Design Guidelines for Location-Based and Contextual Learning Supported by Mobile Devices

In location-based and contextual mobile learning, students are continually mobile in the virtual, social, and physical environment. A common problem in this view of mobile learning is that students spend time focusing on the mobile devices at the expense of interacting with other students or exploring the physical environment. The authors approach this problem from an interaction design perspective, where they design and analyse geometry-learning activities in two iterations. Based on video data from groups of students participating in the learning activities, the authors analyse when mobile devices are in the foreground and background of their interaction. The authors present six guidelines for designing location-based and contextual mobile learning activities, where mobile devices support rather than distract students from contents and contexts relevant to the learning goals. Finally, the guidelines are evaluated using a model of interaction, which represents mobile device interaction as one of four different modes of human interaction with technology.