Between Smartphones and Tablets: Improving Teacher Education Programmes through Mobile Devices

This research was conducted at the University of Genoa (Italy). The student teachers attended a course focused on the use of mobile devices at school. We tried to examine the impact of mobile learning on university activities for pre-service teachers, the changes in the organization of their studying, the changes in their learning strategies, and the changes in their interaction/cooperation levels. After the course, we administered a questionnaire with both closed-ended and open-ended questions, which highlighted important findings concerning the differences between smartphones and tablets in supporting these aspects of their learning. We found that both types of devices improved interaction and cooperation among students, and being able to search for information was useful for studying. However, changes in the organization of studying and the learning strategies were supported only by tablets and only for specific aspects of learning. This study suggests solutions to improve Italian teacher education programmes and the quality of university activities