Students using smartphones to conduct their research: study

Gone are the days, it appears, when students required a computer in order to conduct their research.

As Mobile Syrup reports, a recent Mobilicity survey found that 66% of Canadian students have taken to conducting research on the go from their mobile phones. The study, dubbed Mobile Student Survey 2.0, also found that nearly 50% of students have downloaded mobile apps that assist in their research, and more than 41% of students use their mobile phones and tablets to record tutorials and lectures.

"More importantly, 56% of those surveyed believe that mobile phones are an invaluable research and studying tool," reports Daniel Bader. "Students are also using the cloud, with services like Dropbox and Google Drive, to collaborate in a more organized manner. Being able to track changes to projects and documents in real time is a huge help when it comes time to divvying up responsibilities."

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But the applications for mobile tech in the classroom can go much further.

"Not only are we seeing students using smartphones to record lectures, photograph instructor notes and collaborate through cloud-based applications, but some instructors are starting to allow the Mobile Student 2.0 to research items of interest during a lecture or use Twitter to open a back channel of conversation and enhance student participation and engagement," shares Dr. Mark Federman, the University of Toronto's former Chief Strategist of the McLuhan Program in Culture and Technology, in a Canada Newswire report.

Mobilicity's commissioned study is most likely an attempt to shill their services: the Canada Newswire report quickly shifts its focus to the mobile provider's inexpensive student-customized data plans. But the burgeoning influence of mobile technology has undoubtedly altered how students and teachers do their work.