5. Conclusions and discussion

In this part, conclusions are discussed. It also discusses flaws in the research, and lessons learned.

The test scores suggest that using moblogs during a course does not have any effect on the quality of reflection. Comparison of the reflective analysis reports shows that there are no significant differences in terms of quality. In the interviews that were held after the research, students indicated that the use of moblogs did not motivate them particularly in working with reflection. The fact that their mobile phone is a part of their social life, does not automatically mean they see it as a tool for reflection and learning as well. This seems to contradict what Rubens (2005) says about personal ownership of mobile devices and how they can foster learning. Kommers (2005) argues that mobile devices lower the boundaries between formal and informal learning, and that personal ownership of the device stimulates using mobile phones in learning processes.

This does not mean that moblogging cannot improve reflection processes with students. In further research or projects, improvements can be made in the following areas:

• Limits of research design
• Reflection and social interaction design
• Incorporation into curriculum
• Technological advances

Limits of research design

First of all, this experiment only focuses on two small groups, with a limited number of participants. The design of the research was pre-experimental (Baarde & de Goede, 2001), which has its limitations. According to Baarda & de Goede (2001), the effect which can be observed after the intervention could also be attributed to other factors. In this experiment, there was no clear observable effect with the experimental group, but what if this is due to other external factors? Baarde & de Goede (2001) also argue that there is a risk of grow- effects in this research design. In this case, the grow-effects were that the 8 weeks are at the end of the academic year, a period of time when students traditionally show some weariness and fatigue with their studies. In a future research with a group of students, the planning should really be taken into consideration.

Another issue that can be raised is the length of the moblogging workshop. Based on various literature resources, mobile technology is an area students should be fairly comfortable with, since they have grown up using this technology (Attewel, 2004; Kommers, 2005). The researcher then concluded that a three-hour workshop and a manual should be more than enough to enable the students to start using moblogging, but he may have underestimated this. Students indicated they ran into technical difficulties, and found it difficult at times to use the technology. In future research, this workshop should be extended to make sure that every student fully knows how to use moblogging and its technology. The workshop could perhaps be concluded with a test to make sure every student has the required competencies to use moblogging.

Reflection and social interaction design

Bolhuis (2009) argues that reflection cannot take place without social interaction. In this experiment, the social aspect of moblogging (i.e. commenting on work of others, interaction via weblogs) was not explored, whereas this may have been a strong aspect. The research of Wopereis (2006), in which the use of weblogs in education has been explored, seems to confirm this. Ferdig & Trammel (2004) observe that there will be a natural tendency for reflection and analysis on the part of the student, given feedback systems are integral to the blogging interface. Though the moblogs allowed the students to interact, this was not a part of the weblog and the experiment. Ferdig and Trammel (2004) also argue that weblogs are especially succesful in promoting interactivity that is conversational, a mode which fosters higher order thinking and reflection in general.

In future research into the effect of moblogging on reflection, the social interaction element of moblogs should therefore be an area of further exploration.

Incorporation into the curriculum

Bolhuis (2009) also argues that students view writing a reflective analysis report merely as a task that needs completing in order for them to pass the course. This is certainly how many students at the Training & Human Development Study Programme have indicated how they see reflection. In this experiment, moblogs were only used within course; the other courses that took place in the same period either did not require the students to submit a reflective analysis report, or were not part of the research; thus fostering the ‘traditional’ way of reflecting. In future researches, ways should be sought to make moblogging a more integral part of all the courses, so that students get a good chance to become more familiar with this new way of reflecting.

Technological advances

Students have suggested that if the technology were more user-friendly, they may be more tempted to start using moblogs in their learning process. The experiment was done a year ago (march – june 2008), and since that time, there have been some technological developments with regards to moblogging. First of all, since the beginning of 2009, Twitter has seen a massive rise in popularity as a moblogging platform, with an eay-to-use interface for moblogging  and an ever-growing community of users. At the time of the experiment, Twitter was still unknown as a moblogging platform. For the experiment, manuals had to be developed in order to explain to students how existing platforms like YouTube and Flickr could be used a moblogging platforms. With the arrival of Twitter, this does not seem necessary anymore.

Students have also indicated that it took too many steps to upload a picture to a moblog from their device. Recent N- Series mobile phones from Nokia, like the popular N95 or the N73, features for uploading multimedia content to a moblog have been incorporated into the device, making it easier to share content.

The video below shows how moblogging functions have been embedded in the Nokia N82, a popular phone model with young people.