Exploring Competency Development with Mobile Devices

Computer-based technologies have been used in the field of education for over thirty years. However, more recently, powerful and more affordable mobile technologies are becoming popular in everyday life and the education system. This paper reports on an online survey of student body in a university in Ontario, Canada focused on the use of a wide variety of digital technologies, including mobile devices such as conventional cellphones, smartphones, tablets, and e-readers. Preliminary results indicate that students are using conventional cellphones with less frequency, favouring use of smartphones and tablets--using such devices more for technical, social, and informational interactions including texting and sharing data and less for computational functions and talking. [For the full proceedings, see ED562127.]