Exploring mobile tool integration: Design activities carefully or students may not learn

This investigation explores the integration of a mobile language learning application into a high school English course. It uses detailed behavioral data, assessments of student vocabulary and language knowledge, student work, and teacher observations to identify how students use the mobile application; measure student learning; determine which aspects of learning activity design supported or failed to support application integration; and determine how application use related to changes in student vocabulary knowledge. Students’ application use and learning suggest certain aspects of the noticing hypothesis (i.e., logging) do not apply in formal mobile learning environments and microlearning is rarely realized in these contexts when there is evidence of learning. From a theoretical perspective, the data suggest mobile tools can be used to encourage spaced repetition and deep processing when the accompanying learning activities are appropriately designed. However, the desired depth of processing is unlikely to be observed when application usage patterns that are consistent with microlearning are seen.