Design, implementation and investigation of a mobile based learning environment

Nowadays, as the use of personal mobile devices becomes widespread, learners can access learning content any place and time. When the literature is studied, there exsists the need for studies showing the use and results of mobile based learning environments in teaching activities as well as classroom educational environments. For this purpose, mobile tools and environments are considered to be very important in terms of maintaining classroom teaching practices outside the classroom. While the use of mobile learning environments in education and the spread of mobile-based courses have provided various benefits in terms of learning processes and results, they have led to a number of problems as well. It has been observed that there is a decrease in motivation of students in mobile based course processes compared to face-to-face education processes and that they have problems related to participation in classes. So as to achieve the expected success from mobile-based learning environments, it is important to ensure that learners' motivation in the learning process is not diminished, self-regulating learning skills are improved, and that measures should be taken to encourage students to be more successful in learning environments. Inasmuch as, in mobile-based learning environments, learners experience personalized learning by managing their own learning process. The ability of learners to be successful by managing their own learning processes can depend on the development of self-regulating learning skills. In mobile based learning environments, a great deal of data on learning behaviors of learners can be obtained and can be made use of in the evaluation process. In this sense, learning analytics provide the evaluation of various data obtained from mobile based learning environments, enabling the design and restructuring of the learning environment and processes in accordance with the learner's needs and providing interventions to learners. By using learning analytics, it is possible to ensure learners to see their own behaviors in a learning environment. It is thought that reflecting the learning behaviors of the learners in learning environment by using learning analytics will improve their motivation for the course and self-regulation skills and accordingly increase their academic achievement. For this purpose, it is aimed to study the effects of using learning analytics on students' academic achievement, self-regulatory learning skills and motivation in mobile based learning environment. The research has been conducted on 49 university students studying at Bartin University and taking Basic Information Technologies I course. As a result of random assignment, 25 students have formed the experimental group and 24 students have formed the control group. The students in the experimental and control groups have taken courses during an academic period on a mobile-based learning environment. Educational content and materials have been transferred to the Moodle mobile learning management system and have been made available to students. While weekly learning analytics have been sent to experimental group students about their own learning behaviors on mobile based learning environment, learning analytics haven't been sent to the control group students. At the end of the research, academic achievement, self-regulatory learning skills and motivation of the students in the experimental and control groups have been compared. Both quantitative and qualitative research methods have been used to analyze the data. Quantitative data have been gathered up through "Personal Information Form ", "Basic Information Technologies Achievement Test", "Self-Regulatory Learning Scale". On the other hand, qualitative data has been gathered up through semi-structured student opinions form. In the analysis of quantitative data, pre-test scores of the scales have been checked if there is a statistically significant difference between post-test scores. Covariance (ANCOVA) analysis has been used for this. In the analysis of qualitative data, content analysis method has been used. At the end of the study, it was observed that giving support to the students in the mobile based learning environment in favor of the experimental group, showed a statistically significant difference on the academic achievement and self-regulating learning skills. However, there has been no statistically significant difference between the experimental and control group students in terms of motivation for the course. According to the findings obtained from the semi-structured student opinions form, the students stated that they find learning analytics useful in general and they would like to use it in future courses. A small number of students have stated that sharing the results of learning analytics with themselves has caused anxiety.