This article presents the results from a questionnaire filled out by 147 lifelong learners. The primary aim of the questionnaire is to analyse learning practices of adults, and to recognize patterns of lifelong learners in order to support them with technology. These patterns capture the context in which lifelong learners are more willing to learn, that is, the day of the week, duration, location, activity being performed, type of device being used, way to interact with their devices and how these aspects can affect when an adult student takes the initiative to learn. Moreover, this article examines previous publications on surveys, questionnaires and information collected with the same objective, to corroborate and contrast the findings. The contribution of this paper is identifying and describing patterns in which lifelong learners are more willing to build personal learning ecologies when supported by mobile devices.

1. Everyday patterns in lifelong learners to
build personal learning ecologies
Bernardo Tabuenca, Stefaan Ternier and Marcus Specht
11th World Conference on Mobile and Contextual Learning
October 2012, Helsinki (Finland)
Open University of the Netherlands
page 1

2. Contents
Problem definition • Patterns based on type of
Aim of the research learning activity
Aim of this survey • Patterns based on contents
Working definitions • Behaviour checking
The experiment notifications
• Method • Linking locations, activities in
physical spaces
• Demographics
Conclusions
• Lifelong learning
References
• Type of mobile device
• Motivation
• Patterns based on type of
device
page 2

3. Problem definition
The involvement of adults in lifelong learning activities in Europe
has been decreasing between 2005 and 2010 (Eurostat, 2011).
Lifelong learners are confronted with a broad range of activities
they have to manage everyday:
• Learning
• Working
• Everyday life throughout the day
Lifelong learning contexts:
• Traditional formal programs
• Non-formal education
• Informal learning
• Job training
page 3

4. Problem definition
Wong L-H (2010) Identified ten seams by which learning
experiences are disrupted:
• No support of informal and formal learning activities
• No support for learning activities across locations, devices and
environoments.
• Lack of support for ubiquitous knowledge access.
• No suppport for multiple learning tasks and switching between
them
• Linking learning activities with everyday life activities and the
physical world objects
page 4

5. Aim of my research
Development of integrated personal learning ecologies for
efficient lifelong learning support.
This research is focused on the combined and simultaneous use of
several devices and information channels:
1. Devices need to be aware about the other devices and
interfaces that are present in the same setting.
2. An underlying educational design needs to be defined in a way
that it can make use of multiple interfaces or information
channels.
3. Interfaces must get appropriately integrated in order to facilitate
seamless interaction in a personal learning ecology.
page 5

6. Aim
of
this
survey
• Identify patterns in which lifelong learners are more
willing to build personal learning ecologies.
• Analyse learning practices in adults.
Day of the week
Duration
Location
Activity being performed
Type of device being used
Way to interact with mobile devices
• Contrast our results with previous publications
page 6

7. Working
defini6ons
Learning
“Taking the initiative to learn something actively. It can be related to
work, current studies or self-fulfilment”
Learning activity (Vavoula & Sharples 2002)
“The distinct acts that the person carries out during reading, discussing,
listening and making notes”
Mobile device
“regular phone, smartphone, tablet, multimedia player and laptop when
used not always in the same place”
Personal Learning Ecology
“integrated information technology devices and objects that are present
in the physical environment of learners and couples these devices and
objects with learning activities”
page 7

8. Method Topics of the questions:
• 4 about demographics
An introduction section was • 3 about mobile usage patterns
included in order to explain the
aim of the questionnaire and
• 2 about how timing and
content are related
working definitions
• 7 questions linking activities,
locations, and ways of
The questionnaire is composed
interaction with mobile devices
by 21 items:
• 1 identifying difficulties when
• 5 multiple choice questions learning with mobile devices,
• 6 single select questions • 3 about motivation,
• 9 matrix selection questions • 1 how familiar are they with
• 1 open answer question the concept of lifelong learning
Are we sharing the data? Yes!
page 8
http://hdl.handle.net/1820/4296

9. Survey
demographics
100
100
90
86
90
80
80
70
70
61
60
60
#
lifelong
learners
#
lifelong
learners
50
50
50
43
40
40
30
30
27
20
20
14
13
10
10
0
0
0
Male
Female
<25
25-­‐34
35-­‐44
45-­‐54
55-­‐65
>65
Gender
Age

10. Survey
demographics
100
99
%
lifelong
learners;
N=147
90
80
70
#
lifelong
learners
60
Computer
sciences
50
48
22%
27%
Engineering
Natural
sciences
40
2%
HumaniFes
5%
Business
30
8%
16%
Law
20
Medicine
11
10%
10%
10
Other
3
1
0
0
Profesional
Status
Profesional
domain

11. Lifelong
learning
“All learning activity undertaken throughout life, with the
aim of improving knowledge, skills and competences
within a personal, civic, social and/or employment-related
perspective”
European comission (2011)
Do
you
consider
yourself
a
lifelong
learner?
100
90
78.3
80
70
60
50
40
30
21.7
20
10
0
No
Yes

12. Type
of
mobile
device
The presence of mobile devices in lifelong learners’ daily
activities is a fact:
• 70.06% of the respondents use portable computers
every day
• 56.46% of the respondents use smartphones every
day
• 17.68% of the respondents use tablets on daily basis

13. Mo6va6on
to
learn
during
the
day
100
90
80
%
lifelong
learners;
n=147
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
00h
-­‐
06h
06h
-­‐
08h
08h
-­‐
10h
10h
-­‐
12h
12h
-­‐
16h
16h
-­‐
20h
20h
-­‐
00h

14. Mo6va6on
to
learn
during
the
day
Smartphone
users
100
90
80
%
lifelong
learners;
n=147
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
00h
-­‐
06h
06h
-­‐
08h
08h
-­‐
10h
10h
-­‐
12h
12h
-­‐
16h
16h
-­‐
20h
20h
-­‐
00h
Lifelong
learners
that
do
not
use
smartphone
every
day
Lifelong
learners
that
use
smartphone
everyday

15. Mo6va6on
to
learn
during
the
day
Tablet
users
100
90
80
%
lifelong
learners;
n=147
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
00h
-­‐
06h
06h
-­‐
08h
08h
-­‐
10h
10h
-­‐
12h
12h
-­‐
16h
16h
-­‐
20h
20h
-­‐
00h
Lifelonglearners
that
do
not
use
tablets
Lifelong
learners
that
use
tablets

16. PaOerns
based
on
type
of
device
Hourly
device
usage
across
the
day
Eoff,
B.
D.
(2011)

17. PaOerns
based
on
type
of
device
Daily
device
usage
across
the
week
Eoff,
B.
D.
(2011)

18. Usage
of
smartphones
during
the
week
100
90
80
%
lifelong
learners;
n=147
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
Non
smartphone
users
Smartphone
users
Tabuenca
B.,
Ternier
S.
and
Specht
M.
(2012)

19. PaOerns
based
on
type
of
learning
ac6vity
100
90
80
70
Gaming
#
lifelong
learners
60
50
Listen
40
Read
30
Watch
videos
20
Write
10
0
0
mins
1
min
5
mins
30
mins
60
mins
More
than
60
mins

20. PaOerns
based
on
type
of
content
Arbitron
M.
(2012)

21. Behaviour
checking
no6fica6ons
Lopende
tekst
• en
opsommingen

22. Linking
loca6ons,
ac6vi6es
and
interac6ons
with
mobile
technologies

23. Linking
loca6ons,
ac6vi6es
and
interac6ons
with
mobile
technologies.
Preferences
regarding
genders.

24. Discussion
and
conclusions
1. Portable
computers
are
the
most
used
type
of
device.
2. Individuals
that
own
a
smartphone
reported
to
be
more
constantly
moFvated
to
learn
during
the
day
than
non-­‐smartphone
users.
3. Individuals
that
own
smartphone
use
them
constantly
during
the
whole
week.
The
rest
of
the
individuals
reported
lower
usage
during
working
days
and
an
increase
during
the
weekends.
4. “Listening”
is
the
most
compaFble
learning
acFvity
when
performing
other
tasks
at
the
same
Fme.
It
is
also
the
one
where
adults
spend
more
Fme
and
in
longer
Fme-­‐slots.

25. Discussion
and
conclusions
5. There
are
two
different
behaviours
when
adults
check
their
mobile
phone
for
a
new
SMS,
missed
call,
email
or
any
other
noFficaFon.
There
is
a
group
that
only
checks
incoming
noFficaFons
when
the
device
warns
them
with
an
alert.
There
is
another
group
that
check
it
conFnuously.
6. There
is
an
associaFon
between
the
learning
acFvity
being
performed
(reading,
listening,
wriFng,
or
watching)
and
the
concrete
locaFon
where
it
takes
place.
7. Learning
acFviFes
are
mainly
performed
when
adults
are
with
their
legs
stopped.
• The
“reading”
and
“wriFng”
learning
acFviFes
mostly
take
place
being
sat
(sofa,
desk,
train,
bus
and
toilet)
or
lying
on
somewhere
(bed).
• Si=ng
in
the
sofa
is
the
concrete
place
where
adults
reported
the
higher
acceptance
when
carrying
out
any
learning
acFvity.
• However,
the
“listening”
learning
acFvity
that
takes
part
more
evenly
in
the
different
locaFons,
on-­‐the-­‐move
and
embedded
in
different
acFviFes.

26. Discussion
and
conclusions
8. Men
and
women
behave
in
a
differently
when
making
use
of
their
mobile
devices.
Not
only
in
the
way
to
perform
learning
acFviFes
depending
on
the
context,
but
also
in
the
way
to
adend
to
an
incoming
noFficaFon
on
their
mobile
phones.
9. Lifelong
learners
reported
that
their
learning
experiences
are
disrupted.
Finding
a
suitable
Fme
slot
to
learn
during
the
day
is
the
most
frequent
difficulty
reported
by
parFcipants.
10. There
is
a
high
rate
of
individuals
that
are
not
familiarized
with
the
concept
of
“lifelong
learning”.

27. Future
research
Evolving
and
maturing
the
“Ecology
of
Smart
Learning
Objects
Design
Framework”
with
empirical
data
Ecology
of
Resources.
Ambient
InformaFon
Channels
model.
Luckin
(2010)
Specht
(2009)

28. References
• Arbitron, M. (2011). No prime time for Smartphone. Retrieved from
http://www.zokem.com/2011/06/no-prime-time-for-smartphone
• Eoff, B. D. (2011). How We Use the Tools We Choose: A Week of Worldwide Usage Data. Retrieved
from http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/does_your_device_change_the_way_you_use_info.php
• European C. (2011). Making a European area of lifelong learning reality. Retrieved from http://
www.bologna-berlin2003.de/pdf/MitteilungEng.pdf. Eurostat. (2011). Lifelong learning statistics.
Retrieved from
http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/statistics_explained/index.php/Lifelong_learning_statistics
• Eurostat. (2011). Lifelong Learning statistics. Report. Brussels:
http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/statistics_explained/index.php/Lifelong_learning_statistics
• Luckin, R. (2010). Re-Designing Learning Contexts: Technology-Rich, Learner-Centred Ecologies.
Learning. Routledge.
• Specht, M. (2009). Learning in a Technology Enhanced World. Heerlen: Open University of the
Netherlands. http://hdl.handle.net/1820/2034
• Tabuenca B., Ternier S., and Specht M. (2012). Orchestration of smart learning objects in a learner-
centred ecology of resources. Heerlen: Open University of the Netherlands. (On review in Journal of
Education, Technology & Society)
• Vavoula, G., & Sharples, M. (2002). KLeOS: A personal, mobile, Knowledge and Learning Organisation
System. Proceedings of IEEE International Workshop On Wireless and Mobile Technologies in
Education
• Wong, L-H. (2010). What Seams do We Remove? - The Ten Dimensions of Mobile-assisted Seamless
page 28
Learning. ICCE.

29. Questions?
bernardo.tabuenca@ou.nl
nl.linkedin.com/in/btabuenca
@bernardtabuenca
page 29