Using mobile phones to support learning : a case of UCT first year female science students in the Academic Development Programme

Includes bibliographical references.In recent years, South African universities have been faced with increased massification as a result of more students entering higher education institutions. Some of the students are from poor communities such as rural areas and former black townships which are still educationally disadvantaged. These students, who have been described as ‘digital strangers’ in other studies, have had very little access to or had never used computers prior to university. With increased computerisation in higher education institutions, digital strangers face problems integrating into computer based learning. In contrast to computer access, mobile phone ownership is pervasive and ownership is not socially differentiated in the South African context. This study therefore sought to explore the use of mobile phones to support learning by first year female science students in an extended academic program at the University of Cape Town. Using critical theory, Gee’s notions of Big (D) and little (d) discourses and a qualitative case study methodology, the study examined student’s technological identities. Whilst the results of the study show the powerlessness that digital strangers feel when exposed to computers during their first year of study, the results also show that students identify with their mobile phones because the technology is part of their Discourse. The mobile phone provides emancipation and empowerment that the students need to survive in a challenging science fields through informal and affective learning necessitated by the various internet enabled applications of the technology. The study also showed that students found transferable skills from their mobile phones to computers, thereby enhancing their transition into computer based learning. The study recommends that higher education institutions should consider mobile phones as viable learning tools and the technology should not be regarded as separate from the computer, but rather the two should be viewed as complimentary educational tools