MOBILE DEVICES IN SCHOOL IN TEACHING / LEARNING PROCESS – THE ROADMAP

Abstract

Mobile devices, particularly tablets and smartphones, have achieved tremendous popularity in recent years because of their versatility and multi-functionality and are naturally used in the daily life of any individual and especially adolescents. Since 2010, with the launch of the iPad, the sales market for mobile devices has not stopped growing. This is justified by the fact that these devices present many advantages and few disadvantages; having as strengths usability, portability, versatility, adaptability and ability to customize individual experiences. In the context of the teaching and learning process devices allow to overcome the temporal and physical boundaries of the classroom, since the information is omnipresent and no longer limited to a specific time and place for learning, that is, it enhances m_learning. M_Learning is presented as an approach to the teaching and learning process that allows to acquire any knowledge (anything) desired by the user, regardless of the time (anytime) and the place where you are (anywhere). Students who currently attend the education system, as mentioned, belong to a generation that live every day, in all situations and places, with this type of technology and expect their integration in the classroom, where they spend much of the day. Living with these devices is so intrinsic to these individuals, that teaching without the use of such devices can be considered a wastage to the learning process. In Portugal, the use of m_Learning is little promoted despite subjects as problematic as mathematics can benefit from this new step of technology unlike other countries. This paper presents the state of the art of the use of mobile devices, tablets and smartphones in the teaching/ learning process.