certain interface elements such as input functions and select function use the same code, so in lieu of testing the same functions with the same data multiple times interface elements that share common code will be tested once. Unit Testing will only take place at various select points during this project as the code will be deemed robust enough should it withstand interface testing, this will help speed up the development process and with exhaustive enough interface testing a large portion of potential bugs and inefficiencies should be identified. The results table for the testing can be found in Appendix A Section 7.1.

7.1 Testing Evaluation
The testing process occurred over the entire development process, and where possible bugs were tackled as soon as they occurred rather than dedicating a set period of time to the debugging process. This prevented the ‘stockpiling’ of bugs and prevented the risk of bugs spreading and affecting otherwise unaffected areas of the application. During the early stages of development white-box testing took place to ensure the foundations of the application were sound and robust, particularly when developing the functions that handled SQL queries and retrieving data from or inputting data into the database. When the application was in a semi-completed state black-box testing was predominantly used as the majority of the core functions of the program had been tested. The testing process was largely painless and didn’t offer many issues, should further work take place on this application, larger scale unit testing would be required to ensure the code is robust enough to withstand heavy use.

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Chapter 8: Survey Questionnaires
A copy of the blank questionnaire, completed questionnaires, information sheet and consent form can be found in Appendix B Section 2 and Section 3. The compiled results of the questionnaires can be found in Appendix A Section 8.1. It was always intended as part of this project that the opinions of members of staff currently employed in secondary education on the project and mobile devices in education as a whole. This was to be done by initially getting consenting participants to fill in a questionnaire at the outset of the project and then perform a demonstration at the conclusion. However due to various constraints and scheduling difficulties this was unable to occur as originally planned, so the questionnaires were handed out at the conclusion of the project and the final demonstration was unfortunately unable to take place. This resulted in a lack of feedback on the final application and questionnaires which were to figure in the initial research have been collected at the end. There were thirteen consenting participants in the survey and each were given an anonymous Participant Number ranging one to thirteen and after a brief presentation questionnaires were handed out and filled in. Due to unforeseen circumstances participant eight was unable to complete the questionnaire leaving only twelve completed. All of the participants were all former co-workers, however due to the neutral and unbiased nature of the questionnaire this is unlikely to have any influence over their answering. The questionnaire was aimed at gathering data regarding participant’s opinions on mobile devices within the classroom, this was done through asking open ended questions on a number of topics discussed in this project as well as information on the participant such as age and devices owned in order to ascertain whether age or technical literacy had any bearing on their answers.

8.1 Conclusions
Although the questionnaires were initially going to form the basis of the research for this project, having gathered the opinions it is possible to see that the majority of the points raised by the questionnaire have already been discussed or identified in the research. With the exception of a few points mentioned above no new topics of discussion have raised showing the thorough research conducted in this project. 46 | P a g e

Although no new major topics for discussion have been found the questionnaire has shone a light on the feelings and opinions on mobile technology held by a sample set of people employed in secondary education. One of the key points raised by this questionnaire can be illustrated by the answers to the first two questions. While none of the participants would allow students to use their mobile devices in a classroom, half of them would allow it if the proper systems could be put into place. All of those who answered No to question 2 either said attitudes towards new technologies do not need to change, will change naturally over time or would require extensive training to feel confident using them, and generally have mixed feelings when it comes to the impact of technology in general when it comes to education. This is not to say they have a negative view, but from the questionnaires it is possible to see that they are very aware of the often doubleedged nature of technology. In Chapter 3.2 and Appendix A Section 3.1 negative attitudes were mentioned as a possible barrier to the adoption of M-Learning within the classroom, and although the participants in this project represent a small sample set, it is possible to see that those who are wary of the downsides of technology as well as being ready to embrace the positives. Of this group 4 out of 5 also own either a tablet computer or smartphone, this shows that even those who are relatively tech-savvy would be cautious when it comes to introducing them into the classroom. When looking at the age groups and the answers given the distribution is as follows: Green = 18-24 Blue = 25-40 Orange = 40+

Question 1 No No No 2 Mixed Yes Yes 5 Yes Yes Mixed 6 Mixed Yes Yes 7 Mixed Good Good 8 Yes Yes Mixed 9 Yes Yes Yes User 1 2 3

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No No N/A N/A No No No No No

No Yes N/A Yes Yes No Yes No No

Mixed Yes Yes Yes Yes Mixed Yes Yes Yes

Mixed Yes Mixed Yes Yes Yes Mixed Mixed Yes

Mixed Good Mixed Mixed N/A Mixed Good Good Good Fig 3.1

Mixed Mixed Mixed Yes Yes Mixed Mixed No Yes

No Yes Mixed Yes Yes Mixed Yes No Yes

4 5 6 7 9 10 11 12 13

As demonstrated above there seems to be no real correlation between age and attitude, as discussed in Chapter 3.2 and Appendix A Section 3.1 this was discussed as a possible barrier and to M-Learning, however this sample set does not seem to support this line of thinking. Overall the participants either actively wanted to see mobile devices safely and easily introduced into the classroom, and those that didn’t were at least able to see the potential benefits. For the time being however there is a consensus amongst the participants that mobile devices to not currently belong in the classroom with the inability to effectively monitor student’s activities being pinpointed as the key hurdle yet to overcome. While it is important to remember that this survey contained only a miniscule sample size and a survey conducted on a larger scale may yield different results, however all of the participants are currently employed in secondary education and reflect the thoughts of those this project is aimed towards.

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Chapter 9: Critical Analysis
At the outset of this project a number of aims and objectives were set with an intended course of action set to achieve these. However the project has evolved over time and certain topics that were initially intended to be research have been dropped as newer, more pertinent topics have come to light. This process of evolution has affected and changed every aspect of the project including the research topics and the purpose of the application. This process of evolution is only natural in a project of this nature and must be taken into account at the onset, a process which Jones (2007) identifies as a key part of project management stating that “[A] project plan should be updated weekly”. The ability to adapt a project to new data and take it in a new direction ensures that the project and any conclusions within have academic credibility and ensures the project does not lead itself into dead end.

9.1 Evolution of the project
This project is no different in terms of change, as will be discussed later on in this chapter the application underwent major changes to the one envisaged at the onset of this project. There were certain issues in accommodating change in to both the topics of research and the application in this project and may have been dealt with better. 9.1.1 The Research The topics of research at the onset of this project went through rapid change as discussions with various supervisors highlighted areas that were essential for a topic such as this one, and certain areas were deemed extraneous or not entirely relevant. This can be demonstrated by viewing the first and final Gantt charts in Fig 4.1 and Fig 4.2. At the onset of the project the aims and objectives were set and research topics were set around them, however as the topics changed for various reasons the aims and objectives became unclear and unfocused, with some areas of research that were already complete becoming no longer relevant to the project. This became clear some months into the research and required a rethink of the goals of the project, a review of the research already conducted and all future research to ensure that not only was the existing research relevant but all future research. As a result of this at the conclusion of the project certain parts of the research were removed from the literature review and placed into the 49 | P a g e

appendix. This evolution has benefited the project a great deal by allowing for the research of topics which enrich the project and provide greater depth than originally planned, as well as allowing for a greater understanding of similar types of applications to the one intended for this project. Part of this evolutionary process was through natural research, by simply researching one topic this would lead to another which offered far greater insight and depth to the project. This process could have easily gotten out of control if not sufficiently checked, however by allowing the addition of new topics to the research has given a greater understanding of key areas of the project. Another part of this evolutionary process was talking to experts, with Sue Lee providing invaluable insight into educational applications and how these are best utilised with mobile devices. The final part was the influence of supervisors in offering guidance and feedback with every step of the project, this was possibly the most influential force guiding the project and one that aided it most. Without this guidance it would have been all too easy to develop tunnel vision and work blindly down the wrong track, this process of feedback prevented that by posing questions about the project and its direction that otherwise would not have been asked. 9.1.2 The Application As discussed in Chapter 6 the application for this project was intended to be a learning aid aimed towards allowing students to create work and perform a number of group and collaborative tasks, but for various reasons as discussed in Chapter 6.3 the focus of the application shifted from one of a learning tool to one of a supporting tool. This shift of focus from a learning tool to a supportive tool was in large part aided by the discussions with Sue Lee and studies conducted by various organisations such as JISC (2012) and USCISA (2012) which highlighted the demand of both pupils and staff for such an application. The original aim of this application that was formulated at the onset of this project was to allow students to create work and work collaboratively on mobile devices, however as research progressed not only the lack feasibility of this became clear but also the understanding of the intended market seemed to suggest that this was not what academic institutions wanted. In light of this new information the goals and intended purpose of the application changed, so when the original 50 | P a g e

specification and requirements were drawn up they reflected the transitional period between an application geared towards learning and an application geared towards administrative support. As the development of the application progressed further changes were made to the design of all aspects of the application, further drawing the application away from the one envisaged at the onset of this project. As a result of this constant evolution of the application throughout the project, the application contains some elements of both types of application, a point highlighted in the discussions with Sue Lee in Chapter 6.4.6 and which has both positive and negative influences on the application. On the one hand these changes could be perceived as having distorted the application creating something that is neither one thing nor the other. There is some truth to this as pointed out by Sue Lee where she stated that the application has features that could be attributed to either and that there was a need to clarify and justify the position the application has taken. On the other hand it could be seen that the application attempts to include as many features and tools as possible to cater to as many needs a user may have as possible. Both of these observations hold some truth when it comes to the application, firstly when looking at the application from a neutral standpoint it may be difficult to see the intended purpose of the application without any prior knowledge of the application as a number different areas of research have attempted to be included in as much detail as possible. 9.1.3 Overall The finished project differs greatly from the project initially envisaged at the onset, with all aspects of the project evolving and incorporating new ideas in order to improve the project. This can be represented by viewing the Gantt charts in Fig 4.1 and Fig 4.2 and the specifications for the project in Chapter 6.

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Fig 4.1 The original Gantt Chart

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Fig 4.2 Final Gantt Chart On the whole the changes to the project have been for the better and improved the quality and depth of the research and allowed for a more usable application which 53 | P a g e

have improved the quality of the project as a whole by giving a deeper insight into the topic and offering a better practical representation of this in the project. While the changes have often been for the better the changes have also presented problems and in some places had a detrimental impact on the project. While new and more relevant topics of research have been identified and acted upon throughout the course of the project, this process has often been time consuming, requiring older research to either be modified or scrapped entirely and rewritten. This has required a pragmatic approach to research where a newly discovered topic worthy of discussion have either had to be omitted from the project or mentioned only in passing at the expense of keeping in other topics to ensure the project stayed on schedule. As a result of all of this the research at the end of the project required heavy editing with large parts or entire chapters of research being removed in order to conform the word limits set on the project and to keep the focus of the research on the core of project. If conducting this project again more time would be committed to planning the research as it has now become clear any time spent planning research will be well invested and repaid by not succumbing to scope creep. These processes were mirrored in the design and development of the application with scope creep always a real threat to the development process. Scope creep was not as big of a threat here due to a set of requirements and comprehensive design set beforehand, however as has been discussed certain unplanned changes were made. The effect of these changes in mid development have been both positive and negative, much like the research, with necessary changes being made in order to improve the quality of the application at the expense of time which may have been better spent elsewhere. As Jones (2007) has made clear, all projects will adapt overtime and this is something that must be planned for and incorporated into the project planning. This was something that was largely overlooked in this project and as a result, changes when they were made took time and sometimes had a negative impact on the schedule. If conducting further projects more time would be spent in planning to minimise the potential changes that would need to be made to the project, and time would be allocated to reviewing the progress of the project at regular intervals to help identify new topics of research that may other occur in the middle of research. 54 | P a g e

9.2 The Conclusions
The project set out with a number of aims and objectives outlined in Appendix Section 10 and to a large degree it was successful. Through research, interviews with experts and a survey conducted with high school staff this project was able to answer the questions set out at the start of the project. 9.2.1 What objections would a school have to mobile devices in the classroom? This objective was tackled through a combination of research and interviews. The research conducted in Chapter 3 and Appendix A Section 3 identified a number of key barriers that have historically prevented the adoption of mobile devices into the classroom, each of these was discussed in an attempt to find a solution which could be applied to the application. Along with secondary research, a survey was conducted with high school staff to get first-hand, opinions of the target audience on questions specific to this project, and also to see if particular demographic would be more likely to oppose mobile devices in the classroom. As detailed in Chapter 8 and Appendix A Section 8 the sample set offered little or no correlation between demographics and attitudes towards mobile devices, this was in stark contrast to the hypothesising made in Chapter 3 and Appendix A Section 3.1 that expected to see certain demographics offering more resistance than others. However Chapter 8 and Appendix A Section 8 details how the issues raised by staff were nearly all raised during the course of the research, this shows the research conducted as part of this research was thorough and all potential issues were taken into account when designing the application. 9.2.2 What can mobile devices add to the classroom and learning experience? This objective much like the first was tackled through a combination of first and second hand research. The initial research provided a solid foundation with a wide range of topics being discussed, with each benefit being analysed and either incorporated into the application or mentioned as a possibility for future projects. The validity of this research was highlighted by the survey conducted as part of the project, with all of the benefits discussed in the research being highlighted by the participants. Overall this aim of the project has been well realised with comprehensive secondary research, being validated by primary research all of which has 55 | P a g e

contributed to the development of the application and conclusions within the project. The further work that could have been done in order to better achieve this objective would have been to perform the survey to a larger sample set to gain greater depth and diversity to the results. 9.2.3 Is this application capable of making mobile devices more appealing? One of the goals of this project was create and design an application and to them demonstrate this application to a selection of high school staff and students, however for various ethical and logistical reasons discussed in the project this was unable to occur. As a result no feedback from the target audience could be gathered, so it remains to be seen for certain if the application would appeal to high school staff or students and no concrete conclusions can be drawn. However by looking at the research, the survey conducted with high school staff and the interviews with Sue Lee it is possible to theorise on the success of the application. The research and the survey highlighted the same issues and benefits with regards to M-Learning which were then incorporated into the design of the application, this would suggest that the application for a small part at least would address both the positive and negative issues raised by the survey. Furthermore the interviews with Sue Lee raised points about the design of the application and instances in which mobile devices have been successfully integrated into education, all of which were factored into the development of the application. Upon completion Sue Lee mentioned a number of potential issues discussed in Chapter 6.4.6 which may point to areas of future improvement should this project be taken any further. Without conducting the proper litmus test of a large scale demonstration with the target audience it is not possible to say with certainty whether or not this objective has been met, however it is possible to see through the course of the project that to a certain extent at least that having taken on the major issues surrounding MLearning that the application would have some success in fulfilling this objective. This of course the only to find out for sure would be to conduct further primary research and analyse the results. 9.3.3 Overall This project set out to achieve one key goal, to identify why mobile devices are not widely used in secondary education, and to then design an application which will make mobile devices more appealing and accessible within the classroom. 56 | P a g e

With regards to the first step this project has been largely successful in identifying the positive and negative points on mobile devices in the classroom, and through thorough research the following conclusions can be drawn. A number of potential barriers to the adoption of M-Learning have been mentioned in the research ranging from age of teachers to the culture within any given school, however some of these points were not mentioned by members of staff either through the survey or interviews, and because it this is not possible to cite them as definitive reasons against or barriers towards M-Learning. The most common issues raised through the primary and secondary research include:
  The inability to effectively monitor students activities The potential distraction it may cause

These issues were raised time and again during the research, the interviews and the survey, and because it this is it possible to say that these are the key barriers towards the adoption of M-Learning. When asked if tools and systems were put into place to negate these barriers the overwhelming opinion of participants in the survey is that they would at least consider the allowing mobile devices into the classroom. Another issue mentioned in the research and one raised during the survey was a schools ability to supply sufficient devices to students. While a cost base analysis has been conducted in Appendix A Section 3.2 and the possibility of using student’s personal devices has been discussed, this issue remains beyond the scope of this project and would require much more in depth discussion to formulate an educated conclusion. The application designed as part of this project was intended to provide a proof of concept for this project which would then be demonstrated to a number of high school students and staff to provide a litmus test for the premise behind the project. As mentioned in this chapter there were a number of issues which prevented this from occurring and as a result it cannot be definitively proved if the application would have been a success or failure. However throughout the research and interviews conducted as part of the project it is possible to say that the key issues have been tackled in the application, and even though it has been designed to incorporate the key features in demand for this type of application, it is not possible to say for certain without further research to say if this would prove to be successful. Overall the project has been more successful in certain areas than others and 57 | P a g e

further research could certainly be conducted to more accurately and definitively answer the key aims of the project.

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Guide for Educators. Oxon: Routledge. KIDD, T. CHEN, I. (2011) Ubiquitous Learning. Strategies for Pedagogy, Course Design, and Technology. Information Age Publishing KRAUT, R. BRYNIN, M. KIESLER, S. (2006) Computers, Phones, and the Internet. Domesticating Information Technology. New York: Oxford University Press KUMAR, AJIT. (2012) Sencha MVC Architecture. Birmingham: Packt Publishing Ltd. LEASK, M. (2003) Issues in teaching using ICT. London: RoutledgeFalmer. LEARNING 2 GO. (2013) Learning 2 Go. [Online] Available from: https://www.wolverhamptonengage.net/sites/anonymous/Learning2Go/Pages/default.aspx [Accessed: 15th October 2013] LEGISLATION, THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES. (1995) Disability Discrimination Act 1995. [Online] Available From: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1995/50/part/IV/chapter/1/crossheading/dutie s-of-responsible-bodies. [Accessed: 25th October 2013] LOVE, S. (2005) Understanding Mobile Human-Computer Interaction. Jordan Hill: Butterworth-Heinemann MACDONALD, J. (2008) Blended Learning and Online Tutoring. Abingdon: Gower Publishing Limited. MADDEN, M. LENHART, A. DUGGAN, M. CORTESI, S. GASSER, U. (2013) Pew Internet, [Online] March 2013. Available From: http://www.pewinternet.org/~/media/Files/Reports/2013/PIP_TeensandTechnolog y2013.pdf. [Accessed: 14th October 2013] McGILL, I. BEATY, L. (2002) Action Learning. A Guide for Professional, Management & Educational Development. 2Nd edition. London: Kogan Page Limited. McWHERTER, J. GOWELL, S. (2009) Professional Mobile Application Development. Somerset: Wiley. MEHTA, N. (2008) Mobile Web Development. Packt Publishing Ltd: Birmingham 61 | P a g e

MIDDLEWOOD, D. (2005) Creating a Learning School. London: SAGE Publications MILIBAND, D. (2006) Choice and Voice in Personalised Learning. [Online] Available from: http://www.oecd.org/site/schoolingfortomorrowknowledgebase/themes/demand/4 1175554.pdf [Accessed: 20th October 2013] MOYLES, J. (2003) Interactive Teaching in Primary Classroom: Digging Deeper into Meanings. Berkshire: McGraw-Hill. NIELSEN. (2013) Nielsen. [Online] Available from: http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/top10s.html [Accessed: 18th October 2013] NUDELMAN, G. (2013) Android Design Patterns: Interaction Design Solutions for Developers. Somerset: Wiley. OFSTED. (2002) The National Literacy Strategy: The first four years 1998-2002. [Online] Available From: http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/resources/national-literacystrategy-first-four-years-1998-2002. [Accessed: 28th October 2013] O'NEIL, J. MARSICK, V. (2007) Understanding Action Learning. New York: AMACOM Books. OXFORD ENGLISH DICTIONARY. (2013) Oxford Dictionaries. [Online] Available From: http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/technophobe [Accessed: 20th November 2013] PISKURICH, G. (2002) AMA Handbook of E-Learning: Effective Design, Implementation, and Technology Solutions. New York: AMACOM Books. PREECE, J. (2000) Online Communities. Designing Usability, Supporting Sociability. West Sussex: Wiley QUINN, N. (2011) Designing mLearning: Tapping into the Mobile Revolution for Organizational Performance. Hobokon: Pfeiffer. SALKOWITZ, R. (2008) Generation Blend: Managing Across the Technology Age Gap. Hobokon: Wiley. SAVIN-BADEN, M. HOWELL, C. (2004) Foundations of Problem-based 62 | P a g e

Learning. Berkshire: McGraw-Hill Education. SAVIN-BADEN, M. WILKIE, K. (2006) Problem-Based Learning Online. Buckingham: Open University Press. SHAW, M. (1991) The Challenge of Aging. 2nd Edition. Churchill Livingstone. SIEMER, A. KIMBER, R. (2011) ASP.NET MVC 2 Cookbook. Birmingham: Packt Publishing Ltd. UCISA (2012) 2012 Survey of Technology Enhanced Learning for higher education in the UK. [Online] Available From: http://www.ucisa.ac.uk/tel [Accessed: 20th November 2013] UCISA (2012b) 2012 Survey of Technology Enhanced Learning: Case studies. [Online] Available From: http://www.ucisa.ac.uk/tel [Accessed: 20th November 2013] UNESCO. (2013) Mobile Learning for Teachers in Europe. Exploring the Potential of Mobile Technologies to Support Teachers and Improve Practice. [Online] Available From: http://www.unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0021/002161/216167E.pdf [Accessed: 20th November 2013] WORLD WIDE WEB CONSORTIUM. (2013) Differences from HTML4 [Online] Available From: http://www.w3.org/TR/html5-diff/ [Accessed: 4th December 2013]

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Appendix A
Section 1 E-Learning
1.1 Introduction
This project will discuss in some detail a number of the disciplines that comprise e-Learning and m-Learning, and in order to avoid any confusion or ambiguity over the meaning and definition of e-learning and m-learning this chapter will set a contextual definition that will be used throughout this project. In order to come to this contextual definition this chapter will look at current literature on the topics to see how experts in the field define e-learning and m-learning in order to find commonalities between definitions and then use this to create a definition within the context of this project. This chapter will also provide a historical summary of the technologies behind elearning as well as historical teaching methods, both of which will provide the ground work for further research later on in the project. This is necessary as the potential scope within e-learning is too large for a single project, so this chapter will also identify topics of interest which will be discussed later on in the project. “E-learning is a still-evolving discipline, and what might be considered a good definition today may not even be in the ballpark tomorrow” (Piskurich, 2002). This was true then and remains just as true now. Piskurich illustrates that trying to pinpoint exactly what is e-learning and what is not is a rather futile endeavour, it is rather more productive – within the context of this project at least – to find commonalities between various definitions and then use these to come to a contextual definition for this project. Chin (2004) described e-learning as “the delivery of technology-supported teaching and learning, based on pedagogical teaching practices.” and goes on further to state “e-learning is not a passive medium for delivering content, but is an interactive process between the teacher and student”. Here Chin describes ELearning as an interactive method of student-driven learning facilitated by various technologies, rather than attributing e-learning to a single technology or teaching practice. Benson, Kirk and Donnelly (2012) offers a similar definition of elearning stating that “It is best to view it as a general term, usually used to refer to 64 | P a g e

any use of computers and technology to learn.” Benson, Kirk and Donnelly then go on to list various disciplines within e-learning, all of which deliver information through electronic devices. From these sources it is possible to view e-Learning as an umbrella encompassing a wide variety of technologies and teaching practices which aim to deliver information in an interactive non-traditional sense through electronic devices. Underneath this umbrella there are numerous sub-categories coming in and out of prominence as new technologies emerge and old ones become obsolete, creating a dynamic and diverse environment where one school may favour one discipline and another school across the street may favour one that is radically different, yet both may be considered valid examples of e-learning. Throughout the reference material for this chapter the phraseology used to describe e-learning varies, with the following terminologies being used to either as a synonym for e-learning or as a discipline within e-learning. Personalised Learning (Chin, 2004) Online and Distance Learning (Chin, 2004) Interactive Learning (John and Wheeler, 2008) Independent Learning (John and Wheeler, 2008) Blended Learning (Benson, Kirk and Donnelly, 2012) U-Learning (Ubiquitous Learning) (Kidd and Chen, 2011) While some authors may focus more on the teaching methods behind e-learning they all acknowledge that these methods are enabled and supported by their respective technologies.

1.2 Evolution of e-learning
Understanding the evolution of the technologies that support e-learning will provide insight into current and possible future e-learning methods and technologies, and while acknowledging the rich and complex time line of modern computing, this chapter limit discussion to a small number of particular points of interest. Its hard to argue that the internet has revolutionised the way people consume information with sites like Google and Wikipedia (part of the Wikimedia 65 | P a g e

Foundation) being the first and fifth most popular websites respectively as of October 2013 (Nielsen 2013), and not only has the volume and diversity of information available increased radically since the advent of the internet, but the range of technologies being developed to access this new wealth of information has also undergone a revolution. Chin (2004) identified the rapid increase of computing power partnered with the decrease in size and cost of personal computers and one of the key factors behind the introduction of computers into the classroom, citing the ZX Spectrum as a particular example of personal computers allowing teachers to “develop teaching resources for their students.” Personal computing rapidly spread throughout people’s homes, places of work and schools throughout the late 20th century creating job and changing the way many organisations conducted their business. Sharp (2009) summarises the initial use of computers within education, making reference to how they were used exclusively within computing departments at higher education to educate students on how to use computers and write code. The introduction of these computers with the sole intention of educating students about computers is understandable as early computers were costly and cumbersome making them impractical for all but the wealthiest establishments, pair this with their limited uses mean early computing was either out of reach or undesirable for a large part of the population. As the benefits of the internet and new interactive learning methods became more apparent, David Miliband (2006) the then UK School Standards Minister issued a paper which contained amongst other things, five components of personal learning:   Assessment for learning that utilises data to assess each students learning needs. To then create personalised learning strategies for each individual student through innovative use of classroom resources including new technologies.  A larger curriculum tailored to students and greater freedom of choice for students when choosing their curriculum.   A reorganisation the structure of schools and the deployment of staff. Extending education and support for learning beyond the classroom and 66 | P a g e

into communities and social services. Without the widespread adoption of new technologies such as the internet and personal computing these components of personal learning would be difficult to conceive much less implement, and this call from government ministers to embrace the educational and social benefits e-learning marks a major shift in the way people saw education. While it is important to understand this method of teaching does have its benefits as this method of learning does allow students and teacher to interact in group discussions, it is also important to acknowledge that each individual student has different educational needs. When comparing the technological classroom composition of 2003 and 2013 it becomes readily apparent how technologies have been used to support students learning in the classroom and at home, and while the composition of the common classroom has changed over those years with the introduction of projectors and interactive smartboards into most classrooms, their employment is largely used to support more traditional teaching methods. While David Miliband and many likeminded people have embraced and sought not only to implement new technologies but use these technologies to enhance the way children are taught, there are others who have either failed to see the benefits or opposed their introduction. There are certain issues that need to be addressed and considered when discussing e-learning or any method of education reform and these will be discussed in more detail in Chapter 5. As stated at the start of this chapter, e-learning is a constantly evolving and dynamic group of technologies and teaching methods, and trying to accurately estimate where it will be in five years’ time is almost impossible. In the year 2003 it would have seemed rather silly to suggest that mobile phones would evolve into the powerful pocket computers they are now, let alone their impact they would have on society. Even if it is possible to exactly predict the course of technological evolution there is still a need to consider how these technologies will be received and the impact they might have on society, or if they may have an impact at all. This project would like to predict that mobile phones and tablet computers will have a larger impact on the learning experience over the coming years, and to test this opinions of teachers and students will be gathered as well as testing the practicality of mobile learning to see if this prediction is correct.

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Examination of current research and past trends may yield some fairly sensible predictions, such as e-books and e-readers potentially supplanting textbooks in the classroom or the possibility of augmented reality devices helping students learn about the natural world. There are also more fanciful propositions being put forward, as Sharp (2009) discusses the possibilities of using Robots in the classroom. It is all too easy to get carried away and imagine the classic 1950’s vision of TeacherBot 2000 drawing equations on the blackboard but the practicalities are not so unreal. The toy manufacturer LEGO produce a line of constructible Robots that teach students about Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the basics of programming, both topics could easily be taught without the aid of Robots, but the interactivity and the entertaining nature of these products presents them in a more appealing manner to children. In addition to being a vehicle to help modernise old teaching methods, e-learning has the potential to open up a plethora of collaborative teaching and learning methods where the flow of information is no longer one directional and limited to schools grounds during school hours, but rather a constant dialogue between students and teachers. Vreed (2004) created a list of requirements for Collaborative Ubiquitous Computing Systems:

 Scalability  Device-Independent Access  Support for Disconnections and Mobility  Context Awareness  Enhanced Security Mechanisms  Fault Tolerance
Although not initially intended for use within education a network that meets these criteria could possibly allow students to access their work, learning material and receive feedback not only from their home but also on their mobile device anywhere there is an open network, and this kind of network already exists. It may be apparent to many that the rise of social networking and Web 2.0 has changed the way a great deal of people across the world interact with each other. As of March 2013 there 1.11 Billion people worldwide who have a Facebook account (http://news.yahoo.com/number-active-users-facebook-over68 | P a g e

230449748.html) meaning over one in seven people alive - at the time of writing use or have used this particular social networking site. Sites like Facebook and Twitter allow people to create friendships with people across planet with people they may never have met if it was not for the internet, business partners in the USA and UK can share ideas and work collaboratively on projects through sites like Github and people in India can watch videos of Cats from Canada. The network infrastructure to allow this kind of interaction and ubiquitous computing already exists and is being used by billions of people across the world, so it stands to reason it may only be a matter of time before this method of communication becomes commonplace within education. The constant evolution of technologies changes modern society in many ways, a few of which have already been discussed in this chapter. Kidd and Chen (2011) believes the increasingly ubiquity of computing may also lead to a new method of learning, Ubiquitous Learning (U-Learning), stating that U-Learning “is a learning paradigm offering the promise of support for teaching anything at any time in any place by using ubiquitous computing devices, software, and services”. U-Learning could open a whole new world of teaching possibilities, drawing on real-world experiences and using them to educate children on a wide variety of topics, potentially turning every interaction into a learning experience. ULearning when combined with mobile devices equipped with existing Augmented Reality applications (apps) could transform a trip in park into an educational experience, using the mobile device to identify a type of tree or which bird call belongs to which bird. This convergence of technologies no longer limits learning to the classroom during regular school hours or tied to a desktop computer, but gives the opportunity to educate and satisfy the curiosity of students at any opportunity.

1.3 Why even attempt to educate using M-Learning?
This project will look at in more detail the more practical role m-learning may play in educating future generations. As discussed earlier in this chapter the infrastructure to support constant communication between individuals over long distances already exists and the benefits this may offer education. M-Learning can be seen as one of the many disciplines within e-learning that focuses on using existing and emerging mobile technologies to enhance the learning experience. 69 | P a g e

M-learning is not a particularly new discipline but due to the recent commercial success of smartphones and tablet computers, it has only recently come to the forefront of educational terminology. Due to the recent popularity of smartphones and the previous obscurity of m-learning there is some resistance by staff around the introduction of m-learning into the classroom, certainly in the schools in which I have worked there has been in place a strict 'no phones' policy. One of the possible reasons for the reluctance of schools to adopt m-learning is the training of current staff in new skills, Jaeger (2005) has identified that some older members of staff can be defined as 'technically illiterate' and may suffer from 'technophobia'. The topic of the reluctance to adopt m-learning is discussed in more detail in Appendix A Section 3.1. A number of organisations such as UNESCO (2013) have kept pace with the development of mobile devices and as the technologies have evolved, they have created and kept up to date various specifications and guidelines for the deployment of m-learning across many areas of education. Much like e-learning, m-learning does not consist of a definitive list of technologies or teaching methods but the standards (although sometimes conflicting) do offer a greater degree of certainty around the definition of m-learning. While m-learning may also apply to the use of laptops as mobile devices, for the context of this project will simply refer to smartphones and tablet computers.

1.4 Conclusions
E-learning is a complex topic which must be looked at as a combination of both technological and pedagogical disciplines, both of which combine to create in various ways one of the many disciplines that fall under the umbrella of elearning. E-learning as a whole is a too broad of a subject to be the focus on this project alone, so this project will focus its attention on the discipline of Mobile Learning (m-learning) as defined earlier on in this chapter. Many different projects could be conducted on e-learning and yet have very little in common, so to clarify what topics within e-learning are being discussed is of great significance. Limiting the scope to only the pertinent topics will allow this project to go into greater depth provide a focused view on the topic of m-learning. E-learning in its many forms have radically changed the way people consume information either directly or indirectly, and with currently technologies evolving 70 | P a g e

and finding new applications and with new technologies being developed at an incredible rate it is clear to see that e-learning will continue to drive change within education, even though it is almost impossible to judge in which direction. From the research gathered it is possible to see that e-learning is a powerful tool for educating students from all age ranges through the visualisation of complex theories and the plethora of information available through online resources. It is because of this that this project will attempt to further integrate e-learning into the classroom through the use of mobile devices (m-learning), and will seek to understand the benefits of both these disciplines with the ultimate goal of producing an application capable of providing a platform to allow m-learning to take a greater role in education.

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Section 2 Current Initiatives
2.1 Learn Anywhere
2.1.1 Cost The exact costing of this package varies depending on the amount of devices and any supplementary packages the wishes to purchase. The Learn Anywhere initiative allows schools to lease a number of mobile devices on a two to three year contract rather than purchasing outright the devices, which would not only prove to be costly to begin with, but as the lifespan of most mobile devices is around two years, this would mean that this costly overhead would need to be spent every two or three years to ensure the school has up-to-date hardware. One of the other key points made by Entrust is that “Parents are then asked to contribute towards the cost, with the collection, administration and management of contributions are taken care of on your behalf”. Even though I have been able unable to gain exact pricing this method of payment seems to say acknowledge that any sort of large scale deployment of mobile devices may be beyond the budget of most public schools. 2.1.2 Management Entrust offer a Mobile Device Management (MDM) solution which allows clients to integrate the mobile devices into an existing IT infrastructure. One of the claims made by Entrust is that “Due to low security and unfriendly user experiences, usernames and passwords no longer suffice in the mobile world.” Whether or not standard desktop authentication methods are sufficient for mobile devices is a whole other topic for discussion, the MDM does offer a few solutions to what it perceives to be a deficiency in mobile security. A host of cloud-based or on-site issue to and authenticate digital certificates from mobile devices, the advantages of this method of authentication are not fully apparent and the only explanation given states that “Digital certificates provide strong device identities to enable secure Wi-Fi or VPN access.” 2.1.3 Reported Benefits Entrust and their partner Syscap report a number of benefits of allowing students 72 | P a g e

to interact with mobile devices within the classroom. Syscap (2013) stated that “Mobile learning is a powerful way of re-engaging disillusioned students and improving learning outcomes in schools.” and then goes on to state further that “mobile technology helps with teacher training, lesson planning and monitoring students' progress.” Both of these assertions are planned to be put to the test later on in this project when a prototype system will be demonstrated to a group of volunteers. Although yet unproven these assertions may yet be proven to be grounded in reasonable thinking, as the Pew Research Center (2013) reports that 78% of all teenagers now have some sort of mobile phone while 47% of these are smartphones. This may suggest that students of that age group may respond better to content delivered through electronic devices rather than more traditional methods. Syscap (2013) also provides a list of other possible benefits that their Learn Anywhere scheme offers:        Increased ICT Literacy Less reliance on desktop PCs Attracting more students Greater budgetary freedom Easy upgrades Easy implementation Improved learning outcomes

2.1 APPLE IN EDUCATION
2.2.1 Management Apple doesn't offer a custom management system to integrate their devices into an existing network as a standard standalone iPad only requires Wi-Fi access to download applications, however depending on the computer system in the school, access to an Active Directory network may be required for certain levels of authentication. Updating and syncing each device can be done individually or can be done through a specialised docking stations offered by Apple and other third parties, these docking stations allow staff to automatically sync a large number of iPads 73 | P a g e

simultaneously. This approach may prove to be a more appealing prospect to the staff charged with maintaining the devices as no specialist third party servers or software needs to be put in place, saving both time and money, and making mobile technology more appealing to schools lacking the expertise or funding. The overall management of these devices can be as simple as plugging them in to charge and installing the required applications as these devices work either as standalone devices or as part of a schools network. Or could be more complex depending on the resources and expertise available and if the situation requires. 2.2.2 Reported Benefits Apple claim a number of advantages of using iPads in the classroom over standard textbooks and desktop PCs. However it is important to remember that these must be taken with fair amount of scepticism as all this information is being given by Apple in their promotional material. A key selling point of the Apple in Education scheme is the benefits offered by interactive learning over standard textbook and chalkboard teaching methods. Chin (2004) warns that often these more traditional methods of a teacher standing in front of a class, reciting from a textbook can often “reduce lectures to monologues where teachers talk at their students for fifty minutes or so.” The benefits of interactive learning will be discussed Chapter 4.3, but even from initial research into teaching methods, the virtues of interactive learning seem apparent at engaging students in tasks that would otherwise be reduced to copying work from a textbook. To aid the interactive learning process Apple have launched their iTunes U service, a version of their iTunes store that contains a wide variety of educational books and software on a range of topics. A large number of these books contain media ranging from videos to interactive quizzes and games, all presented with a user-friendly interface making all content easily accessible to even the youngest of pupils. Apple also claim their iPad offers solutions to common accessibility issues such as vision and hearing by offering a range of hardware and software solutions including voice overs for text and visual queues in place of sound. Apple reports their IOS operating system offers solutions to the following accessibility issues:  Vision – Text Voice Overs, Zoom, Speak Selection, Dictation, Large Text 74 | P a g e

and Inverted Colours   Hearing - Closed Captions, Mono Audio and Hearing Aid Support Physical and Motor Skills – Assistive Touch, Dictation and Keyboard Shortcuts  Learning Difficulties – Guided Access, Speak Selection, Dictionary and Safari Reader Browser

2.3 Other Schemes of Possible Interest
The schemes discussed in this chapter only a couple of the more prominent examples, other schemes and further reading will be briefly discussed below. 2.3.1 UNESCO Mobile Learning UNESCO (2013) has recently published a document containing Policy Guidelines for Mobile Learning discussing in detail the benefits of mobile learning and how best to implement this in a fashion that is both appealing and fair to all concerned. While not directly offering services to schools, UNESCO are attempting to put in place policies that will aid standardisation within mobile learning. 2.3.2 Learning 2 Go Learning 2 Go is an initiative has been launched by the e-Services team of Wolverhampton City Council and aims show how mobile technologies can be used to extend the learning experience beyond the classroom. This initiative aids schools integrate mobile devices not only in a technical sense but also gives advice on curriculum redesign and documenting the progress and impact the devices are having on the students (Learning 2 Go, 2013), additional seminars are also offered to help staff get the most out of their devices.

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Section 3 Barriers to E-Learning
3.1 Attitudes as a barrier to E-Learning and M-Learning
3.1.1 Pedagogy as a barrier Regardless of a teacher’s age, technological understanding or previous success with e-learning resources, a resistance to mobile devices within the classroom would be major hindrance to the success of this project. This resistance to allowing mobile devices into the classroom, and by extension to M-Learning and this project, may be the result of an apprehension about being able to effectively police a number of students using mobile devices and ensure that the remain on task both inside and outside of the classroom. In the late 1990's and early 2000's mobile phones were primitive devices with limited capabilities and a natural response for a teacher upon seeing a mobile device maybe have been to ask the student to put the device away. This response may be just as valid today as the potential distractions offered by a modern smartphone are multiplied with the social networks and web browsers only adding further cause for concern amongst members of staff. Overcoming this initial apprehension will require a number of issues to be addressed:  Effective policing and management of the application inside and outside of school  Easy integration

Quinn (2011) discusses the requirements for organisational change to effectively allow the adoption of m-learning, identifying that before a system is put into place incentives must be put into place to ensure the proposed changes to procedure are followed, and once in place that effective and on-going management is there to support these new procedures. From this it is possible to see that in order to address the potential issues facing this project mentioned above the incentive and support approach proposed by Quinn (2011);  Incentive: The promise of additional on-tap electronic resources available to staff and their easy integration.  Management: Management tools that allow the easy and effective policing and monitoring of students learning. 76 | P a g e

This incentive and management approach may help to alleviate some of the apprehension held by staff members over the introduction of mobile devices into the classroom by showing that there are benefits to the adoption, and that there are management structures in place to ensure that the primary concern of policing and monitoring students activities have been taken into consideration. Regardless of a teacher’s age, technological understanding or previous success with e-learning resources, a resistance to mobile devices within the classroom would be major hindrance to the success of this project. This resistance to allowing mobile devices into the classroom, and by extension to M-Learning and this project, may be the result of an apprehension about being able to effectively police a number of students using mobile devices and ensure that the remain on task both inside and outside of the classroom. In the late 1990's and early 2000's mobile phones were primitive devices with limited capabilities and a natural response for a teacher upon seeing a mobile device maybe have been to ask the student to put the device away. This response may be just as valid today as the potential distractions offered by a modern smartphone are multiplied with the social networks and web browsers only adding further cause for concern amongst members of staff. Overcoming this initial apprehension will require a number of issues to be addressed:  Effective policing and management of the application inside and outside of school  Easy integration

Quinn (2011) discusses the requirements for organisational change to effectively allow the adoption of m-learning, identifying that before a system is put into place incentives must be put into place to ensure the proposed changes to procedure are followed, and once in place that effective and on-going management is there to support these new procedures. From this it is possible to see that in order to address the potential issues facing this project mentioned above the incentive and support approach proposed by Quinn (2011);  Incentive: The promise of additional on-tap electronic resources available to staff and their easy integration.  Management: Management tools that allow the easy and effective policing and monitoring of students learning. 77 | P a g e

This incentive and management approach may help to alleviate some of the apprehension held by staff members over the introduction of mobile devices into the classroom by showing that there are benefits to the adoption, and that there are management structures in place to ensure that the primary concern of policing and monitoring students activities have been taken into consideration. Giving staff the ability to easily and effectively monitor a student’s activity while using a mobile device may greatly alleviate some of the apprehension a teacher might have about allowing mobile devices into the classroom, to help illustrate this a parallel can be drawn between being able to effectively monitor students activities on a desktop computer and on a mobile device. Research Machines (RM) offer provide software and hardware for schools and as part of their software package they offer software which allows staff to monitor the activities of all students within their classroom, and this software not only provides staff with a useful tool to easily monitor a classroom of students but Boynton and Boynton (2005) also discuss the effect of such software on the behaviour of students. Boynton and Boynton (2005) identified three factors that may cause a student to misbehave or neglect their work as;    “The student thinks the teacher does not see the behaviour. The student thinks the teacher does not care about the behaviour The student thinks there will be no significant consequences for the behaviour” It is this first factor that effective monitoring through software may be least effective at combatting, and while the constant monitoring of a student’s computer usage may seem slightly Orwellian this may help the mind-set of the staff users tasked with monitoring the students. The remaining two factors mentioned above show that while a well-designed application may make the task of monitoring student’s activities easier, it by no means the software will solve all the problems, there still must be an element of trust and respect between the students and staff to ensure that students do not take advantage of situation. 3.1.2 Attitudes related to advanced age The stereotype of an elderly person struggling with a computer, constantly asking the grandchild for support may ring true for some or seem like an outdated trope for others depending on one’s own personal experiences, whether or not this is 78 | P a g e

true does not diminish the power this perception has over the general public. While no stereotype could realistically reflect the beliefs or behaviours of an entire section of the population, Jaeger (2005) believes there may be at least a grain of truth to this stating that the experience of getting older and coming to the realisation that the majority of one’s life is behind them may “change the perspective held regarding new technology” and that an older person may “economise their energy [Resulting] in different priorities.” While some barriers facing the elderly may be imposed upon them such as a physical disability, other barriers may be self-imposed and may be characterised as a reluctance on behalf of the user. Jaeger (2005) also identified that the simple realisation of one’s own mortality may cause certain people to seek to make to most of what time they have left, and it is this pragmatic approach to life that will cause learning new skills to fall down a person’s list of priorities. This may prove to be a stubborn obstacle to overcome when attempting to integrate e-learning into an elderly teachers curriculum, for example if a teacher has managed to successfully teach a subject for their entire career without the assistance of e-learning, how likely would they be to devote significant time and effort to learn a whole new set of skills knowing that they could be approaching retirement before they fully come to grips with the new technologies? It is highly unlikely that a teacher of any age currently active within the UK has managed to completely avoid using a computer within a modern classroom, and the time and skills required to take an electronic register or display a presentation over the projector are relatively easy to pick up and are unlikely to cause much inconvenience to the user, however the successful adoption and use of a system similar to the one proposed in this project is unlikely to be as seamless. 3.1.3 Attitudes of software developers While it is has been established that a negative attitude held by a user may limit the degree of success technology may have, it is also important to acknowledge that the attitude and empathy a developer has towards their intended users will also be a significant determining factor in the systems success. A developer who completely neglects the needs of the end user or thinks of the usability of the system or application as an afterthought may simply be re-enforcing a technophobe's negative attitude and be contributing the failure of the system. A common practice amongst developers is to use a metaphor to attempt to convey 79 | P a g e

functionality in a way that is understandable to users, however Salkowitz (2008) states that when performed poorly these metaphors can often have a “recomplicating effect”, so not only would a poor usability design have no positive effect on either the users or the system but may also prove detrimental. 3.1.4 What is Technophobia While the words Technophobia and Cyberphobia may sound like cool names for a German techno band, they actually refer to a person “who fears, dislikes, or avoids new technology” (Oxford English Dictionary, 2013). While the exact phraseology may differ between sources and with Technophobia sometimes being used to describe someone's arbitrary dislike of a certain branch of technology, Sinkovics and Salzberger (2006) have identified a common misuse of this term amongst experts within computing. As identified previously a technophobe is a person with a fear or aversion to new or unfamiliar technology, Sinkovics and Salzberger (2006) identified the common practice of using the phase to describe someone with a specific aversion to computers or “computer-phobia”. While someone may not fully understand or have no intention of using computers, they may not necessarily be a technophobe and manage to use a number of modern devices as part of their daily routine. For the purposes of clarity this project will use the term “Technophobe” to refer to a person with a specific aversion to either computers or mobile devices, this decision has been taken due to technophobe already being synonymous with an aversion to computers and the large number of popular new technologies being smartphones and tablet computers. Technophobia itself can be seen as a barrier to the adoption of e-learning within the classroom as a teacher with an aversion to computers, for whatever reason, would be unlikely to effectively use the new tools at their disposal. For this reason attempting to identify, if only a small number, of specific triggers for technophobia will provide solid ground work for the design of this projects application, allowing the foresight of any major flaws or shortcomings in its design. It is important to acknowledge that there is no 'cure' for technophobia and even with a well designed and implemented application, the onus still lies with the users to adopt and adapt the new technologies and any changes to the methods of teaching it may bring.

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3.1.5 Ignorance or Lack of Exposure Even though the first electronic programmable computer was put into use in 1943 over 70 years ago the widespread use of electronic computers in the home, workplace and classroom is a relatively recent phenomenon, and because of the specialist status of computers until recent years many elderly people have had little or no exposure to computers. It is important to state note that a person’s lack of exposure or ignorance regarding ICT may not deliberate and may simply be a result of a lack of exposure due to lifestyle and employment circumstances. Baltes and Mayer (1999) conducted a study of people over the age of 70 and their role in society and found that a large number of participants over the age of 70 would like to gain knowledge and skills relating to ICT. A simple lack of understanding or exposure to ICT may limit a person’s ability to effectively utilise e-learning within the classroom but it is the attitude held by the user that will determine just how easy this barrier is to overcome, as a person with a positive attitude and willingness to learn new skills will overcome this barrier with relative ease. After initial exposure to a new technology within the workplace a person may experience some form of information overload as they struggle to cope with demanding nature of adapting to a new method of working, Gordon (2007) describes this as “Technostress” and documents how a number of Librarians have struggled to cope with the demands of conducting work and the operation of new technologies. This additional stress imposed by the introduction of new technologies may invariably drive certain users to either find ways of circumventing the technologies to perform certain tasks in ways that are more familiar, or to either avoid using the technologies all together. While not necessarily the same as technophobia as the user may initially be willing to attempt to get to grips with the new technologies, the end result may be similar to that of a technophobe with the user eschewing the new ways of in favour of old. This example can be transposed directly onto almost any form of employment where an employee who previously performed tasks either manually or with very little computer assistance suddenly has a new 'computer system' thrust upon them and is expected to adapt to this change with relatively little training.

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3.2 Cost Based Analysis
3.2.1 Purchasing After the quantity and specifications for the required devices have been drawn up, purchasing the mobile devices could be as simple as heading down to a local retailer or calling a supplier and placing an order for the devices. While this may make sense for a very small number of devices, taking into consideration the current rate of technological advance in mobile devices, the lifespan of a mobile device may not warrant the initial cost on a larger scale. With the relatively high cost of even refurbished mobile devices, a refurbished iPad 2 Wi-Fi + 3g from Apple will cost £399.00 (Apple, 2013) compared to a refurbished desktop computer from Dell costing £233.10 (Dell, 2013), purchasing a large quantity of mobile devices of any workable quality would likely be too costly for most schools. The main disadvantages of purchasing a large number of mobile devices from a retailer could include;     Cost may need to be paid in a single payment The lifespan of mobile devices are limited Warranty often included with the purchase Limited support

However when directly purchasing devices from a supplier the school would own the devices and be able to keep them indefinitely, and if purchased in a large enough quantity on a regular basis would be able to build a sizeable inventory. These benefits would only begin to tell when a large amount of capital had been invested and after a number of purchase cycles had been completed. While most new and refurbished devices will come with some form of warranty they are usually limited and will not last the lifetime of the device, this can be problematic when operating with a large number older devices as repair only mobile devices can be problematic and costly. There are a number of companies that will insure devices against theft or provide extended warranties for a yearly fee, however when opting for insurance or extended warranties on older devices a careful cost analysis must be made to ensure the cost of cover does not exceed the cost of the device.

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3.2.2 Leasing Leasing devices is a solid alternative to purchasing devices and would provide a number of solutions to the problems posed by purchasing, and of the commercial initiatives discussed in this chapter leasing devices is the preferred method of distribution. The benefits of leasing mobile devices are in stark contrast to the disadvantages of purchasing;      Spread the cost over the duration of the lease New devices replace older devices Warranty often included with the lease Support included with the lease Option to purchase after lease expiration

The concept of leasing a device allows the cost of that device to spread over the duration of the lease which would make the devices more accessible to schools who may not be able to afford a lump-sum payment or payment plans offered by conventional retailers, this is to say that the devices would be cheaper or more expensive than purchasing outright as this depends on the lease plan and supplier. As previously discussed the cost of a refurbished iPad 2 purchased directly from Apple will cost between £285.00 and £399.00 depending on the device specifications, while this may be cheaper than purchasing a new iPad of the same specification, the cost of leasing a brand new iPad 3 with higher specifications than the iPad 2 can cost £3.84 per week with a total cost of £399.36 over a two year lease (Eurosystems, 2013). While the price of purchasing and leasing may be almost identical over a two year period the pros and cons of each must be weighed up to ensure the long term viability of such an endeavour as well as the individual needs and the resources available to each school. 3.2.3 Purchasing Desktop Devices For most public schools purchasing brand new, high specification desktops so for this purposes of this experiment mid-range refurbished desktops will be the target, and while the prices charged for computers for computers of a similar specification will vary between suppliers the prices used here will be taken from the mid-range. 83 | P a g e

Device Duel Core, Windows 7, 2gb RAM, 3 Month Warranty. Price Per Unit: £99.00 including VAT (Tier 1 Online, 2013) Cost Per Unit With the base unit costing £99 and refurbished peripherals such as monitor and keyboard costing another £50, the total cost of a refurbished duel core PC comes to £149 with free delivery and three month warranty. A budget of £2500 could purchase sixteen fully refurbished computer which would service half of an average computer room, with all of these devices would be owned by the school and as they are standard computer hardware, they should be easily integrated into an existing computer network and easily maintained with replacement parts costing very little. 3.2.4 Leasing Mobile Devices The leasing of mobile devices as discussed earlier has its advantages and disadvantages which must be properly considered before choosing to lease. There are a large number of mobile devices on the market including smartphones, tablet computers and laptops, but this experiment will look exclusively at Apples iPad tablet computers. As discussed earlier in this chapter the price of a lease will vary depending on the device model, lease length, and lease extras, however depending on the company a discount may or may not be given to schools leasing in bulk. Device iPad 3, Duel Core, iOS 5, 16gb Storage, Lifetime Warrany. Price Per Unit: £3.84 per week (£399.36 over two years) There are a number of accessories that may be purchased alongside a tablet computer, however all essential accessories are included in the package and other accessories are not essential to the function of the device so the cost of these has not been included. Cost Per Unit For a budget of £2500 a school could afford to lease 6 devices of this specification for two years with £100 left over to purchase additional accessories, however the number of lease devices available for this budget is still ten less than the previous 84 | P a g e

example, and further more without further money to either renew the lease or purchase the devices at the end of the lease, the devices will return to the lease holder leaving the school with no devices. 3.2.5 Purchasing Mobile Devices The cost of purchasing devices will vary depending on the device and the supplier, but for the purpose of fairness this example will include the price of a device similar to the one used in the previous example. Device iPad 2, Duel Core, iOS 5, 16gb Storage, 1 Year Warranty, Refurbished Price Per Unit: £285.00 (Apple, 2013) Cost Per Unit While the devices may be refurbished and of a lower specification, the lower cost and brand name may help to make it more appealing, and with the same budget as before a school would be able to purchase an additional two devices, bringing the total to eight with an additional £220 left over. Unlike leasing after the initial purchase the devices would remain the property of the school and could be sold on with the proceeds being put into further investments.

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Section 4 The Benefits of E-Learning
4.1 Accessibility Benefits
Writing and reading using regular pen and paper is a cheap and effective for the vast majority of students to read and write, there are however those who for whatever reason have great difficulty or find it impossible to read or write using these traditional methods. Historically a specialised teaching assistant would be required to transcribe or dictate to the student depending on their needs, however more recently technologies such automatic speech recognition have been introduced to aid the student to learn independently and to not be too reliant on support staff. As early technologies developed, machines and computers were created to cater to one specific learning requirement, this made catering to all possible disabilities troublesome for smaller schools as each computer could meet the needs of one or a small number of disabilities. As computing power increased and software become more sophisticated, more functionality could be integrated into a single device allowing them to cater to a wider range of special educational needs. The Disability Discrimination Act 1995 is a regulation within the United Kingdom (UK) that states “in relation to education and associated services provided for, or offered to, pupils at the school by it, disabled pupils are not placed at a substantial disadvantage in comparison with pupils who are not disabled.” (Legislation, 1995), as stated above, providing an adequate learning environment for disabled students is no longer a matter of discretion but a requirement enforced by law. Faced with this requirement and an unknown amount of students with potential disabilities (Simpson, 2013), technologies such as tablet computers and smartphones may help aid not only students with recognised disabilities but those with less obvious and undiagnosed learning difficulties. Modern tablet computers and smartphones come with support for a range of accessibility options built into the device and operating system, and while this may be the case there are also accessibility issues that must be taken into consideration when using mobile devices. Simpson (2013) has identified a number of key disabilities that must be overcome when using computers: 86 | P a g e

Cognitive Impairment Sensory Impairment Motor Impairment Situational / Temporary Impairment As discussed in Appendix A Section 2.1 Apple's IOS operating system comes with accessibility options to help negate these issues and Google's Android operating system also comes pre-packaged with similar options.

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Section 5 Educational Theory
5.1 Student Centred Learning (SCL)
Student centred learning (SCL) is a theory within education that places emphasis on the student, empowering students by giving students greater freedom to dictate what and how they learn and gives students influence in how their work is evaluated. The Educational Initiative Centre (2004) provides a comparison of Student Centred Learning and Teacher Centred Learning (TCL) methods, this comparison shows the contrasting attitudes towards students and their education. To help illustrate the contrast between SCL and TCL, the Educational Initiative Centre characterised TCL as viewing students as “as [an] 'empty' vessel and learning is viewed as an additive process” disregarding any students existing knowledge on a subject and expecting them to learn at the same pace the rest of the class, on the other hand SCL views the student as a person with their own knowledge and experiences, and further encourages students to build on this and assimilate any new knowledge in accordance with what they already know. 5.1.1 The Pupils Learning Experience within SCL Education International and the European Student's Union (2010) conducted a joint project in which they set about creating a 'Toolkit' for students and staff in which they outline proper practice for the implementation of SCL. Within this toolkit it is identified that student centred learning is comprised of a number of theories including Constructivism which centres around the thought that one of the most effective methods of learning is to deconstruct and then reconstruct knowledge in order to fully comprehend it, and Transformative-Learning which focusing on developing a student’s ability to learn rather than just teaching them facts. This emphasis on developing a student’s ability to acquire and assimilate knowledge is further emphasised in the core principles behind SCL identified by both Education International and the European Student's Union (2010) and Educational Initiative Centre (2004). There is no single standard or consensus on exactly what counts as SCL, but amongst the various sources researched the core values remain the same, and it is these core values that are best suited to the application proposed by this project, and by using these existing guidelines in tandem with the core principles of e88 | P a g e

learning it is possible to create an effective and personalised learning environment geared towards independent and collaborative student learning. Jones (2007) Higher education places a greater emphasis on SCL as students are either given a task or asked to create their own task that meets certain criteria, so if this methods of teaching which has been widely adopted within higher education why are high schools students not trusted to conduct their studies in this way?

5.2 Action Based Learning
In order to put into practice the principles of Student Centred Learning the traditional methods of knowledge transfer and assessment must either be discarded or radically altered to accommodate the new paradigm of SCL, Action Based Learning (ABL) is one approach to learning that is capable of allowing this. McGill and Beaty (2002) described ABL as “a continuous process of learning and reflection, supported by colleagues, with an intention of getting things done.” ABL is not a method of teaching but simply an approach of to teaching and learning that acknowledges the student as an individual with an existing set of experiences and places importance on using these as the basis for future development. The group discussion (referred to as a Set) element of ABL is vital to process of reflection and learning, not only to provide an external view of one’s own experiences and ideas, but the process of group discussion also allows a greater clarity and vision when performing tasks in the future. While ABL takes place within a set the focus is very much on the individual, during a meeting each member of the set will have their own allotted time in which they explain their problem, which is followed by a group discussion where questions are posed to help them reflect on their problem and draw up a set of action points which are to be acted up before the next meeting. This approach to learning could have a great impact on a student’s problem solving ability as when a student is confronted with a problem that does not have a definitive answer, this method of group discussion, reflection and action would allow a student to calmly and patiently find a solution to a problem in a wide variety of situations. ABL also teaches students how to work effectively as part of a group as working within a set emphasises effective time management, communication and empathy skills, all of which are crucial to making a meaningful contribution to a group but which may not be taught effectively 89 | P a g e

through a more traditional focus on memorisation. This approach to teaching with a focus on providing students with a set of problem solving skills, while not preparing them to pass a traditional exam, would equip them with the tools required to operate effectively either along or as part of a group in a the modern workplace. The increasing proliferation of various forms of E-Learning within education could potentially accommodate a less traditional approach to learning which otherwise may have not been possible, or at least not practical to implement within the current classroom structure. With the limited time available to a teacher and their class, is it really feasible to give students a task, organise themselves into a set, conduct a session during classroom time, and then expect student to conduct their studies at home without an electronic system hosted by the school to support this method of learning? Even if systems were in place facilitating ABL it must be asked, would students use them? Most classes within secondary education in the UK are an hour in length, so would it be unreasonable to expect students to conduct their sets within this hour and complete their action points in their own time or vice versa? Although ABL is usually practised within professional organisations as a method of building team cohesion, O'Neil and Marsick (2007) have understand that ABL may not be suitable for all organisations and have created a questionnaire for a head of an organisation which poses a series of questions aimed at ascertaining whether or not ABL would benefit a project or organisation. In this questionnaire a variety of questions are asked regarding the type of project, the needs of the people, the structure and methods of communication and the intended impact of ABL within the organisation. Through this questionnaire and other sources it is possible to state that ABL may not be suitable for all scenarios within the classroom as the very processes of ABL learning inhibit its application to certain tasks and situations. Below are a list of situations within the classroom that ABL may and may not be beneficial towards:  May be effective as a method of getting new or unfamiliar pupils acquainted   Increasing the quality of communication between students Increasing a student’s problem solving skills 90 | P a g e

  

An effective method of conducting studies into non quantitative problems An effective method of teaching time and group management skills May not be effective at teaching students facts or problems with a definitive answer



May not be effective at conducting a quick study into a topic during scheduled classroom hours

From this it is possible to come to the conclusion that ABL, while being effective at developing skills that may other be neglected through traditional teaching, may only have limited applications within the classroom. For teaching vital quantitative topics such as historical facts or mathematics ABL may prove to be less than effective and may even slow down or hinder the process of learning, as mathematical equations do not require reflection and group discussion but a simple understanding of the facts. Evolution not revolution would be the most effective way to implement change within education and attempting to implement whole scale reform to education would not only be costly and time consuming but could possibly have a detrimental effect on both students and teachers. As previously discussed in this chapter and by many other authors ABL is limited in its number of possible applications and requires careful consideration before being implemented, however ABL could potentially have its uses within education, particularly for establishments looking to develop a student’s soft skills. The practical hurdles facing the implementation of ABL previously mentioned in this chapter can be negated with M-Learning and a properly supported electronic system, however the question still remains, will teachers and students want to adopt this style of teaching? The application built as part of this project could potentially provide support for ABL as the potential benefits to a student’s personal development more than justify the limited applications and situational nature of ABL. The application could support a number of key ABL aspects including:    Sets, groups of students will be able to form sets. Each set will then be able to choose a Leader Sets can agree on a set of ground rules and time periods for meetings 91 | P a g e

 

Group chat Each set member can create a list of visible action points

These features of ABL will be only be made available for a certain types of independent research projects as enabling these for group projects or projects based around certain quantitative projects would be more of a hindrance than a help. The addition of ABL features to the application are aimed at helping students develop otherwise neglected soft skills such as critical thinking, self-reflection, project planning and time management.

5.3 Problem Based Learning
Recognising that ABL is not always a suitable way of teaching students certain topics and skills there is still a need to expand the range of Student Centred Learning teaching methods made available to students. While ABL has it's advantages and these could potentially be implemented into the final application the application could still potentially benefit from a SCL solution to learning practical topics such as mathematics and a way of conducting solo or group projects on quantitative problems. The Problem Based Learning (PBL) approach to learning offers such a solution. Where ABL focusing on learning through past reflection, PBL focusing on learning through doing and through gaining experience performing a particular task. Boud and Feletti (2003) have identified that where PBL has been adopted into the curriculum it is being used to fulfil two specific purposes. The first purpose is to “assist students towards achieving a specific set of objectives, that is to become capable in a set of competences that will be important to them throughout their professional life”. This first purpose is one of the key goals of SCL, teaching students key skills rather than on memorisation and regurgitation of facts, and to this end PBL initially seems a very attractive prospect. Clouston (2010) written in great detail the impact PBL has had on Health and Social Care but also acknowledge the benefits such an approach to learning could have on a wider curriculum, stating that PBL teaches students to accept “responsibility for being a motivated adult learner”, a key skill that may not be developed by expecting a teacher to pose questions and then provide the answer. This encouragement to take responsibility for one’s own learning is the second purpose of adopting PBL identified by Boud and Feletti (2003). 92 | P a g e

Savin-Baden and Howell (2004) have discussed in detail key characteristics of PBL and how it differs from memorisation based learning, and while generally adopted in higher education, there is a lot that can be taken from PBL and applied to all tiers of learning. They key characteristics identified by Savin-Baden and Howell (2004) which would particularly benefit secondary education are:

 “An acknowledgement of the base experience of learners;  An emphasis on students taking responsibility for their own learning;  A change in the tutors role from that of instructor to that of facilitator;”
(Savin-Baden, Howell. 2004)

 A Focus on communication and interpersonal skills;
The first three points are central to a student centred learning environment, however these characteristics are not only found in PBL but also ABL and other forms of student centred learning. The method of in which these characteristics are delivered is what makes ABL an approach of particular interest, the method of learning by doing and having first-hand experience of problem solving a particular problem not only gives students experience in a certain field or discipline but also develops a student’s problem solving and group skills. The final point could also apply just as well to ABL or a number of other methods of group and collaborative learning, however the importance of gaining interpersonal skills must not be overlooked as this is a key skill required in almost all forms of employment, and an early emphasis on working well with others would not only enhance a student’s ability to learn but also their employability. The feasibility of these characteristics being adopted whole scale in a short space of time are slim as stated in this chapter the preferred method of adoption would be evolution rather than a revolution. It is this encouragement of a more adult approach to learning that this chapter wishes to highlight and attempt to fit into the context of this project. As discussed at the beginning of this chapter a focus on SCL, the empowerment of students to have a greater responsibility in their own education and the development of key skills which can be used throughout adult life are the key goals of the application being built as part of this project.

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5.4 Potential SCL Application Features
The initial focus of this chapter has been on creating a sound theory on which to base the application in order to achieve an effective SCL environment, and this has been done through identifying existing SCL approaches and then transposing them into the context of a mobile application. However when attempting to use a real world technique as a metaphor for a virtual environment certain electronic application design practices must also adhered to into the seamlessly integrate the two. There are many additional interactions that could be made inside the application that exist outside of the more traditional SCL theories that would add not only add a greater degree of freedom to the students, but also present the application in a manner to which both students and staff are more acquainted. 5.4.1 Social Media Integration Integrating social media into a website or application is commonplace and many major websites and social networks provide users with tools that allow the user to perform a variety of tasks relating to the website they are currently visiting, and their social media profile. These interactions can range from ‘Liking’ a page to embedding a certain page or link into a number of different social networking profiles, and the popularity of this can be demonstrated by how commonplace these social media buttons are on today’s websites.

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Section 6 Application Development
6.1 Development Technologies
The choice of development technologies will shape the later stages of this project, as will be discussed each technology requires a different method of development and these will greatly affect the trajectory of this project and its final results. This chapter will document and explain a crucial phase of this project as the as a poorly designed application will be unable to properly demonstrate the principles and ideas behind this project. When it comes to the mobile application development stage of this project there are two methods that need to be assessed, a responsive website using standard desktop web development technologies or a native mobile application developed using a number of proprietary technologies. The key question to be answered before creating the application is what type of application would be feasible and provide a more illustrative demonstration for this project? It is important however before answering this question to remember that both mobile websites and applications have their own strengths and weaknesses, and if this project was to be continued after completion it would be imperative that both a mobile website and application were developed as discussed by McWherter and Gowell (2009). 6.1.1 What does this Application need Before deciding which development technology is best suited to this project, the requirements and specifications of the application must first be identified. First of all this application is designed to be used on as many devices as possible including desktop computers, this is to demonstrate the flexibility not only of the application but also the ideas behind this project. Secondly this application will need to showcase a large set of features, which in turn will require a large and flexible tool set which will allow the creation of an application with these rich and interesting features, and finally this project will be required to meet a predetermined deadline which will further require that the technology to be easy to use and offer extensive support. From these a set of key areas can be drawn up on which the development technologies can be judged: 95 | P a g e

 Flexibility  Compatibility  Ease of Use  Tool Set / Features  Support
The first three points are core to the overall success of this project as identified in Chapter 4 one of the key aims of this project is to make mobile devices more appealing and accessible to staff who otherwise would not allow mobile devices into the classroom. Making the application easy to use includes the making the application compatible with as many devices as possible and allowing the user to choose how and when they use it. As discussed throughout this project the application will aim to offer a wide set of features aimed providing features to aid learning and to make the application engaging to both students and staff. To aid this the chosen technology will need to offer the ability the implement these features across a wide range of devices, making the application as inclusive as possible. To make the development of the application as a whole and the specific implementation of these key features the chosen technology will need to offer comprehensive support for all stages and aspects of application development. 6.1.2 Responsive Web or Native Application For this project a responsive website will be developed as a proof of concept for a number of reasons, chief amongst which are the accessibility benefits of developing a single website which will function across a broad selection of devices both saving time and better illustrating the concepts behind this project. As previously mentioned that if this project was to be continued after completion that native mobile applications would be developed to ensure a greater mobile web presence and freedom of choice to the users. When taking into account the number of mobile operating systems currently available and that each has their own proprietary SDK with an even larger number of third-party SDKs, the time required to develop an application for each platform would far exceed the scope of this project, and simply developing an application for a single platform would not adequately demonstrate the principle of inclusivity 96 | P a g e

behind this project. The time-consuming and exclusive nature makes native applications makes them highly unfavourable for this project despite the strengths they offer, and for these reasons a native application possibly too time consuming for this project. This application will be built on a foundation of HTML5 and CSS3 to form the responsive template. Although at the time of writing HTML5 and CSS3 are still not ratified standards they do offer a more powerful set of tools for creating responsive websites when compared to earlier versions of the languages. The CSS3 media queries specifically offer the greatest and tool in Media Queries which will be used to create and apply different styles based on a large number of variables regarding the user’s browser and device size. 6.1.3 Mobile Website A mobile website is a website designed with special consideration given to mobile devices of all sizes and platform, and while most sites may render to some extent on mobile browsers not all sites are mobile sites. The principle behind a mobile website is a responsive web design, and a responsive web design is that it should work on screens of all sizes and resolutions, this principle is becoming more important within web development as Frain (2009) identifies that in the 12 months period between July 2010 and 2011 global mobile browsing increased from 2.86% to 7.02%. A well designed responsive website will work on all browsers both mobile and desktop that support CCS3 media queries, making a responsive website accessible to a wide range of devices without a great deal of additional work. With the increasing sophistication of web standards such as HTML5 and CSS3, the tools available to web developers far surpass the ones available ten year ago making it possible to provide increased functionality and greater control over the layout and design of a website. With the introduction of new elements such as the Canvas element and easier integration of media in web pages with new specialised tags, these combined with the new features introduced by CCS3 including Transitions and Media Queries, the new standards not only offer new tools and features that would have otherwise been unavailable to web developers but also improve old methods of development and makes creating a website easier. The World Wide Web Consortium (2013) have listed all of the difference 97 | P a g e

between HTML4 and HTML5. When it comes to creating a data-driven website there are two main technologies that should be considered are PHP and .NET, both of these technologies can enhance the web experience by both making large-scale websites easier to develop and by also enhancing their interactivity and functionality by linking web pages to a database. For the purposes of this project the individual pros and cons of PHP and .NET will not be discussed, but should a mobile website be chosen as the preferred method of development, the website will use PHP due to the amount of previous experience using this language. The support offered for all the languages and technologies listed in this section are extensive and comprehensive providing support for all aspects of the development process, there are books that will provide advice on programming for beginners and there are websites that will aid with debugging particular issues. The level of support provided by both official sources and the communities around them, for all of the languages and technologies used in creating a website would certain make the development and testing phase of this project a lot easier. 6.1.4 Native Applications While developing a native mobile application would provide access to a powerful tool set through each mobile operating systems Software Development Kits (SDK), one potential stumbling block highlighted by McWherter and Gowell (2009) is that “Developing and app for mobile platforms is expensive and timeconsuming”. This is issue is highlighted by the number of mobile operating systems, the number of first and third party SDKs required to develop for each operating system, and the plethora of device sizes, hardware specifications and age. Certainly developing an application for each would be beyond the scope of this project and simply developing a single application would fail to demonstrate the first two key requirements of this application, flexibility and compatibility. The tools available to a developer depends heavily on the operating system, the hardware of the device and the SDK being used. While each operating system and SDK will provide direct access to hardware on the device the features available to the application will change depending on the hardware specifications. 6.1.5 3rd Party tools and frameworks A number of 3rd party frameworks and tools were used to aid the development 98 | P a g e

process and provide a readymade and stable foundation for the application. The HTML and CSS of the application are built using the Initializr (2013) Boilerplate, this Boilerplate created a stock HTML5 and CSS3 responsive template which formed the basis for the application. The CSS and HTML have been heavily modified to create the finished application however the user of the stock template allowed the rapid creation of a responsive website which would have taken a great deal time of otherwise.

6.2 Requirements List
Number Requirement 1 Add a new user to the system and input the required details. 2 To be able to define the type of user and apply the relevant permissions. 3 Allow administrators to add subjects to the subject list 4 5 Allow administrators to add classes to a subject. Add Class Allocate one or more teaching staff members to Allocate Teacher To Class a class. 6 7 Allocate one or more students to a class. Allocate Students To Class Add Subject Modify User Use Case Add User

For the dynamic creation of a timetable for each Create Timetable student, class, room and teacher.

8 9 10

Allow administrators to reset a user’s password. Reset Password Allow administrators to update a user’s profile. Allow administrators to suspend a user’s account. Modify User Suspend User

11 12

Allow administrators to delete an account. Allow staff to set private notes on a student’s account.

Delete User Set Private Note

13

Allow student users to send messages to student Send Limited Messages and staff users. 99 | P a g e

14 15 16

Allow staff users to send messages to all users Log and record all messages sent by all users.

Send Unlimited Messages Log Messages

Log and record all Login/Logout activities of all Log Account Activities users.

17

Allow teaching staff to publish material for a class or subject.

Publish Class Material, Publish Subject Material Publish Class Minimum Content Publish Subject Minimum Content Publish School Events Respond to Events Submit Work

18

Allow teaching staff to publish class minimum required content.

19

Allow department leaders to publish subject minimum required content.

20 21 22

Allow staff to publish school events. Allow students to respond to school events. Allow students to submit work of varying media.

23

Allow one or more students to collaborate on a group project.

Collaborative Work Item

24

Allow students to submit collaborative work.

Submit Collaborative Work Items

25

Allow students to submit a peer assessment form.

Submit Peer Assessment

26

Allow all users to enter a group discussion, either related to a class, subject or collaborative work item.

Group Discussion

27

Log student activities and interactions in a collaborative work environment.

Log Group Activities

28

Allow students to post reminders of group work Post To Social Media to social media.

29

Allow students to create a portfolio of their work visible only to themselves and staff users.

Create Portfolio

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30

Allow students to modify or delete their work or Modify Work, Delete Work portfolio.

31

Allow teaching staff to post announcements for Post Announcement a class or subject.

32

Create a list of students for each class or subject.

Generate Class List, Generate Subject List Mark Work

33

Allow relevant staff to mark students work and provide feedback.

34

Allow administrators to update library records.

Update Library Items, Add Library Item To Library.

35

Allow all users to search and reserve items within the library.

Search Library, Reserve Library Items.

36

Allow staff to see pupils currently logged into a View Current Activities class

37 38

Allow staff to generate a list of all library items. Generate Library List Allow teaching staff to set homework tasks for a Set Homework, Set Class and to give it a deadline. Homework Deadline. Notify Room Changes

39

Notify students of room changes for their lessons

40

Notify users of new messages

Notify Messages

6.3 REMOVED FEATURES
6.3.1 Collaborative Work Two of the key omissions to the specification of finished application are the ability to allow students to create and work either individually or collaboratively on a piece of work. This feature was left out due to issues with the practicality of implementing such a feature that would work well on both desktop and mobile devices. This issue is one that has dogged mobile developers for a number with both Love (2005) Nudelman (2013) have discussed the issues facing users when attempting to input volumes of text data into a mobile device, and while Nudelman offers solutions to the issue of “fat fingers and the devices' smaller screens” these are only viable for small volumes of data such as date of birth or 101 | P a g e

gender, attempting to input large volumes of text data such as a 250 word assignment with a standard touch-screen remains cumbersome at best. Even if a user managed to gather the mental fortitude to attempt such a feet – as anyone who has visited damnyouautocorrect.com will attest to – the outcome may contain any number of errors only increasing the level of effort required to produce a passable piece of work. Unfortunately while UI and usability design are progressing and offering solutions to common problems as Nudelman has identified, these solutions are still unable to overcome this issue and as a result these two features have been omitted from the final application, however should a feasible solution should be found these features would still greatly enhance the effectiveness of the application by allowing users to work both individually and collaboratively anywhere and anytime. Another reason for the omission of the individual and collaborative work functionality is the lack of flexibility it would have offered to users. Users would have been required to create work on the system which would then exist separately of any existing ICT / File Storage systems that a school might already have in place. This would require a change not only to the students to adopt a new method of working but also for staff to adopt a new method of marking and assessing work. As repeating many times during this project this application must be easy to use, be as unobtrusive as possible and must integrate into a user’s existing method of teaching / learning. While the ability to create work on the application has been removed the ability for students to upload work for their lessons and homework has still been implemented. This is in keeping with the original idea of allowing students to perform their studies even when no access to a desktop computer is available. While the application has evolved throughout the design and development phase there are certain areas of the application that have remained largely unchanged such as the messaging and group discussion features have remained as originally specified. The emphasis on collaboration has been somewhat diminished with the removal of features such as creating group work items, even so the need for communication between members of a group and staff and pupils has not dissipated. As a result students and staff can still enter group discussions which are monitored and moderated by staff.

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6.3.2 Aiding and Supporting Learning As a result of the omission of the individual and collaborative work features and an interview with Sue Lee the focus of the application shifted somewhat from allowing students to work any time and any place to allowing students to access information about their studies, aiding students to find data they may require on the go and providing more administrative assistance to all users. Rather than attempting to impose a new pedagogy onto users by requiring work be created on the application and existing separate of any existing ICT infrastructure, this new focus on simply allowing users to upload existing work to the application which can then be downloaded and integrated into any existing ICT / File Storage systems. This method of interaction between users work and the application helps not only the technical integration between the two systems more seamless but also requires the users to adapt to a smaller far more simpler change, if the functionality is used all. Another factor influencing the addition of more 'Administrative' features to the application are the studies conducted by UCISA (2012b) which show the importance placed by Higher Educational Institutions on the ability to offer a service that aids a student’s day-to-day life around school. Throughout the case studies performed by UCISA (2012b) two recurring themes that drives the development and investment in TEL (Technology Enhanced Learning, a concept similar to E-Learning) are enhancing the students experience by providing them with tools “such as the timeliness of feedback and access to staff” and “give[ing] students the best experience and the ability to use the latest technology, where possible” as well as aiding teachers by “providing teaching staff with access to all the activities they are responsible for and instrumental in providing opportunities to share and quality assure learning”. While it is important to realise there are myriad factors both driving and preventing the adoption of MLearning and there is no one-size-fits-all solution to an institution looking to implement M-Learning, it can't be ignored that time and again the TEL and MLearning are implemented in numerous institutions with the intention of fulfilling similar roles or providing similar services. 6.3.3 Library Functionality Another feature that was omitted from the final application was the Library feature. This was initially intended to showcase the potential of such an 103 | P a g e

application to incorporate the functionality often found in standalone applications such as MLS' Eclipse.net software. This library feature would have allowed users to search, view, checkout and renew books on the go whilst also linking individual books into relevant subject areas allowing teachers to automatically generate recommended reading lists for any given class or student. This was left out due to the low importance of the feature in relation to the overall project. While if implemented the functionality would have added depth and value to the application, this would not have helped the application achieve many of the goals set out in the project. Database Design 6.3.4 Further work During the design and development phases of this application the goal of this application was to provide a proof of concept for the research performed in this project. By the very nature of the project the proof of concept was designed to be a lightweight application showcasing the main functionality and providing graphical representation to the key points of research, in doing this certain functionality and features were either omitted from design or the final application. As discussed previously in this chapter one feature that was originally in the design but removed from the final application was the Library feature. If this application was to continue development post-project the library feature would provide additional depth to the application. Another possibility discussed during the research was integrating social media into the application, however the advantages were not clearly apparent and the complications that would arise around effectively monitoring and policing interactions on social media would have potentially caused more issues. Another feature that was discussed during the research phase was the possibility of peer assessment, this would tie into the group work feature and would allow students to provide confidential peer assessments of students along with the work. Due to the impracticalities of the group work feature peer assessment was omitted, however if the group work feature was to be implemented peer assessment would provide useful for both staff and students.

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Section 7 Testing
7.1 Testing Results
Test Case Data Expected Result Actual Result Action Required Add Title + Content: Successful Upload Successful Upload None

Announcemen Standard sentence t with minimal punctuation. Add Announcemen t Add Announcemen t Add No Title + No

Title + No Content Error Message + Error Message + None Failed to Upload Failed to Upload

No Title + Content Error Message + Error Message + None Failed to Upload Failed to Upload

Error Message + Error Message + None Failed to Upload Failed to Upload

Announcemen Content t Add Event Title + Date + Content: Standard sentence with minimal punctuation, Valid Date. Add Event Title + Date + No Content Add Event Title + No Date + Content Add Event No Title + Date + Content

Successful Upload

Successful Upload

None

Error Message + Error Message + None Failed to Upload Failed to Upload Error Message + Error Message + None Failed to Upload Failed to Upload Error Message + Error Message + None Failed to Upload Failed to Upload

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Add Event

Title + Invalid Date Error Message + Error Message + None + Content Failed to Upload Failed to Upload Successful Upload Successful Upload None

Upload Resource Upload Resource Upload Resource Upload Resource

Valid File + File Title Duplicate File + File Title Valid File +

Error Message + Error Message + None Failed to Upload Failed to Upload Successful Successful Upload None

Duplicate File Title Upload Invalid File Size + File Title

Error Message + Failed to Upload Add file size Failed to Upload + None Captured limit before form Error submit

Upload Resource

Invalid File Size + File Title (Second Attempt)

Error Message + Failed to Upload Add file size Failed to Upload + None Captured limit before form Error submit

Upload Resource

Invalid file type

Error Message + Failed to Upload Check file type Failed to Upload + None Captured after form submit Error

Upload Resource Page

Invalid file type (Second Attempt) Not Logged in +

Error Message + Error Message + None Failed to Upload Failed to Upload Redirect to error Redirect to error None page with page with specific error None None

Authenticatio Page that requires n Page

user to be logged in specific error Logged in + Page None

Authenticatio that requires user to n Page be logged in Logged in as Redirect to error Redirect to error None page with specific error

Authenticatio student user + Page page with n requires staff or admin user Page Logged in as None specific error

None

None

Authenticatio student user + Page 106 | P a g e

n

requires student user

Page

Logged in as staff

Redirect to error Redirect to error None page with page with specific error None None

Authenticatio user + Page n Page

requires admin user specific error Logged in as admin None

Authenticatio user + Page n Page requires admin user Logged in as head None None None

Authenticatio of department user n + Page requires head of department or admin Page Logged in as Redirect to error Redirect to error None page with specific error

Authenticatio invalid user + Page page with n requires head of department or admin Page Logged in as None specific error

None

None

Authenticatio Student user 1 + n Page requires student user 1 or staff user Page Logged in as Redirect to error Redirect to error None page with specific error page with specific error

Authenticatio Student user 2 + n Page requires student user 1 or staff user Page

Logged in as user 1 None

None

None

Authenticatio + Page requires n only user 1 User names of User names of None

View Current Users 1 + 2

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Users on Page viewing page

User 1 + 2 to be User 1 + 2 displayed displayed

Create Class

Empty Form

Error Message + Error Message + None Failed to Upload Failed to Upload

Create Class

Valid Data with 1 Empty Field

Error Message + Error Message + None Failed to Upload Failed to Upload Successful Upload + Successful Upload + None

Create Class

Valid Data

Redirect to New Redirect to New Page Create Class Page

Invalid Data: Fields Error Message + Error Message + None Lengths do not meet minimum length requirements Failed to Upload Failed to Upload

Create Homework Create Homework Create Homework

Empty Form

Error Message + Error Message + None Failed to Upload Failed to Upload

Valid Data with 1 Empty Field Valid Data

Error Message + Error Message + None Failed to Upload Failed to Upload Successful Upload + Successful Upload + None

Redirect to New Redirect to New Page Create Lesson Valid Data Successful Upload + Page Successful Upload + None

Redirect to New Redirect to New Page Page

Create Lesson Invalid Data: Fields Error Message + Error Message + None Lengths do not meet minimum length requirements Create Lesson Empty Form Error Message + Error Message + None Failed to Upload Failed to Upload

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Failed to Upload Failed to Upload Create Lesson Valid Data with 1 Empty Field Create Subject Valid Data Error Message + Error Message + None Failed to Upload Failed to Upload Successful Upload + Successful Upload + None

Redirect to New Redirect to New Page Create Subject Page

Invalid Data: Fields Error Message + Error Message + None Lengths do not meet minimum length requirements Failed to Upload Failed to Upload

Create Subject Create Subject Delete Subject

Empty Form

Error Message + Error Message + None Failed to Upload Failed to Upload

Valid Data with 1 Empty Field Submitted Delete Form

Error Message + Error Message + None Failed to Upload Failed to Upload Successful removal of relevant subject data + Removal Successful removal of relevant subject data + Removal None

of relevant links of relevant links to other data Delete Subject N/A to other data

Unable to access Unable to access None class and lesson data associated to deleted subject. class and lesson data associated to deleted subject. Successful removal of relevant lesson data + Removal None

Delete Lesson Submitted Delete Form

Successful removal of relevant lesson data + Removal

of relevant links of relevant links to other data to other data 109 | P a g e

Delete Lesson N/A

Unable to access Unable to access None data associated data associated

to deleted lesson. to deleted lesson. Delete Class Submitted Delete Form Successful removal of relevant class data + Removal Successful removal of relevant class data + Removal None

of relevant links of relevant links to other data Delete Class N/A to other data

Unable to access Unable to access None data associated to deleted class. data associated to deleted class. Successful Upload + Confirmation Message None

Create User

Valid Data

Successful Upload + Confirmation Message

Create User

Invalid Data: Fields Error Message + Error Message + None Lengths do not meet minimum length requirements Failed to Upload Failed to Upload

Create User

Valid Data with 1 Empty Field

Error Message + Error Message + None Failed to Upload Failed to Upload Error Message + Error Message + None Failed to Upload Failed to Upload

Create User

Empty Form

Delete User

Submitted Delete Form

Successful removal of relevant user data + Removal

Successful removal of relevant user data + Removal

None

of relevant links of relevant links to other data Delete User N/A to other data

Unable to access Unable to access None data associated data associated 110 | P a g e

to deleted user. Edit User No Changes to Data No changes to data + Error Message

to deleted user. No changes to data + Error Catch Error Regarding User

Message + Non- Notes Captured Error

Edit User

No Changes to Data (Second Attempt)

No changes to data + Error Message

No changes to data + Error Message + Blank note input

Prevent blank note input

Edit User

No Changes to Data (Third Attempt)

No changes to data + Error Message

No changes to data + Error Message

None

Edit User

Input note only

Change to data + Change to data + Capture Confirmation Message Error Message successful data input

Edit User

Input note only (Second Attempt)

Change to data + Change to data + None Confirmation Message Confirmation Message No changes to data + Error Catch Error Regarding User

Edit User

Empty fields where No changes to possible data + Error message

message + Non- Notes Captured error

Edit User

Changes to 1 field

Changes to data + Confirmation message

Changes to data + Confirmation message + Addition of a blank entry to User Notes

Add Validation to User Notes Field

Edit User

Changes to all fields

Changes to data + Confirmation message

Changes to data + Confirmation message + Addition of a

Add Validation to User Notes Field

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blank entry to User Notes Edit User Edit Admin User name Changes to data + Confirmation message Edit User Edit Admin User name Changes to data + Confirmation message Edit User Add note to admin user Changes to data + Confirmation message Edit Subject No Changes to Data No changes to data + Error Message Changes to data + Confirmation message Changes to data + Confirmation message No changes to data + Redirection to Subject Page Edit Subject Changes to 1 field Changes to data Changes to data Removal of redirect function + Addition of error message None None Page Load Failed Add values to variables for admin users None

+ Redirection to + Redirection to Subject Page Edit Subject Changes to all fields Changes to data Subject Page Changes to data None

+ Redirection to + Redirection to Subject Page Subject Page No changes to data + Non Captured Error regarding unset variable Rename Unset Variable to Valid Name

Edit Class

No Changes to Data

No changes to data + Error Message

Edit Class

No Changes to Data

No changes to data + Error Message

No changes to data + Error Message

None

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Edit Class

Changes to 1 field

Changes to data

Changes to data

None

+ Redirection to + Redirection to Class Page Class Page

Edit Class

Changes to all fields

Changes to data

Changes to data

None

+ Redirection to + Redirection to Class Page Class Page No changes to data + Error Message Changes to data None None

Edit Lesson

No Changes to Data

No changes to data + Error Message

Edit Lesson

Changes to 1 field

Changes to data

+ Redirection to + Redirection to Lesson Page Lesson Page

Edit Lesson

Changes to all fields

Changes to data

Changes to data

None

+ Redirection to + Redirection to Lesson Page Lesson Page Must be logged into a staff or None

User Live Search

Authentication

Must be logged into a staff or

admin account to admin account to user User Live Search Search for users by Returns users inputting a single letter with specific letter in first or last name User Live Search user Returns users with specific letter in first or last name None None

Search for users by Search for users Returns users inputting any combination of letters with any combination of letters in either with specific pattern of letters in first or last

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User Live Search

Search for users that do not exist

Message stating Message stating None no users exist containing the combination of letter no users exist containing the combination of letter

User Live Search

Inputting non alpha-numeric characters

Message stating Message stating None no users exist containing the combination of letter no users exist containing the combination of letter

Suspend User Check relevant box Suspended Value Suspended Value None on the 'Edit User' page Suspend User Attempt to Login as suspended user in the database is in the database is set to true Error Message stating that the set to true Error Message stating that the None

account has been account has been suspended Suspend User Attempt to access pages that require Error Message stating that user suspended Error Message stating that user must be logged in Message Send None None

user to be logged in must be logged in Send Message Send Message from Message Send student to student

Send Message Send Blank Message

Error Message

Error Message

None

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Send Message Send message containing prohibited words

Error Message

Error Message

None

Send Message Attempt to send message to self

Redirect to error Redirect to error None page page

Flag Message Flag message as inappropriate

Flagged message Flagged message None removing it from removing it from the chat log + Redirect to flagged page the chat log + Redirect to flagged page

Flag Message Flag message as inappropriate (Second Attempt)

Flagged message Redirect to error Check validation removing it from page 404 the chat log + Redirect to flagged page on flag message page

Flag Message Flag message as inappropriate (Third Attempt)

Flagged message Flagged message None removing it from removing it from the chat log + Redirect to flagged page the chat log + Redirect to flagged page Add validation for null ID values

Flag Message Flag message with invalid ID

Redirect to error Non captured page error message

Flag Message Flag message with

Redirect to error Redirect to error None page

invalid ID (Second page Attempt) Flag Message Flag message with valid ID + Invalid message type

Redirect to error Redirect to error None page page

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Delete Message

Valid ID + Valid Message type

Message Deleted Message Deleted Capture error + Redirect to confirmation page + Redirect to confirmation page + Non captured error message message for undefined variable

Delete Message

Valid ID + Valid Message type (Second Attempt)

Message Deleted Message Deleted None + Redirect to confirmation page + Redirect to confirmation page

Delete Message

Invalid ID

Redirect to error Redirect to error None page page

Delete Message Add Homework Add Homework

Invalid Page type

Redirect to error Redirect to error None page page

Empty Form

Error Message + Error Message + None Upload Failed Upload Failed

Valid Text + Invalid Error Message + Error Message + None Date Upload Failed Upload Failed

Add Homework

Invalid Text + Valid Error Message + Error Message + None Date Upload Failed Upload Failed

Add Homework

Valid Text + Valid Date

Upload Successful + Redirect to new page

Upload Successful + Redirect to new page + Error

Add validation to handle empty no student homework 116 | P a g e

message regarding no student uploaded homework Add Homework Valid Text + Valid Date Upload Successful + Redirect to new page Upload Student Homework Authentication Only student in the lesson class can upload homework Upload Student Homework Upload Successful + Redirect to new page Only student in the lesson class can upload homework None None

Upload file of valid Upload of item + Upload of item + Add date/time size and type Redirect to new work page + Validate if submitted on time Redirect to new work page validation to file upload

Upload Student Homework

Upload file of valid Upload of item + Upload of item + None size and type (Second Attempt) Redirect to new work page + Validate if submitted on time Redirect to new work page + Validate if submitted on time Upload failed + Non captured error message Add check to file size before form submit

Upload Student Homework

Upload file of invalid size

Upload failed + Error Message

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Upload Student Homework

Upload file of invalid type

Upload failed + Error Message

Upload of item + Add validation to Redirect to new work page file type

Upload Student Homework Upload Student Homework

Upload file of invalid type (Second Attempt) Upload file of

Upload failed + Error Message

Upload failed + Incorrect Error Message

Update Error Message

Upload failed +

Upload failed +

Perform creation

invalid type (Third Error Message Attempt)

Error Message + of directory after Creation of invalid directory file validation

Upload Student Homework

Upload file of

Upload failed +

Upload failed + Error Message

None

invalid type (Fourth Error Message Attempt)

Send Global Announcemen t

Empty Form

Upload failed + Error Message

Upload failed + Error Message

None

Send Global

Text fields smaller

Upload failed +

Upload failed + Error Message

None

Announcemen than text minimum Error Message t Send Global Announcemen t Valid Data Successful Upload + Confirmation Message + Announcement

Successful Upload + Confirmation Message + Announcement

None

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sent to all users

sent to all users

Feedback for Student Work

Empty Form

Upload failed + Error Message

Upload failed + Error Message

None

Feedback for

Text fields smaller

Upload failed +

Upload failed + Error Message

None

Student Work than text minimum Error Message

Feedback for Student Work

Valid Data

Successful Upload + Confirmation Message

Successful Upload + Confirmation Message Delete Message + Redirect

None

Delete Message Create Subject

Valid Message ID

Delete Message + Redirect

None

Valid Input without Error Message subject leader

Error Message + Capture error Non captured Error Message relating to missing variable None

Create Subject Second Attempt

Valid Input without Error Message subject leader

Error Message

SQL Injection subject.php?s=1;% Redirect to error Redirect to error None - Custom URL Variables 20DROP%20TAB LE%20work page page

SQL Injection subject.php?s=1'%2 Redirect to error Redirect to error None - Custom URL Variables 0or%20'1'%20=%2 page 0'1')) page

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SQL Injection SELECT * FROM Announcemen t SQL Injection ; DROP TABLE – Announcemen t SQL Injection ; DROP TABLE – Create Subject Send Message No Data work work user

Successful

Successful

None

upload of data as upload of data as text text

Successful

Successful

None

upload of data as upload of data as text text

Successful

Successful

None

upload of data as upload of data as text Error Message text Error Message None

Send Message Message containing Error Message prohibited word

Error Message

None

Send Message Message exceeding Additional input Additional input None character limit prevented after reaching character limit prevented after reaching character limit

Send Message to messages.php?s Redirect to error Redirect to error None invalid user =invalid Invalid page with error message URL message page with error message

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Section 8 Questionnaires
8.1 Compiled Results
8.1.1 Question 1 “Do you allow students to use their mobile devices in the classroom?” This was a simple yes or no answer in order set a baseline for further questions. Of the twelve participants 10 of them answered no to this question and the other 2 answered N/A, of those who did not teach they did not allow them outside the classroom or outside of the building. 8.1.2 Question 2 “Would you allow students to use their mobile devices if you could effectively monitor their activity?” This is a simple yes or no answer aimed at gauging their willingness to allow mobile devices should effective monitoring system be available. To this question 6 participants answered yes, 5 answered no and 1 answered N/A. One participant who answered No added a note stating that they would allow students to use a mobile device provided by the school but not a personal device. 8.1.3 Question 3 “If any, what do you see as the biggest risk of allowing students to use their mobile devices in the classroom?” Overall response:  Chatting / Texting: 7 mentions  Games and other inappropriate sites: 6 mentions  Taking Pictures: 4 mentions  General distractions: 5 mentions  Overall 8 different issues were mentioned An issue that was raised only once but which seemed particularly interesting was any issues that may arise between pupils should a device get damaged or stolen. This issue was all too easily overlooked in this project and by most of the 121 | P a g e

participants in this survey, but has the potential to cause great concern for both students and staff should it occur. 8.1.4 Question 4 “If any, what do you see as being the greatest advantage of allowing students to use their mobile devices in the classroom?” Overall response:  Easy access to data: 7 mentions  Engaging: 4 mentions  Familiarity of the device: 2 mentions  Overall 7 different advantages were mentions While yielding varied responses from the participants there was very little overlap between them. Easy access to data seemed to be the one most identified by the participants. 8.1.5 Question 5 “Do you see mobile devices having any impact on the learning experience in the future?” To this question the overwhelming response was yes. 9 of the participants answered yes, 2 answered maybe and 1 answered maybe to phones and yes to tablet devices. 8.1.6 Question 6 “Do you believe current technologies employed in the classroom such as computers and projects in anyway enhances the learning experience?” Overall response:  Yes: 7  Yes if used well: 5 All of the participants answered yes to this questions with some adding that the effectiveness of the technology depends on the way it is being applied. 8.1.7 Question 7 “Do you believe access to the internet has had a positive or negative effect on 122 | P a g e

your student’s ability to learn?” Overall response:  Positive: 5  Mixed: 6  N/A: 1 Half of the participants believed that access to the internet has had both a positive and negative impact siting that wealth of data available was a benefit and at the same time could be troublesome, with some students choosing to copy and paste chunks of information rather that conducting actual research or work. 8.1.8 Question 8 “Do you believe attitudes towards new technologies in the classroom needs to change?” Overall response:  Yes: 7  No: 1  Mixed: 4 Some of the reasons given for those who said yes are:  Teachers can be stuck in their ways, however training would be required.  Students need to be tech savvy  Attitudes will change with the generations but will need support from management  Technology needs to work well to warrant the change  The more common place new tech is within schools will help students use them better Some of the reasons for those who give a mixed response are:  There is a risk of over dependence  Only if the new tech is an improvement on the old 8.1.9 Question 9 “Do you believe schools are obliged to provide sufficient electronic equipment (such as computers) to service all students in any given class?” Overall response: 123 | P a g e

 Yes: 8  No: 1  Mixed: 3 Of the No and Mixed responses the general feeling was that either schools should offer these devices to all users or to none at all as supplying half a class would not only use up limited school resources, but also be unfair on some of the students, creating a lose-lose scenario.

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Section 9 Online Learning
This chapter will gather expert opinions regarding the impact of online learning on education and with the aim of discovering a consensus amongst experts in the field. The purpose of this is to gain a deeper understanding of not only a crucial discipline within e-learning but to paint a clearer picture of the academic landscape of e-learning as a whole and to answer questions such as, is there a general consensus on what makes e-learning a success or a failure? It would not be possible to read the work of every expert in a field or to briefly discuss all elearning disciplines, so this chapter will compare the work of a few experts and discuss the similarities and differences between their opinions. The topic of online learning is becoming an increasingly important topic within elearning and m-learning as the internet and social networks empower people to share ideas and work collaboratively of project. This chapter will illustrate the importance of online learning to the future evolution of e-learning and this will be further illustrated as the application developed as part of this project online learning will be factored heavily into the design of the application.

5.1 Online Learning
As discussed in Appendix A Section 1 e-learning and its various sub-disciplines have already impacted to some degree the way in which students gather information and conduct their studies, and as e-learning continues to evolve and become more widespread within education the impacts are likely to become much more apparent. Much in the same way that social networks have changed the way billions of people communicate and share information and ideas, Online Learning Communities (OLC) are changing the way teachers and pupils teach and learn. Kear (2011) has conducted in-depth research into OLCs detailing the technical and social requirements for a successful OLC, how these communities are currently being utilised, and has detailed and many of their benefits and pitfalls. The chief benefits identified by Kear are:   Convenience and Flexibility Learning with Others 125 | P a g e



Engagement and Belonging

It could be argued that the benefits 'Learning with Others' and 'Engagement and Belonging' Kear has attributed to OLCs and online learning in general could apply to any personal face-to-face meeting with a group of people, but once it is understood that OLCs are essentially identical to regular communities that the context of these benefits becomes apparent. 'Learning with Others' and 'Engagement and Belonging' are broadly applied to collaborative learning and learning communities that could easily be facilitated without modern technologies, however Kear recognises that modern technologies apply 'Convenience and Flexibility' and simply facilitates this communication. From this it is important to recognise OLCs as an extension of regular collaborative learning and Learning Communities being facilitated through modern technology. These features are not unique to OLCs but can be applied to a broad spectrum of online communities, the benefits offered by a constant connection to a network of individuals, a sense of community and belonging can be fostered in any online community and the impact on a person’s education may not necessarily limited to OLCs. While these benefits are broad and could be applied to a number of different types of online communities, Kear offers case studies that document specific examples where community and collaborative learning within the specific context of OLCs has had an observable influence on a students learning that may not necessarily be achievable within a regular online community. The influences observed by Kear are sometimes negative in nature much like anything else within e-learning, a few of the drawbacks documented by Kear are;    Information Overload Impersonality Low Participation

Information Overload and Impersonality it could be argued, much like the benefits of OLCs, that these could be applied to any online social network. Twitter feeds and Facebook Timelines could represent a significant information overload when trying to find and digest a specific nugget of information, and the same could be said of learning online. With there being a myriad of websites offering information on almost any topic imaginable it can be difficult to discern which 126 | P a g e

websites are offering the correct information, with no method of peer review being required for personal websites it is possible for any person, no matter how ill-educated on a subject, to pass off erroneous information as fact. A prime example of the sometimes untrustworthy nature of ‘facts’ on the internet would be Wikipedia, a site that is viewed by a large number of people and can be edited by anyone. The open nature of Wikipedia and the internet in general can lead to people either maliciously or unwittingly publishing inaccuracies online and presenting them as fact, making it troublesome for students conducting research to find accurate and reliable information online. Low Participation on the other hand may be an issue of great significance to OLCs, much like the old stereotypical child sitting at the back of the classroom not paying any attention, a lack of participation may severely hamper a child's progress if not properly monitored. While Kear is careful to discuss both the positive and negative social influences of E-Learning, Kear points out many of the great benefits offered by e-learning while at the same time offering solutions to the negative. Leask (2003) places great emphasis on the importance of gaining modern ICT skills required to function in a modern society stating that “in order to become successful members of our digital culture, pupils need to be furnished not only with the basic but also the higherorder skills”. Leask however identifies a number of potential dangers of failing to teach them correctly or placing too much importance on e-learning, some of the key points tackled by Leask are:

 Boundaries preventing adoption to new technologies  The role of teachers in the modern classroom  Developing a learning community
While all of these issues are worthy of discussion this next section will discuss the sometimes uncertain role of the teacher when teaching and learning through computers. Learning in a traditional manner places the teacher at the centre of learning, dictating to the pupils and orchestrating the lessons according to set a plan, this classroom dynamic can change drastically when learning is conducted through an online medium such as an OLC. While the teacher may have overall administrative rights over the tools used to facilitate this learning, the role of the teacher can sometimes become difficult to understand and it may not be clear how 127 | P a g e

they can effectively influence the learning process. For example, if the pupils are encouraged to learn independently or work collaboratively on a group assignment through an OLC, is the role of the teacher simply to ensure the online tools are functioning correctly or must the role of the teacher evolve into more of a moderator, focusing the pupils self-learning. Leask concluded that the role of the teacher “is not reduntant, it changes” as new technologies alter methods of communication and can sometimes reduce or alter the face-to-face interactions between pupil and teacher. While the teacher may no longer be the central focal point through which the students receive information, the role of the teacher in facilitating, monitoring and providing guidance to student is no less important. While impersonal contact via OLCs, emails and other forms of electronic communication provide a method of constant contact between individuals, research by Macdonald (2008) shows the importance placed on personal, one-toone and group meetings by both pupils and staff as a way of communicating and as a method of encouraging more meaningful communication through online mediums. One particular member of staff interviewed by Macdonald commented that “the feeling of group warmth and ongoing motivation comes from the human face-to-face tutorials and telephone conference calls, and these provide the residual energy to drive forward the online activity”. This sentiment is echoed by a number tutors interviewed by Macdonald, all of which show the complementary nature of personal and impersonal methods of communication, neither making the other redundant but enhancing the effectiveness of one another. Macdonald and Creanor (2010) conducted similar research gathering the opinions of recent graduate students and whereas the staff often saw online learning resources as a method of effectively communicating with a large number of students conducting independent research, the views put forward by the students were varied with some being for and other against online learning. One student commented that “Without computers and the internet I would not have my B.Sc. (Hons) in Life Sciences. It just would not have been possible.” while another said “I was very frightened of computers when I started because I thought I might crash it or I might do something terrible”. These are just two of the many opposing views gathered by Macdonal and Creanor (2010), all of which illustrate that the effectiveness of new technologies within education can be largely dependent on the willingness and ability to adopt new technologies. On the one 128 | P a g e

hand a student attributed the success in her academic studies largely to the availability of online resources and personal computers, stating that without them her studies would be impossible to complete, and on the other there is a student who, to begin with at least, was very apprehensive when asked to use computers. The boundaries preventing the unwillingness or inability to adopt new technologies will be discussed in more detail here Appendix A Section 3.1.

5.2 Conclusions
There are as many opinions regarding online learning as there are people to discuss it. There will never be an overall consensus on any topic and even less so within e-learning, but there are many commonalities in the conclusions of experts on the topic of online learning. The works of Leask and Macdonald both recognise the need for the role of modern teacher to adapt and change as new technologies are introduced into the classroom. They both recognise that transitions between traditional teaching roles to more modern roles will not be easy will require schools, students and staff to accommodate these changes. All sources referenced in this chapter recognise the flexibility benefits offered by online learning technologies, allowing students to learn in a personalised manner more suited to their preferred method of learning whilst allowing teachers to extend teaching beyond the classroom and scheduled teaching hours. Through conducting research no polarising opinions were found and at the same time very few experts wholly agreed on any topic, this shows the incredibly complex nature of online learning with a blend disciplines of both modern technologies and teaching methods containing very few absolute truths and with no absolutely correct way to view either. The disadvantages of online learning will either vary greatly between sources with Macdonald and Creanor citing age and culture as possible barriers to the successful adoption of online learning, whereas Savin-Barden and Wilkie (2006) recognise many issues including the logistical authenticating and serving hundreds or thousands of concurrent users. The pros, cons and opinions being discussed in this chapter represent only a small fraction of current and past work of the experts in this field.

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Section 10 Aims and Objectives
This chapter will explain the aims and objectives of this project and which questions will and will not be answered.

10.1 Primary Aim
The primary aim of this project is to identify why mobile devices are not widely used in secondary education, and to then design an application which will make mobile devices more appealing and accessible within the classroom. This application will attempt to make mobile devices appealing to a demographic of teachers and administrators that currently do not view mobile devices as either being desirable within the classroom or of much value to the learning process. As part of the primary aim this project will attempt to answer a number questions either during the research process or in the final conclusions, the key questions will include:    What objections would a school have to mobile devices in the classroom? What can mobile devices add to the classroom and learning experience? Is this application capable of making mobile devices more appealing?

10.2 Key Objectives
In order to achieve this primary aim a number of objectives will be completed: Create a picture of the current landscape of e-learning ◦ This will allow for an assessment of the current technological situation from which a number of pros and cons can be highlighted and discussed when creating the specification for the application, and current initiatives with a similar goal to this project can be analysed for any major hurdles which may hinder the primary aim of this project or helpful tips which can aid it. An attempt to identify key barriers to the primary aim ◦ In order to effectively answer the question posed by the primary aim of this project, any major barriers must be identified, analysed, and then solutions offered to effectively negate these barriers. This objective 130 | P a g e

will help to shape the specification for the application, allowing the application to better overcome these barriers through a carefully considered design.

Identify the benefits of m-learning  The benefits of mobile computing and the specific benefits offered by this project to any school looking to adopt mobile devices will be discussed. Conduct a study into educational theory ◦ Educational theory must be understood to effectively design this application and understand its role and how it will be applied in within the classroom, with the specific focus of this research will be geared towards student centred learning. This chapter will shape heavily the design of the application and how students and staff interact with it. Create a proof of concept application ◦ This application will be designed and built using the results of the research with the ultimate aim of making mobile devices both appealing and accessible to use in the classroom as possible. Reflect on the project ◦ After the completion of the main phases of the project the research and application will be reflected upon and will be scrutinised against the primary aim of this project. A successful project will be able to draw conclusive conclusions on the questioned asked within the project and will be able to justify these conclusions.

10.3 Topics that are included but not the focus of this project
While certain topics may be alluded to during this project the main focus will remain with the primary aim of this project.  Mobile Technologies ◦ While mobile technologies provide the basis for this project, this project will not focus in any detail on mobile technologies. 131 | P a g e



Educational Theory ◦ Educational theory will form a part of this project but within the context of this project, and aimed solely at making mobile devices appealing to both students and staff.



Web Design ◦ While effective web design will be required to create an accessible and visually appealing application, this topic will be only be briefly discussed where necessary.

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Appendix B
Section 1 Application Diagrams
1.1 Class Diagram

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1.2 Use Case Diagram

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1.3 ERD Version 1

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1.4 ERD Version 2

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1.5 Siteamp

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1.6 Wireframes 1.6.1 Account Page Large

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1.6.2 Message Page Large

1.6.3 Content Page Large 142 | P a g e

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1.6.4 Home Page Mobile

1.6.5 Navigation

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Mobile

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1.6.6 Login Page Mobile

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1.6.7 Account Page Mobile

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1.6.8 Content Page Mobile

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1.6.9 Message Page Mobile

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1.7 Gantt Charts
1.7.1 Original Gantt Chart

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1.7.2 Final Gantt Chart

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Section 2 Consent Forms

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Section 3 Questionnaires

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