times have changed, and everything seems to indicate that using technology in class will only
increase in years to come.
At the beginning of the project, it was observed that students at UVM texted, tweeted,
and even took photos during class; unfortunately, they did so as a recreational activity. Chatting
with the person next to them does not necessarily distract students anymore. Nowadays, they can
interact with people across the room, across campus, even in another school, or city; all of this
via social networks and email.
The UNESCO (2012) has launched a series of papers that analyze existing initiatives to
use mobile learning in favor of education. According to their statistics, there currently are over
5.9 billion mobile phone subscriptions worldwide, and for every person who accesses the
Internet from a computer, two do so from a mobile device. Thus, it is necessary to find the
reasons behind the current use students give to portable devices when they are in class. It is
important to fully understand how and when these devices could really enhance learning.
A number of strategies were designed with the solely purpose of fostering a culture on
portable devices use in which they are no longer perceived as distractors but included in the
learning process. The strategies implemented involved the use of free software applications to
reinforce the learning process while adding new tools as teaching aids.
We consider that a productive use of portable devices could be any activity that aids
production whether written or verbal. For instance, the use of online dictionaries to enrich and
improve vocabulary uses, the use of audio recording for conversation modeling and production,
among others. It is also considered productive if students use their portable devices to
communicate in English, especially if the communicative act involves real use of the language,
such as expressing opinions and sharing experiences.
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