January 2012 Volume 15 Number 1 - Educational Technology ...

7 I like to learn Chinese poetry outdoors because I like smart
phones.
12 22 11 3 0 3.90
8 I like to learn Chinese poetry outdoors because I can learn more
about it.
11 18 16 3 0 3.77
9 The smart phone’s guidance when learning Chinese poetry
outdoors is more interesting than the teacher’s classes.
29 14 5 0 0 4.50
10 I tried to use the smart phone to search for related information
during the outdoor activities.
14 16 10 8 0 3.75
11 I like learning with the smart phone’s guidance. 17 14 15 2 0 3.96
12 I think using a smart phone is a convenient way to learn. 25 21 2 0 0 4.48
13 I think using a smart phone is easy to learn. 26 20 2 0 0 4.50
14 I am more willing to learn and discuss with peers when using a
smart phone.
18 17 10 3 0 4.04
No. After class 5 4 3 2 1 Mean
15 Being able to use a smart phone is one of the benefits of this
class.
18 21 9 0 0 4.19
16 Being able to use a smart phone for learning is one of the
benefits of this class.
20 24 4 0 0 4.33
17 I know more about the poems after taking the class. 17 24 7 0 0 4.21
18 I am more concerned about the things around me related to
Chinese poetry after taking the class.
21 20 7 0 0 4.29
19 I would spend more time after class to learn about Chinese
poetry.
14 20 9 5 0 3.90
20 I think using a smart phone to learn is more interesting than
before.
26 20 2 0 0 4.50
21 I am happy to use a smart phone in the Chinese poetry learning
process.
27 19 2 0 0 4.52
22 I think a smart phone, which can provide one-to-one teaching,
can help me to learn better than the teacher’s explanations.
22 24 2 0 0 4.42
23 I have gained a lot from learning by using a smart phone. 25 17 6 0 0 4.40
24 Learning with a smart phone makes me feel more comfortable. 19 22 7 0 0 4.25
25 Learning with a smart phone can enhance my learning
motivation.
22 22 4 0 0 4.38
26 I would recommend the smart phone learning system to others. 19 18 8 3 0 4.10
In terms of functions, some students do not use smart phones to get related information (Item 10). The possibilities
include that the folksonomy-based scaffolding system has already embedded sufficient expert knowledge to guide
their learning, and that the smart phone interface is too small to allow comfortable searching for external
information. From item 11 to item 14, it can be seen that students enjoy the learning guidance and prompt, and that
the system is convenient and easy to use. Therefore, they like to use this system to learn with their peers.
The final twelve items address students’ attitudes toward the proposed approach. The results show that students think
that using smart phones is beneficial for learning Chinese poetry (Items 15 and 16). Most students think their
learning performance is raised through the class (Items 17 and 18). Also, most students agree that the experience of
learning Chinese poetry using smart phones outdoors is interesting, helpful and comfortable (Items 20 - 25). Hence,
they would recommend the u-learning system to others (Item 26). However, some students are not willing to spend
more time after class to learn about Chinese poetry (Item 19).
The students’ responses to the questionnaire items before and after participating in the u-learning activity led to some
interesting results. As shown in Table 5, we found that most students did not have prior experience of using a smart
phone (mean = 2.65 for Item 2), but after the u-learning activity, they stated, “Learning with a smart phone makes
me feel more comfortable” (mean = 4.25 for Item 24); moreover, the students felt that “Learning with a smart phone
can enhance [their] learning motivation” (mean = 4.38 for Item 25). The lack of previous experience of using a smart
phone did not affect the learning motivation of the students.
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