Macro, meso and micro-level perspectives of the landscape of mobile learning: Towards a process of theorising a contextualised and dynamic view in the mobile learning practice in Chinese higher education.

Mobile technologies’ significant potential has generated enormous research interest. In particular, mobile technologies can support learning on an ongoing basis in a multiplicity of contexts, based on individuals’ capability and needs (McLoughlin and Lee, cited inGu, Gu and Laffey, 2011; Hsu, Hwang and Chang, 2013; Kukulska-Hulme, Lee and Norris, 2017). A number of paradoxes can be observed at the implementation level of universities: universities are commonly at the forefront of technological change; yet, at the same time, they lag behind in their daily practice of technology-enhanced learning in everyday teaching and learning. Technologically, learning management platforms, MOOCs and network systems are in broad and general use; however, individually, teachers and/or learners may revert to an essentially traditional way of content delivery and/or learning. The penetration of mobile devices reaches approximate saturation (Statista, 2019); however, people principally use them in informal situations for daily tasks. When it comes to formal learning, their adoption behaviour changes and they become more reluctant users.

With this phenomenon in mind, this chapter attempts to orientate its readers with a process of theorising reality of mobile learning from a multi-level model with the hope of uncovering the myth of Pandora’s box of this mobile complex, as was suggested by Pachler, Bachmair and Cook (2010a), in the proposed context of Chinese higher education institutions. It is our theoretical stance that mobile learning is regarded as a composition of macro-, meso- and micro-level constructs. From a macro-level perspective, the successful implementation of mobile technology is, to a large extent, dependent on the sociocultural and technological structure. In this sense, mobile technologies have been implemented at both societal and institutional levels in the targeted context of research. From a meso-level perspective, mobile learning is determined by both the culture of learning and the contextual practice of mobile technology. That is to say, mobile learning shares the common characteristics of the institutional practice of teaching and learning, in addition to involving the formal and informal use of mobile technology for the purpose of learning. From a micro-level perspective, mobile learning also involves individuals’ own initiatives and acceptance, which play a key role in individual adoption of specific technologies, as suggested by Ma (2017); Venkatesh et al. (2003). Taken altogether, the key to the successful appropriation of mobile technology lies in the interrelated components of these three aspects.

To offer a more detailed look at the micro-level perspective, I start with a discussion of the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) (Venkatesh et al., 2003) as a starting point for a theoretical model to inform the process of theorising. Because of unique philosophical stances cultures have (i.e. Confucius), culture exerts a subtitle but significant influence on people’s social behaviours (Leidner and Kayworth, 2006) and willingness to adopt technology for learning (Viberg and Grönlund, 2013). Resultantly, a contextualised UTAUT framework that considers cultural characteristics will be explored in detail in order to understand individuals’ acceptance of mobile learning. Regarding meso-level perspectives, mobile learning is explored in a way which is vividly depicted by individuals’ learning practice using mobile technology. It is my theoretical position that learning is a social process, as originally proposed by Vygotsky (2012), and that learning as a mental process is in essence mediated by cultural artefacts, activities and concepts (Lantolf, 2006; Thorne and Lantolf, 2007), with individuals developing relationships with their surroundings through the use of tools (Ma, 2017). With the aim of understanding the cultural practices of mobile learning, mediation theory is taken into consideration. In terms of macro-level perspectives, it is of paramount importance to understand the technological and sociocultural development at both a national and institutional level, which is considered the pre-requisite for successful implementation of mobile learning in the targeted context.

In summary, this chapter seeks to explain and bridge the gap between societal approaches to technology-enhanced learning, institutional e-teaching approaches and students’ approaches to mobile learning by providing a holistic and dynamic framework for understanding this unique phenomenon of mobile learning. Instead of focusing on the transformative power of technology or digging into an explanation of individuals’ lack or failure in relation to cognitive or knowledge deficiencies, this section attempts to understand the interrelation of individual agency and acceptance, cultural practices of mobile learning and the contextual structures that are beneficial for bridging the imbalance between institutional implementations and individual-level adoption, along with any potential gaps between teachers’ and students’ use of mobile learning.