The Impact of Experiencing a Mobile Game on Teachers' Attitudes Towards Mobile Learning

Using Smartphones In Learning

Smartphones offer high potential for teaching and learning (Prensky, 2005; Traxler 2007). Students use them increasingly in everyday life. The market penetration rate of the smartphone among American adults in 2015 was 65%. Among youngsters (ages 18-29) it was 85% (Smith, 2015). 88% of American teens (ages 13 to 17) had access to a mobile phone of some kind in 2015 (Lenhart et al., 2015). Teachers can take advantage of the availability of smartphones to create an interactive and interesting learning experience. By utilizing the special features of the phones, such as the camera, the recorder, and the many available educational applications, the teacher can create a new learning experience and engage students in the classroom and outside it and thus increase learning motivation among students (Jones et al. 2006, Zadok & Meishar-Tal 2015).

Smartphones can enrich learning by providing authentic and contextual learning conditions (Sharples et al., 2010). Learning through mobile devices can be spontaneous and needs driven. It offers new possibilities for learning: learning outside the classroom, learning anytime and anyplace and learning on the move (Liu et al., 2014; Syvanen et al., 2005). The only constraint that limits the use of mobile phone is bad reception conditions, since reception is still not possible in certain places, and the duration of the battery (Meishar-Tal & Gross, 2014).