The impact of implementing cell phones in the Egyptian Public Secondary School Educational system as a tool to enhance learning skills

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REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE

Introduction

The basis of this chapter is to review literature related to the study of behaviours toward the use of mobile technology, especially cell phones, as an instructional tool. In this chapter, we study published literature related to the impact of implementing cell phones in the Egyptian Public Secondary School Educational system as a tool to enhance learning skills. Although much research can be found on teacher attitude and behaviours toward technology in general, the origination of data on the implementation of cell phones in schools and behaviour on cell phone use in the secondary school classroom is limited but slowly emerging. The need for further study was detailed by Chao (2005) as she described the rapid growth of cell phone technology available to teachers and students. The literature review focuses on four key areas:

Historical use of technology in the classroom including the roadblocks associated with the implementation

The digital generation, comparing the learning characteristics of digital native students, with the teaching strategies of digital immigrant teachers

Student engagement in relationship to technology in the classroom

Current studies underlining the emergence of cell phone use as an instructional strategy in the classroom.

History

Since the advent of the motion picture, Thomas Edison in 1913 was quoted as saying, “Books will soon be obsolete in the schools”. In January 2007, Steven Jobs, Ex-CEO of Apple, declared “a revolutionary and magical product” (Kobie, 2008, p. 7) when the iPhone was revealed to the world. Technology in education began in the early 1900s with the integration of educational films (Schneider, 2011). Use of sound recordings, radio broadcasting, and motion pictures in the classroom expanded in the 1920s (Nworie, 2007). The use of these types of media influenced educators to create the educational term audiovisual instruction. Lumsdaine (1961) noted that because of an increase in film use by the military for training purposes during World War II, research studies on audio-visual materials and their impact on learning emerged in the 1940s (Nworie, 2007). Ely (2008) characterized this period with \learning materials such as films, filmstrips, recordings and other media to enrich the curriculum. (p. 245). During the 1950s technology use evolved dramatically with the Soviet Union launch of the Sputnik satellite in 1957, which marked the beginning of the Space Age (Fitzgerald, 2002). Melillo (2008) noted that typewriters, calculators, and other audio visual equipment emerged during the decade (as cited in Elliot, 2010). Computers in classrooms were not prevalent until the age of the personal computer in the late 1970s, marked by the emergence of the Apple II (Fingal, 2009). By 1981, personal computers had the first educational drill and practice programs. In 1984, computers usage among students was relatively minimal, with only 28% of students using them at school and only 12% using them at home; however, this number had increased to 59% of students using them at school and 28% using them at home by 1994 ...