Internet and Higher Education 31 (2016) 3242

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Internet and Higher Education

Mobile instant messaging support for teaching and learning in

higher education
Simon So
Department of Mathematics and Information Technology, The Education University of Hong Kong, 10 Lo Ping Road, Tai Po, N.T., Hong Kong

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Smartphones could be the fastest spreading technology in human history. These mobile devices change the way
Received 7 May 2015 we communicate and enable mobile and ubiquitous learning at a different level. This study evaluated the use of
Received in revised form 27 May 2016 mobile instant messaging tools to support teaching and learning in higher education. A total of 61 undergraduate
Accepted 6 June 2016
students enrolled at a teacher-training institute in Hong Kong who have smartphones with WhatsApp were
Available online 14 June 2016
assigned into experimental and control groups. Besides the traditional classroom learning for both groups, the ex-
Keywords:
perimental group was also supported with bite-sized multimedia materials and teacher-student interaction via
Over-the-top (OTT) service WhatsApp outside school hours. The participants of the control group used WhatsApp only for academic commu-
Mobile instant messaging (MIM) nication. Pre-test scores were used as the covariate. The marginal means on the post-test scores showed that the
WhatsApp participants in the experimental group performed better than those in the control group. The intervention of
Bite-sized learning WhatsApp improved the learning achievement of the participants. The strength of the intervention between
Mobile learning the two groups was medium to large. A questionnaire designed by the author was administered at the end of
the study. The participants showed positive perception and acceptance of the use of WhatsApp for teaching
and learning. The participants slightly rejected the view that receiving instructional materials and questions out-
side school hours could interfere with their private lives. The typical usability issues on mobile learning were
found to be valid. The experience learnt in this research was discussed.
2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
The widespread use of smartphones is reected by the observation
that most higher education students in Hong Kong own such devices.
Subscribing to discounted or unlimited data plans is common among
them. These devices allow them access to Internet via high-speed
WIFI connectivity around the campus and at home. Kukulska-Hulme
et al. (2011) conducted an international survey on university students
and found that amongst the mature age students surveyed, receptive,
productive, and communicative uses are shown across learning, social,
entertainment, and workplace environments (p. 30). Owing to the up-
surge of smartphone penetration in recent years, over-the-top (OTT)
messaging services on mobile instant messaging, microblogging, social
networking chats, and voice-over-IP talks have become the prime com-
municative use of smartphones. The general public including students is
less likely to use SMS service (Church & de Oliveira, 2013). Instead, they
are more inclined to communicate with family and friends using various
synchronous and asynchronous communication tools such as
WhatsApp, Line, Viber, WeChat, KakaoTalk, BBM, Twitter, Skype, and
more (Pew Research Center, 2015). The use of these mobile instant
messaging (MIM) apps has been growing rapidly. The ubiquitous nature
E-mail address: swwso@eduhk.hk.
and the special features of these MIM apps have the potential to foster
an effective environment to support teaching and learning. Since all
the participants of this study had WhatsApp in their mobile devices,
the mobile instant messaging support in this research is solely referred
to the use of WhatsApp for teaching and learning.
In recent years, the popularity of text messaging and instant messag-
ing has prompted educators to integrate messaging tools in higher edu-
cation teaching and learning (Bakker, Sloep, & Jochems, 2007; Brett,
2008; Lauricella & Kay, 2013; Quan-Haase, 2008). Considerable work
has been reported on the use of these tools for content learning
(Cifuentes & Lents, 2010), language learning (Cavus & Ibrahim, 2009;
Levy & Kennedy, 2005; Lu, 2008; Zhang, Song, & Burston, 2011), class-
room interaction and discussion (Hou & Wu, 2011; Jeong, 2007;
Markett, Arnedillo Snchez, Weber, & Tangney, 2006; Scornavacca,
Huff, & Marshall, 2007), peer collaborative support (Ng'ambi & Brown,
2009; Timmis, 2012), administrative support (Goh, Seet, & Chen,
2012; Jones, Edwards, & Reid, 2009; Naismith, 2007) and more. Howev-
er, many of these studies are limited to the exchange of text-based mes-
sages (e.g. SMS) and, in some cases, the messaging tools are resided in
PCs (e.g. desktop instant messaging tools). Rambe and Bere (2013)
have pointed out that the academic potential of MIM remains to be
one of the least explored functionalities of smartphones in higher edu-
cation institutions. The appropriate inclusion of these tools in higher ed-
ucation institutions is a challenge to the mobile learning research

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.iheduc.2016.06.001
1096-7516/ 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
 S. So / Internet and Higher Education 31 (2016) 3242
community. Teachers, who may be comfortable in using computers for
teaching, may not be as comfortable in utilizing mobile technologies
such as WhatsApp into their teaching. They may not realize that
MIM has the potential to create alternative dialogic spaces for student
collaborative engagement (Rambe & Bere, 2013). The approaches to de-
liver instructional materials and activities with these tools remain as an
uncharted territory for many educators. This paper aims to ll the gap.
The purpose of this study was to explore the use of a mobile instant
messaging tool to support the teaching and learning of a Database
course in higher education. The intention of this research was not to
conduct the entire course within WhatsApp. Instead, the traditional
method of teaching such as face-to-face lectures and tutorials was
supplemented with the delivery of succinct instructional materials
and activities through WhatsApp outside school hours. WhatsApp was
used to extend and re-enforce the concepts learnt in the class, and
provide a channel for the students to communicate with the instructor
and their peers ubiquitously. The following two research questions
were addressed in this study:
Research Question 1: Does the intervention of WhatsApp, which
supports the traditional classroom instructions of an undergraduate
Database course outside school hours, improve the learning achieve-
ment of the participants?
Research Question 2: To what extent do the participants perceive the
usefulness and accept the use of WhatsApp for teaching and learning?
The rest of this paper is organized as follows: the pertinent literature
of text messaging and instant messaging for educational purposes is
reviewed in Section 2. Section 3 presents the rationales for using
WhatsApp to support teaching and learning. The arguments are based
on the salient characteristics of modern MIM tools. It is followed by a
discussion of the methods and data analysis. Section 4 provides the
details on the process of setting up the research and the highlight of
the intervention. The detailed results of the quantitative analysis
derived through the instruments are reported in Section 5. The main
ndings, the limitations of the study, the practical implications and
suggestions for future research are discussed in Section 6. Section 7
provides the concluding remarks of MIM support for teaching and
learning in higher education.
2. Relevant research
Computer- and mobile-mediated communication provide users the
opportunity to facilitate social afnity and social presence. Communica-
tion using messaging tools is versatile. Users have control over when
and with whom they interact. A number of research publications in
the last decade have shown that messaging systems can be utilized in
many educational activities. These applications can be largely catego-
rized into (1) teaching and learning support and (2) communication
and administrative support. This categorization follows the conversa-
tional framework of Laurillard (2002) and her notion on the effective
use of digital technologies to facilitate learning through instruction,
construction, discussion, and collaboration (Laurillard, 2010). In the
proposed intervention specied in the rst research question, these
two domains of applications with WhatsApp could be found and
discussed in the later section. The following literature review pro-
vides the relevant studies which have implemented the two modes
of messaging communication, namely text messaging and instant
messaging, in the two supporting domains described above.
2.1. Text messaging
Text messaging (texting) typically refers to the asynchronous mo-
bile communication service between mobile handsets using SMS.
Texting has been popular for communicating short messages prior to
the widespread ownership of smartphones and the shift of more users
to OTT messaging apps in developed societies (ITU, 2013). Many educa-
tors and scholars use text messaging as the form of communication for
33
educational purposes (Brett, 2008, 2011; Goh et al., 2012; Jones et al.,
2009).
For teaching and learning support with text messaging, many re-
searchers have reported its use in language learning. Levy and
Kennedy (2005) described a project on learning Italian via mobile
SMS in an Australian university context. Lu (2008) explored the applica-
tion of SMS in L2 learning in Taiwan. Cavus and Ibrahim (2009) reported
an experiment on the use of SMS to support the learning of technical
words. Zhang et al. (2011) reexamined the effectiveness of vocabulary
learning between an SMS group and a paper-based group. Hayati,
Jalilifar, and Marshhadi (2013) examined the push aspect of SMS
affordance in relation to the delivery of bite-sized English idioms. A
number of studies explored the use of SMS to increase classroom in-
teraction and discussion (Markett et al., 2006). Scornavacca et al.
(2007) presented an SMS-based classroom interaction system and
explored its effect on the learning experience of the students.
Ng'ambi and Brown (2009) implemented a dynamic frequently
asked questions tool that incorporated SMS. The tool was intended
to facilitate consultation among students and with the lecturer
anonymously and inclusively. The MeLAS project (Brett, 2008) was
an institution-wide implementation of SMS-based technology.
SMS tools allowed the creation of three types of messages, namely,
one-way communication, formative assessment with feedback, and
collaborative learning.
In the area of communication and administrative support with text
messaging, Naismith (2007) reported an e-mail to text message service
that supported administrative communication for higher education
staff and students. Message types included notications of room chang-
es and class cancellations, reminders on assignment submission and col-
lection, notications of relevant instructional activities, warning
messages to absentees, instructional messages, and greeting messages.
Furthermore, many education institutions such as Deakin University
and Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA) of Austra-
lia release examination grades and results via SMS.
2.2. Instant messaging
Instant messaging (IM) can be classied as quasi-synchronous com-
munication. IM apps allow interlocutors to exchange short typed-texts
anywhere across the globe. The actual communication channel is nor-
mally bi-directional, although turn-taking in conversation is a common
practice. IM is a form of OTT services, which can be further categorized
into mobile instant messaging (MIM) and desktop instant messaging
(PC IM). The cost of sending and receiving messages is negligible in
comparison with that of SMS texting. Modern IM apps can support mul-
timedia data and hyperlinks. Most of these apps allow group communi-
cation and help to build a closer social networking environment
for users (Vrocharidou & Efthymiou, 2012). IM tools facilitate many sig-
nicant opportunities for higher education (Farmer, 2005). University
students are heavy IM users (Quan-Haase, 2008). Researchers have
shown considerable interest in how students use IM (Bakker et al.,
2007; Flanagin, 2005) and how IM can be integrated into their social
and academic lives (Ogara, Koh, & Prybutok, 2014; Quan-Haase,
2008). Lauricella and Kay (2013) have found that both text and IM are
useful and viable tools to augment the communication among peers
and faculty in higher education.
For teaching and learning support with instant messaging, IM tools
could be used to support synchronous discussion activities (Hou &
Wu, 2011). Formal and informal interactions integrated with IM tools
in online learning environments could have positive effects on learning
(Contreras-Castillo, Prez-Fragoso, & Favela, 2006; Hrastinski, 2006;
Jeong, 2007). In studying subjects, such as a biology course for forensic
science (Cifuentes & Lents, 2010), IM could encourage students to
approach their professor with condence as well as to increase their
interest and success in their study. Timmis (2012) argued that IM
conversation offers a means of sustainable peer support among
34 S. So / Internet and Higher Education 31 (2016) 3242
undergraduate students through digitally mediated communication
and collaborative activities that cross formal and informal boundaries.
The co-creation of artifacts, meaning making, motivation, and affective
support were also demonstrated.
In the area of communication and administrative support with in-
stant messaging, IM enables libraries such as the National Library of
Australia (NLA) to provide responsive and streamlined services (Davis,
2007). NLA's virtual reference service was a resounding success. Popular
IM clients were supported. Librarians could use IM to provide direct re-
sponses to user queries (Chua & Goh, 2010; Doan & Ferry, 2006;
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2014). IM can also offer a
range of other institutionally provided services such as the release of
grades and notication of class cancellations (Lauricella & Kay, 2013).
3. Rationales for using WhatsApp to support teaching and learning
Web 2.0, sometimes referred to as the read/write web, is a breed-
ing ground for engaging educational endeavors. As a myriad of Web 2.0
tools are available today, the actual activity that can be achieved by a
Web 2.0 tool can be very different. Crook et al. (2008) outlined twelve
major categories of Web 2.0 activities ranging from media sharing to so-
cial networking. Different and competing tools support different activi-
ties. Typically, these tools are evolving and more features are
continually added. Hence, sometimes it is difcult to classify the tool.
Nevertheless, WhatsApp as a Web 2.0 IM tool can also be considered
as a social networking tool. The functionalities supported by WhatsApp
can widen opportunities for pedagogical rethinking (Conole & Alevizou,
2010). By making use of the special features offered by WhatsApp, pur-
poseful activities can help students to learn more effectively (Beetham &
Sharpe, 2013). This section will highlight some of these features which
are capable of enabling various pedagogical activities. Studies of
WhatsApp for educational purposes and the aim of this study are pre-
sented at the end of this section.
3.1. Over-the-top messaging services can support formal and informal
learning
Over-the-top (OTT) services refer to the delivery of media contents
such as video, audio, images, or texts over the Internet rather than via
dedicated service providers or exclusively over mobile carriers. Some
examples are Skype for video/voice calls, WhatsApp for messages on
mobile devices, and YouTube for streaming video delivery. MIM apps
enable users to exchange messages and to deliver images and video
clips for free. The readily available service is well-suited to the continu-
um of formal, non-formal, and informal learning environments (Cross,
2007; Eshach, 2007). In higher education settings, most in-campus loca-
tions like classrooms have Internet access. Students can use OTT services
and apps to support their formal learning (Lockyer & Patterson, 2008).
To bridge in- and out-of-school learning (Eshach, 2007), OTT services
can have important roles in some of the informal learning activities
such as scientic eld trips and museum visits (Meek, Fitzgerald,
Sharples, & Priestnall, 2013; Pachler, Bachmair, & Cook, 2010).
WhatsApp can support spontaneous communication, the exchange
of images, and sharing of captured video clips in teaching and learning
activities. The mobile connectivity and instantaneous services provide
an opportunity to offer new ways of teaching and learning that can ulti-
mately improve performance. On-demand access to media contents is
benecial to busy and independent learners. By allowing learners to se-
lect their needed learning materials, this can cultivate a responsive ped-
agogy for individual differences.
3.2. Bite-sized approach to learning
To use technology uidly and ubiquitously, a exible learning envi-
ronment should entail digital-minded students (Andone, Dron,
Pemberton, & Boyne, 2007). Learning materials should be presented to
learners over time in bite-sized chunks (Stahl et al., 2010). Traxler
(2009) argued that the need to organize and navigate through bite-
sized pieces of mobile learning content will affect the personalized
learning journey of individual learners. For mobile phones, short and
bite-sized resources are most effective (Bradley, Haynes, Cook, Boyle,
& Smith, 2009). Provided the material pieces are succinct and concise,
WhatsApp can be a exible medium that can support teaching and
learning. Furthermore, the Ebbinghaus savings function informs us
that the course of forgetting can best be described by a power curve of
time (Wixted & Ebbesen, 1991; Wixted & Carpenter, 2007). This is
widely accepted as a general theory for how we learn and retain infor-
mation. The retention of new information degrades rapidly unless the
knowledge is reviewed in some manner (Stahl et al., 2010). To ght
the forgetting curve, experts have come up with many strategies.
Overlearning, immediate recall and spaced repetition are some of the
learning techniques. Revising the learning materials methodically
could reduce the steepness of the forgetting curve. Furthermore,
revisiting materials in bite-sized chunks is more effective than to learn-
ing the same amount of material as a large bolus (Stahl et al., 2010).
Bite-sized approach to learning is both pedagogical and pragmatic.
WhatsApp is a suitable tool to facilitate this form of learning. WhatsApp
allows the teacher to deliver learning materials in small chunks. This
method of presenting information is less overwhelming for the learners
and makes it easier for their learning. This can also be well-suited for
students with a busy lifestyle. WhatsApp also retains the chat history
chronologically. Bite-sized materials are stored in the learner's device
for easy access. Learners can conveniently revisit these materials at
their own pace and time.
3.3. Studies of WhatsApp for educational purposes and the aim of this study
The uptake of WhatsApp as a MIM tool has been phenomenal. As of
September 2015, WhatsApp had a user base of up to 900 million, mak-
ing it the most globally popular messaging application. The system han-
dles N10 billion messages each day (Wikipedia, 2015). WhatsApp can
be a serious tool to support teaching and learning. Despite the ubiqui-
tous use of WhatsApp, only a few research studies have reported on
its application for teaching and learning. Rambe and Bere (2013) report-
ed a case study on an undergraduate IT module at a South African uni-
versity that integrated WhatsApp into classrooms and out-of-the-
classroom tasks. They argued that MIM has the potential to create alter-
native dialogic spaces for student collaborative engagements and to
transform teaching and learning. Ngaleka and Uys (2013) explored
the use of WhatsApp for a group of undergraduate students on collabo-
rative research projects. Conversation analysis was used to analyze the
test messages (ten Have, 2007). Gutirrez-Colon et al. (2013) reported
the use of WhatsApp for English language learning. Salem (2013) stud-
ied the effect of MIM applications on the use of English language in Ku-
wait. This paper focused on the issue commonly known as textisms in
the composition of text messages using IM tools (Rosen, Chang, Erwin,
Carrier, & Cheever, 2010).
The aim of this study is to examine how smartphones installed with
MIM tools such as WhatsApp may effectively be used to engage stu-
dents in their learning. We are interested to explore how MIM can en-
hance traditional teaching and learning in higher education. It is not
the intention of this study to disturb the existing classroom practices;
rather, the focus is on how MIM can support their learning outside
school hours. This research was carried out in a teacher-training insti-
tute in Hong Kong. The selected unit is an undergraduate database
course for pre-service and in-service ICT teachers in Hong Kong. Many
of these in-service students have full-time posts in primary or second-
ary schools. The ubiquitous nature of smartphones could extend their
learning beyond the regular lectures and promote closer interaction
among the tutor and student-peers. The extended dialogic space may
provide an additional support in constructing their ICT knowledge as
well as fostering active discussion in motivating their learning. The
 S. So / Internet and Higher Education 31 (2016) 3242
purpose of this study, therefore, is twofold: (1) to examine whether the
intervention of WhatsApp outside school hours for a traditionally
taught ICT course could improve the learning achievement of the partic-
ipants; and (2) to evaluate the views on the use of WhatsApp for teach-
ing and learning among the students. A two-group pre- and post-test
experiment aimed to answer the rst research question and for the sec-
ond research question, a questionnaire designed by the author was used
to analyze the students' perception and acceptance of WhatsApp for
teaching and learning. In addition, the typical usability issues were ex-
plored and the experience learnt was discussed. This research was de-
signed to ll the gap in the literature on the use of MIM to support
teaching and learning in higher education.
4. Methodology
4.1. Pedagogical intervention of WhatsApp
To evaluate the effectiveness of MIM in supporting teaching and
learning, a two-group pre- and post-test experiment accompanied by
the pedagogical intervention of WhatsApp was conducted on a higher
education course in Hong Kong. The course teacher is also the author
of this paper and has over ten years of experience in teaching the ICT
course in Database. Both the experiment and control groups in two par-
allel classes received the same traditional instruction and identical con-
tents as if the course was taught in the past. The pedagogical
intervention of WhatsApp was to enhance teaching and learning out-
side school hours. The support was not meant to replace the classroom
teaching or to introduce new topics in WhatsApp. Succinct key points
and supporting multimedia materials were provided in WhatsApp to
consolidate the concepts presented in class. The teacher posted ques-
tions to the students and encouraged them to respond to the questions.
The students could also use this medium to ask and discuss any queries
Fig. 1. The setup and the procedure of the experiment.
35
with the teacher and their fellow students. The control group was limit-
ed to the use of WhatsApp for administrative support only. After com-
pleting the experiment, a questionnaire was administered to the
participants to elicit their views on the use of MIM for teaching and
learning. Fig. 1 shows the setup and the procedure of the experiment.
The details of the participants, the measures and the procedure are de-
scribed in the subsequent sections. The collected data are analyzed
quantitatively to answer the two research questions introduced above.
The results can then be reported in detail.
4.2. Participants
Participants were students at a teacher-training institute in Hong
Kong. Students were recruited from two parallel evening classes of a da-
tabase management course during the winter semester of 2014. The
students had the same instructor, course content, and teaching sched-
ule. Participation in the study was voluntary. They signed a consent
form and were informed of their rights to withdraw at any time during
the study. One class mainly consisted of in-service ICT students enroll-
ing in mixed-mode programs. These students have full-time teaching
or non-teaching posts in primary or secondary schools in Hong Kong.
A small number of pre-service full-time students were also enrolled in
this class. This class was chosen to be the treatment group because the
intervention was conducted outside school hours and the learning sup-
port was believed to be benecial to this group of students. A total of 31
students participated in the experimental group and all of these stu-
dents are regular users of MIM tools like WhatsApp. The other class
consisted of full-time pre-service students majoring or minoring in
ICT. This class was designated to be the control group. A total of 30 stu-
dents participated in the control group and they are also regular users of
WhatsApp. However, their participation using WhatsApp was limited to
the exchange of messages related to the administration of the course.
36 S. So / Internet and Higher Education 31 (2016) 3242
4.3. Measures
4.3.1. Pre- and post-tests
The instructor designed an instrument with 50 quiz items to assess
the participants' prior knowledge and their learning of the class content
at the end of semester. The pre- and post-tests were administered to
students in both the treatment and control groups prior and after the
course. The pre-test served as the covariate for the analysis and mea-
sured before the experimental intervention began. The identical post-
test was given to the students at the end of the course. Analysis of co-
variance (ANCOVA) was used to evaluate the two-group pre-test/
post-test design (Hogg & Tanis, 2010). After completing the course, it
is expected that there will be an improvement on the database knowl-
edge in the participants for both groups. This design allows the re-
searcher to answer the rst research question by measuring any
signicant learning improvement for the participants in the treatment
group as compared to the control group with the pre-test as the
covariate.
4.3.2. Questionnaire
To establish a better perception on the use of WhatsApp for teaching
and learning, a questionnaire was administered to both the experimen-
tal and control groups at the end of the course. This instrument was de-
signed by the author and referred to as WhatsApp for Teaching and
Learning Questionnaire (WATLQ) in this research. WATLQ intended to
measure the acceptance and perceived usefulness of WhatsApp for
teaching and learning from the perspectives of the participants. The in-
strument allows the researcher to answer the second research question.
The formation of the instrument was drawn from the literature review
(Bakker et al., 2007; Cavus & Ibrahim, 2009; Davis, 1989; Flanagin,
2005; Gutirrez-Colon et al., 2013; Lauricella & Kay, 2013; Ogara et al.,
2014; Rambe & Bere, 2013; Venkatesh, Morris, Davis, & Davis, 2003).
In order to design a questionnaire that addresses the needs of the re-
search, comprehensive and frequently cited models such as the Tech-
nology Acceptance Model (TAM) (Davis, 1989) and the United Theory
of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) (Venkatesh et al.,
2003) were examined but not all of these models' constructs and
items were fully adopted for the parsimonious reason. However, some
constructs proposed by these models are highly relevant to this study.
Most specically, TAM assumes that the beliefs about usefulness and
ease of use are always the primary determinants of information tech-
nology adoption. According to Davis (1989), Perceived Usefulness
(PU) is dened as the degree to which a person believes that using a
particular system would enhance his or job performance. A number of
measured items related to this construct were formulated for the pro-
posed instrument to suit the context of this study. For examples, these
specic questions focus on whether WhatsApp can bring new learning
opportunities and be an effective tool for learning. Furthermore, Per-
ceived Ease-of-Use (PEOU) is dened as the degree to which a person
believes that using a system would be free of effort. Examples of these
questions include whether WhatsApp can help learners to easily review
all multimedia materials by keeping all the records of the contents and
whether WhatsApp is more exible for learning as it can be done at any-
time and anywhere. The UTAUT model can be used to understand the
factors that inuence the acceptance of a specic technology. The
model includes four key constructs largely derived from a variety of the-
oretical models including TAM. UTAUT posits that performance expec-
tancy, effort expectancy, social inuence and facilitating conditions are
the determinants of behavioral intention or use behavior, and that gen-
der, age, experience and voluntariness of use have moderating effects in
the acceptance of technology. The original UTAUT model included a
large number of items to measure the various factors with a number
of modulating effects. This model is too comprehensive to be fully
adopted into this study for practical reasons. Similar to the constructs
of PU and PEOU proposed in TAM, performance expectancy and effort
expectancy are the two most relevant constructs to this study. Effort
expectancy, for example, is dened as the degree of ease associated
with the use of the system capturing the concept of perceived ease of
use, complexity and ease of use from existing models (Venkatesh et
al., 2003). From a technical perspective, using WhatsApp for learning
may be hindered by the screen size, one-nger interaction, internet
speed and battery life of mobile devices. These factors may increase
the difculties in accessing instructional materials and facilitating inter-
active activities on mobile devices with WhatsApp.
A crucial aspect of the questionnaire design is to address the specic
nature of WhatsApp in supporting teaching and learning. Many of the
items were formulated by identifying WhatsApp's unique features in
the context of mobile learning. The questionnaire has a range of
WhatsApp specic questions which focuses on whether WhatsApp
can elicit new learning opportunities, foster effective communication,
allow relevant feedback, offer informal and formal learning opportuni-
ties, and support collaborative learning. WATLQ was also designed to
address the concern asserted by Rambe and Bere (2013) that merging
academic learning with family life after hours using MIM was known
as a cause of resentment.
4.4. Procedure and instruction
The traditional approach of instruction was provided to the students
enrolled in the introductory course of Database Management System.
The course prepares students to teach the database strand of ICT within
the curriculum framework of secondary schools in Hong Kong and pro-
vides sufcient knowledge of this eld to primary ICT teachers. The stu-
dents received regular lectures on the theories in relational databases,
query language, and web-based database construction. To practice
what they had learned in the lectures, they also had to complete a
hands-on database project in groups.
During the rst lecture, the instructor recruited the participants for
the study. They were asked to provide their mobile contact information
to the instructor and to undertake the pre-test. In the subsequent class
lectures, lecture slides were typically used to teach the formal database
theories. Hands-on database tasks were completed with the class com-
puters. Besides the regular instruction, students in the experimental
group frequently received bite-sized instructional materials via
WhatsApp. The small chunks of materials were designed to support
and supplement the lectures. The bite-sized materials included video
links to YouTube (e.g., Fig. 2a), diagrams (e.g., Fig. 2b), and point-form
notes (e.g., Fig. 2c). The intention was to engage the learners and to
maximize their learning in a succinct manner. Students could choose
not to study the materials if they felt they were familiar with the topics.
The instructor also posted questions regularly and encouraged the stu-
dents to respond (e.g., Fig. 2d). Any student could respond or the in-
structor could elicit answers from specic students. The instructor
would also release the answers after a day of prolonged silence. Stu-
dents could also freely post questions to their instructor and fellow stu-
dents (e.g., Fig. 2e). The instructor would usually respond to the
questions within a day. The dynamic of the dialogue resembled the con-
versation they would normally have with their family and friends. For
the students in the control group, the exchanged messages were limited
to concerns related to the administration of the course, such as forming
project groups and making announcements to students (e.g., Fig. 2f).
The instructor informed the participants on the time when materials
would be posted. The rst preferred time was between 4:30 pm and
6:30 pm. At these times, the participants were expected to travel on
public transport to reach the institute or to return home. Rather than
phubbing with their smartphones in subways and buses as most people
do in Hong Kong, they could use the time to learn. The second preferred
time was anytime in the evening and weekend hours (Cavus & Ibrahim,
2009). The instructor was aware that the participants were working
during the day. He avoided posting messages between 8:00 am and
4:30 pm on weekdays because many participants have daytime jobs.
This was proven correct because numerous participants interacted
 S. So / Internet and Higher Education 31 (2016) 3242 37

Fig. 2. (a) Bite-sized video clip in YouTube on entity-relational diagram; (b) a diagram that outlines the sequence of SELECT statement execution; (c) point-form notes; (d) some questions
posted by the instructor about database relations; (e) student inquiry on joins; and (f) formation of project groups and notices posted by the instructor.

with their instructor and fellow students during the evening until mid-
night, especially a few days before the nal test.
5. Results
The demographic information of the participants is shown in Table 1.
The majority of the participants were second year students aged be-
tween 18 and 23. Smartphone ownership is 100%.
5.1. Pre- and post-test results
The mean and standard deviation of the pre- and the post-test scores
are shown in Table 2. The pre-test scores for the experimental and
control groups were similar, and the post-test scores for both the exper-
imental and control groups were higher than the pre-test scores. At rst
glance, the descriptive data indicated that the participants in the exper-
imental group performed better than those in the control group. A de-
tailed analysis was conducted to examine the effects of the intervention.
To compare the learning effects of the intervention using WhatsApp,
a one-way ANCOVA was conducted on the post-test scores (DV) of the
experimental and control groups (IV). Pre-test scores (CV) were used
as the covariate to control the potential differences in the prior database
knowledge of the students. Before presenting the results, several as-
sumptions of ANCOVA were tested. From the Shapiro-Wilk analyses
shown in Table 2, all the tests were not signicant (p N 0.05). The data
were normally distributed across each group. No violation of the
38 S. So / Internet and Higher Education 31 (2016) 3242

Table 1 scale (Q1 to Q11) was = 0.885. The overall Cronbach's was very
Participant demographics. good. The internal consistency for the items measuring WhatsApp for
Experiment group Control group teaching and learning was high. No obvious items should be deleted.
Count % Count %
The mean responses for this part ranged from 4.44 to 5.11 for the exper-
imental group and from 3.36 to 4.46 for the control group. The mean
n 31 30
values were all higher than 3.0 in the six-point Likert-type scale, sug-
Age
1820 3 9.7 21 70 gesting that generally, the participants had a positive perception and ac-
2123 11 35.5 8 26.7 ceptance of the use of WhatsApp for teaching and learning. All the mean
2426 7 22.6 1 3.3 responses of the experimental group were consistently higher than
2730 5 16.1 0 0 those of the control group. One possible reason for this nding is the
N30 5 16.1 0 0
University
rst-hand experience on the use of WhatsApp for teaching and learning
1st year 0 0 0 0 in the experimental group. The participants of the control group
2nd year 26 83.9 29 96.7 responded to the questionnaire merely based on their perception of
3rd year 0 0 1 3.3 WhatsApp for teaching and learning. They could be more reserved in
4th year 5 16.1 0 0
answering the questionnaire compared to the participants of the exper-
Smartphone ownership 31 100 30 100
imental group. This argument could be supported by the t-tests of Q5,
Q6, Q8, and Q10, which showed signicant differences. The participants
of the experimental group had stronger view on these items than those
Table 2
of the control group based on their rst-hand experience (e.g. Q6, Q8).
Pre-test and post-test scores.
Usability issues, such as the form factor, battery life, Internet speed,
Pre-test Post-test and interaction are frequently cited in mobile learning research (Looi
Groups n Mean/SD Shapiro-Wilk/p Mean/SD Shapiro-Wilk/p et al., 2009; Elias, 2011; Nedungadi & Raman, 2012). Despite the signif-
Experimental 31 18.16/6.080 0.952/0.176 31.00/6.802 0.958/0.260 icant advancement of smartphones and mobile gadgets at present,
Control 30 18.23/3.989 0.962/0.354 27.47/6.095 0.977/0.727 these issues remain valid. For Q12 to Q14, the participants expressed
their views on these issues. Thus, the expected high mean responses
were observed.
assumption of normality was found. The Levene's test of equal error var- The timing of social network interaction for learning support is an
iance was not signicant, F(1,59) = 0.91, p = 0.345 N 0.05. This result important issue for those who are practicing mobile learning in higher
indicated that the group variances were equal. The assumption of ho- education. Inappropriate timing can hinder learning effectiveness.
mogeneity of variance was satised. The correlation between CV and Rambe and Bere (2013) reported that learners had some reservations
DV was acceptable and signicant, r = 0.31, p = 0.015 b 0.05. The and resentment toward receiving and sending messages after hours.
two variables were reasonably correlated, but the correlation was not In our study, the mean responses for Q15 (a negatively phrased item)
too high. The independent t-test was used to test CV between the two were 3.22 for the experimental group and 3.79 for the control group.
groups. No signicant difference in the pre-test scores between the ex- The participants in the experimental group slightly rejected the view
perimental and control groups was found, t = 0.054, p = that receiving instructional materials and questions after school hours
0.957 N 0.05. We could use the covariate in the experimental outcome. could interfere with their private lives. In other words, they did not re-
The assumption for homogeneity of regression slopes was tested be- ally mind the irregular timing of the WhatsApp activities as mentioned
tween IV and CV, F(1,57) = 0.98, p = 0.326 N 0.05. No signicant inter- in the previous section. For the participants in the control group, per-
action (group pre-test) was observed. The application of ANCOVA was ceived inconvenience might be an explanation for the mean response
justied. (Neo & Skoric, 2009).
The post-test scores shown in Table 3 indicated a signicant differ-
ence, F(1,58) = 5.087, p = 0.028 b 0.05. The marginal mean adjusted
for the covariate of the post-test results of the experimental group 6. Discussion
was 31.01, which was higher than that of the control group, 27.45.
The participants in the experimental group with the intervention of 6.1. Summary of main ndings
WhatsApp performed better than those in the control group. This result
implied that the pedagogical approach for WhatsApp to support teach- This section presents a summary of the main ndings from the quan-
ing and learning was helpful. Cohen's f was computed (G*Power, 2013), titative measurements in response to the two established research
f = 0.297. Cohen (1988) suggested that values of f as large as .50 are questions. The rst research question looked into the pedagogical inter-
not common in behavioral science (p. 284). SMALL, MEDIUM, and vention of WhatsApp outside school hours to support the traditional
LARGE f values are dened as 0.1, 0.25, and 0.4, respectively. Based classroom instructions for an undergraduate course in Database. The
on this effect size, the strength of the intervention between the two improvement of students' learning was measured from their perfor-
groups was medium to large. mance in a knowledge test given before and after the course. In compar-
ing the results from the post-test scores with the pre-test scores as the
5.2. Questionnaire results covariate for the experimental and control groups, the ANCOVA analysis
indicated that the improvement of the test scores was signicant. The
An item-by-item analysis of WATLQ was conducted. Results are pedagogical intervention of WhatsApp outside school hours for the
shown in Table 4. The Cronbach's reliability for the main part of the course could help students to improve their knowledge on the subject.

Table 3
ANCOVA and effect sizes of the post-test results.

Variable n Mean SD Adjusted mean Std. error F p Partial 2 Cohen's fa

Post-test Experimental group 31 31.00 6.082 31.01 1.108 5.087 0.028 0.081 0.297
Control group 30 27.47 6.095 27.45 1.126
 S. So / Internet and Higher Education 31 (2016) 3242 39

Table 4
Means, standard deviations and t-test results of WATLQ for the experimental and control groups.

Experimentala group: Control group:

Items mean/SD mean/SD t
Q1 WhatsApp can be an effective tool for learning as it can give immediate messaging support. 4.78/0.974 4.46/0.793 1.311
WhatsApp ,
Q2 WhatsApp can bring new opportunities of learning. 4.44/1.219 4.18/1.020 0.878
WhatsApp
Q3 WhatsApp can improve communication between students and teachers. 4.74/1.318 4.43/0.959 1.007
WhatsApp
Q4 WhatsApp is a quicker method of getting feedback in learning. 4.74/1.228 4.32/0.819 1.495
WhatsApp
Q5 WhatsApp is more exible to be used for learning as it can be done at anytime and anywhere. 5.00/1.000 4.36/0.870 2.546
WhatsApp ,
Q6 WhatsApp can support multimedia learning as learners can exchange image, audio and video contents. 5.11/0.934 4.36/0.911 3.030
WhatsApp ,
Q7 WhatsApp can support collaborative learning by forming discussion groups of up to 50 members. 4.85/1.134 4.29/1.084 1.894
WhatsApp ,
Q8 WhatsApp keeps records of all multimedia contents and can help learners to easily review them. 4.93/1.072 4.21/0.876 2.701
WhatsApp ,
Q9 WhatsApp allows learners to think carefully before giving any response. 4.48/1.341 3.86/1.079 1.906
WhatsApp ,
Q10 WhatsApp is best suited to provide compact and succinct learning materials either directly or through resource links. 4.63/1.006 3.82/0.983 3.013
WhatsApp (links)
Q11 WhatsApp can supplement conventional teaching method and face-to-face classroom learning. 4.44/1.281 3.36/1.367 3.042
WhatsApp
Q12b It is troublesome to read instructional materials on mobile devices with WhatsApp. 4.70/1.203 4.71/1.182 0.033
WhatsApp
Q13b The simple conversational structure of WhatsApp is not well catered for structured discussion and learning. 4.48/1.087 4.39/1.197 0.287
WhatsApp
b
Q14 The screen size, one-nger interaction, internet speed and battery life deter me to use WhatsApp for learning. 4.26/1.375 4.11/1.166 0.443
WhatsApp
Q15b Receiving instructional materials and questions outside ofce hours can interfere with my private life. 3.22/1.368 3.79/1.449 1.482

p b 0.05.
a
1: strongly disagree; 2: disagree; 3: weakly disagree; 4: weakly agree; 5: agree; 6: strongly agree.
b
Issues on WhatsApp for teaching and learning.

The second research question investigated the perceived usefulness
and acceptance of WhatsApp for teaching and learning. The participants
in the experimental and control groups were asked to ll in WATLQ at
the end of the course. In general, WhatsApp for teaching and learning
was well received. They believed that WhatsApp can elicit new learning
opportunities. WhatsApp can foster effective communication at any-
time and anywhere. By forming discussion groups up to 50 members
per group, WhatsApp can support collaborative learning. The special
features such as the support of multimedia contents and keeping re-
cords in the history can help learners to review the contents quickly
and easily. WhatsApp can supplement formal and informal learning.
WhatsApp allows relevant feedback. Thoughtful responses can be
furbished asynchronously. The item responses from the experimental
group were compared to the control group using t tests. Comparing
the means for each item indicated that there were signicant differ-
ences on the questionnaire items of WhatsApp's exibility for learning,
multimedia learning, content review, access of succinct materials and
supplementing conventional teaching methods. Participants in the con-
trol group were more conservative with these items. These results are
likely due to their perception and not their rst-hand experience of
WhatsApp for teaching and learning. Participants found that typical is-
sues on mobile learning with WhatsApp were valid. Readability, conver-
sational structure, physical appearance, limited input capability,
internet speed and short battery life were some of these issues.
The participants slightly rejected the view that receiving instruction-
al materials and questions outside school hours could interfere with
their private lives. Learning in the evening and during odd hours did
not concern them. This response is not surprising because the partici-
pants are young adult learners. The theory of andragogy of Knowles
(1984) asserts that adults strongly adhere to self-direction and readi-
ness in relation to learning. Adult learners are motivated intrinsically.
Their motivation to learn could override the timing inconvenience.
6.2. Limitations of the study
There are several limitations in this study. It seemed that students in
the experimental group received more instructional materials and
learning opportunities than in the control group. They had more possi-
bilities to interact with the learning materials, their peers and the in-
structor. Therefore, it is expected that students in the experimental
group would perform better than those in the control group on the
post-test with the pre-test as the covariate. This observation is generally
correct and the casual relationship may be the limitation in this study
from the research design perspective. However, this approach is sensi-
ble and this type of experimental design is common in the eld of edu-
cational research (e.g., Spradlin & Ackerman, 2010). From the
educational prospective, the purpose of the research was to improve
learning with the proposed intervention. In fact, there was a large
amount of effort required by the teacher to supplement the traditional
classroom instructions with WhatsApp outside school hours. If the im-
provement of the participants' learning was mild, the effort may not
be cost effective and the intervention may not be worthwhile.
There is no strong reason to believe that the participants in both the
experimental and control groups have experienced this level of applica-
tion for teaching and learning with WhatsApp prior to this study. The
researcher is condent that the responses collected from the survey
should be genuine. However, it is possible that the survey results may
have been affected by any number of extraneous variables. Their past
experience of mobile learning could confound the survey results. The
researcher was unable to control the bias of opinions but the specic
and purposeful design of the questionnaire items could reduce concerns
over potential confounding factors.
Another limitation is that this experiment is not a large scale re-
search. The experimental and control groups had only 31 and 30 partic-
ipants respectively. The sample size was relatively small. The normality
40 S. So / Internet and Higher Education 31 (2016) 3242
assumption was properly tested for the pre- and post-test data. The
groups were conrmed by the Shapiro-Wilk tests. However, each of
the pairwise means of the questionnaire items was not tested for nor-
mality. The normality assumption was relied on the rule of thumb in
frequentist statistics. The sampling distribution can be approximated
by a Normal model. The t-tests were employed.
6.3. Practical implications and suggestions for future research
This study investigated the use of MIM tools to support teaching and
learning in higher education. The implications and the insights derived
from the study are articulated through Laurillard's Conversational
Framework (2002), a highly inuential framework for teaching and
learning design that may be mediated by technologies. The framework
is dened as the minimum requirements that any learning environ-
ment should provide to support the complete learning process, embrac-
ing the learning experiences of instruction, construction,
experimentation, discussion, collaboration, production, and articula-
tion, as a unied way of challenging both conventional methods and
learning technologies (Laurillard, 2010, p. 419). Laurillard emphasized
the iterative dialogue between teacher and learner in the constructed
environment of a teacher. The three main components, namely, teacher,
learner, and learning environment are discussed in the subsequent
sections.
6.3.1. Teacher
Laurillard has argued that the teacher makes a difference and he or
she is the key to innovations. Learners cannot be entirely left alone to
learn and work independently. The intervention of the teacher at the
right time and with the appropriate learning materials helps the
learners in the formulation and construction of knowledge. In this
study, the teacher attempted to provide the right supporting materials.
Following the regular lecture, the teacher sent bite-sized materials via
WhatsApp to students to supplement the lectures. The teacher was
aware that the use of WhatsApp was intended to enhance learning be-
yond the lectures. In the iterative cycles of the conversational frame-
work between teacher and learner, a range of narrative and
interactive resources, such as videos and web resources, were used to
support the learners through WhatsApp. The teacher engaged the
learners in academic discourses by posting questions and eliciting re-
sponses. These activities provided different ways to explore the con-
cepts. One drawback of WhatsApp is the linear structure of the
dialogues. WhatsApp is not a threaded discussion tool. For a science
course such as the database course in the study, the problem was not se-
rious. Open dispute and interpretation on different topics were not
required.
Overall, the teacher felt that the study was successful. MIM contrib-
uted to the learning achievements of these students. To facilitate
WhatsApp for teaching and learning especially outside school hours,
the teacher had to contend with high extra workload. On the one
hand, the teacher had to prepare the relevant bite-sized materials that
were consistent with the lecture materials. Carefully selected materials
were disseminated regularly at the right time. On the other hand, the
teacher should always be available to interact with the students.
Responding quickly to queries and ideas of the students are important
to avoid discouraging the students. Therefore, this highlights the impli-
cation of the signicant time commitment required from the teacher.
6.3.2. Learner
In the experiential level of the conversational framework, learners
transform their conceptual understanding into a practical adaption
guided by the discussions and reections with their teachers and
peers. Learning through practice is an important process. MIM can sup-
port learners with these activities. In this course, the students had to col-
laborate in a team for a database programming project. The teacher
frequently received questions on how to solve programming errors
over WhatsApp. Learning through their peers was also important and
WhatsApp was a good collaborative tool for them. This argument was
supported by the results from the questionnaire.
Shy and reticent students participated more in MIM than in the
classroom environment. The teacher received responses from these stu-
dents as they posted questions through WhatsApp. In the face-to-face
lectures, they were very passive and did not communicate with the
teacher at all. Although this aspect was not thoroughly investigated in
this study, it is an excellent topic for further research.
Rambling and irrelevant conversations by the students occasionally
occurred. Some students used the platform to post unrelated messages.
When a student posted a long social message, another student immedi-
ately responded by requesting that student to refrain from doing so, in-
dicating that the students treasured WhatsApp for teaching and
learning. They would like to devote the discussion group for the course
and not for social interaction. Some students in the group deliberately
chose to send messages to the teacher privately for matters unrelated
to the course (e.g., request for sponsorship of a charity event).
6.3.3. Learning environment
The teacher attempted to establish a closely connected environment
to support learning inquiry, encourage reective practice and promote
active learning. MIM tools have the potential to reorganize the learning
process by steering away from didactic classroom teaching to spontane-
ous student-centered learning. Students could relate the contents to
their prior knowledge, clarify misconception, develop accurate con-
cepts, and co-construct meaning with their peers. The learning environ-
ment, however, had its limitations. First, forming subsequent chat
groups dynamically was inconvenient for the teacher. For MIM tools
like WhatsApp, a series of actions and notications were necessary to
establish the communication because of the privacy issue and the sys-
tem server requirement. Therefore, the establishment of dynamic
group interaction was not ideal for this learning environment. Second,
there were many participants involved in the control and experimental
groups. It was difcult for the teacher to conduct all the teaching and
learning activities because the form factor of smartphones limited the
input capabilities and restricted typing with the use of a single nger.
To resolve these issues, the teacher used a Bluetooth keyboard for typ-
ing operation and reverted to a tablet for a larger screen when possible.
Third, on many occasions, access to learning materials shared between
PC and mobile devices was required. Transferring the materials from
PC to mobile devices and vice versa was tedious. Using cloud-based de-
positories to centralize the le storage and sharing among different de-
vices could have addressed this issue. However, this suggestion was not
taken by the researcher. Nevertheless, the suggestion should be ex-
plored in future research.
7. Conclusions
In recent years, the proliferation of smartphones in society has been
witnessed. Students in higher education are heavy users of these mobile
devices (Kukulska-Hulme et al., 2011). Mobile technologies such as
smartphones and tablets offer the opportunity to embed learning in for-
mal, non-formal, and informal education (Eshach, 2007). This study
demonstrated how smartphones with WhatsApp can support teaching
and learning in a database course at a teacher training institute in
Hong Kong.
In this experiment, WhatsApp was used as the communication tool
to support teaching and learning. This study offers teachers ideas
about the use of MIM tools for educational purposes. Teachers can
adopt a bite-sized approach in teaching and learning. They should also
encourage students to actively discuss relevant topics. Students could
use the ubiquitous learning environment to interact with their teachers
and peers. As the ANCOVA results in Table 3 have shown, the learning
achievements of the experimental group improved signicantly com-
pared to those of the control group. Since positive outcomes of using
 S. So / Internet and Higher Education 31 (2016) 3242
WhatsApp to support teaching and learning are demonstrated in an ICT
course, this encourages further investigation into whether this ap-
proach can be applied to other similar contexts.
From the survey results of WATLQ, the participants expressed posi-
tive perception and acceptance toward the use of WhatsApp for teach-
ing and learning. They conrmed that WhatsApp could elicit new
learning opportunities, foster effective communication, allow relevant
feedback, offer informal and formal learning opportunities, and support
collaborative learning. They also concurred on the typical usability is-
sues of smartphones and WhatsApp for teaching and learning. The rel-
atively small form factor of smartphones could hinder reading and
interaction. Nevertheless, the overall experience of using WhatsApp to
support teaching and learning was encouraging.
The participants slightly rejected the view that receiving instruction-
al materials and questions after school hours could interfere with their
private lives. Learning in the evening and during odd hours did not con-
cern them. This experiment suggests that the appropriate time for the
teacher to interact with students in MIM tools can be important. This
factor should be considered for similar practices in the future.
In summary, the use of WhatsApp for teaching and learning can im-
prove the learning achievements of students in a database course at a
teacher-training institute in Hong Kong. The participants revealed pos-
itive perception and acceptance of the use of WhatsApp for teaching
and learning. Some usability issues were discussed. Solutions to some
of these issues were suggested. This experiment allows the researcher
to explore the effective use of MIM tools in higher education ICT courses.
Acknowledgements
The study was supported in part by the Hong Kong Institute of Edu-
cation under IRG RG 12/2013-2014R.
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