A STUDY OF LEARNING OUTCOMES OF A MOBILE TRAVEL APPLICATION IN TOURISM GEOGRAPHIC COURSE Chen-Hsiung Chou BPE, BBA, Med. Dissertation Prepared for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY UNIVERSITY OF NORTH TEXAS May 2014 APPROVED: Tandra Tyler-Wood, Major Professor Bill Elieson, Committee Member Lin Lin, Committee Member Michael Spector, Chair of the Department of Learning Technologies Herman Totten, Dean of the College of Information Mark Wardell, Dean of the Toulouse Graduate School Chou, Chen-Hsiung. A Study of Learning Outcomes of a Mobile Travel Application in Tourism Geographic Course. Doctor of Philosophy (Learning Technologies), May 2014, 117 pp., 16 tables, 11 figures, reference list, 106 titles. Mobile technologies have been adopted into education more and more. New hardware, such as smart phones and tablets, has increased the popularity of mobile technology. There are also many applications created for the fields of education and tourism. This research chose a travel application from Taiwan to apply into a tourism geographic course at the Taiwan Hospitality and Tourism College (THTC). A quasi-experiment design was applied to this study. Two classes/groups participated in the study. One class was the treatment group which used the travel app through teaching scenarios. The other group was the contrast group which used a lecture format with handouts. Both groups were given a pre-test to determine knowledge of Danongdafu Forest Park (DFP), and Taiwan tourism geography. A post-test was administered after eight weeks of teaching activities. Post intervention scores were compared to pre-intervention scores between the two groups. The results of ANOVA showed that there was no statistically significant learning difference between the treatment group and the contrast group. A paired-sample t-test analysis revealed that after eight weeks of teaching DFP content, both groups gained significantly in knowledge. Furthermore, the learning attitudes and interviews of the treatment group students indicated positive responses utilizing m-learning in teaching scenarios. Students indicated a desire to receive m-learning opportunities for future courses. Copyright 2014 by Chen-Hsiung Chou ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, I would like to express my gratitude to my dissertation committee professor Dr. Tandra L Tyler-Wood, Dr. Bill Elieson and Dr. Lin. Lin. I am grateful to my superior Dr. Tyler-Wood for her patience and encouragement during the dissertation process. She was reading many drafts of my dissertation and providing many valuable comments for improving the dissertation and finally for helping me throughout the whole process. What is more, Dr. Elieson is the professor to whom also I want certainly to express gratitude. Without his motivation and encouragement, I would not have been able to keep me on track throughout the coursework and dissertation processes. He undoubtedly encouraged me to aim for the best in the doctoral program. Lastly, Dr. Lin also gave me significant support being a sponsor of my first paper at UNT and providing multiple suggestions on my dissertation. Likewise, my fellow doctoral colleague, Jenny Wakefield, and visiting scholar David (Shi-Hua) Cho all assisted me, not only in the academic process but also in emotional encouragement. And last, but certainly not least, I would like to appreciate my family, my wife, and siblings. With their support, encourage, and gentle nudges, I could adjust my step when I was frustrated, became upset, got distraught in either on the study, work, or life. Thanks for their patience, tolerance, and emotional support. Thank you all. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ......................................................................................................iii LIST OF TABLES .................................................................................................................... vi LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................................. vii CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................. 1 Purpose of the Study ...................................................................................................... 2 Need for the Study ......................................................................................................... 3 Research Framework ..................................................................................................... 4 Research Questions and Research Hypotheses .............................................................. 5 Limitations ..................................................................................................................... 7 Definition of Terms........................................................................................................ 9 Overview of the Research ............................................................................................ 12 CHAPTER 2. LITERATURE REVIEW ................................................................................. 14 Introduction .................................................................................................................. 14 Instructional Design Models of m-Learning ................................................................ 15 Discussion of m-Learning Models and Strategies ....................................................... 29 Locational-Based Services (LBS) ................................................................................ 33 What the LBS Are ........................................................................................................ 34 LBS Features in Tourism ............................................................................................. 37 Tourism LBS Applications .......................................................................................... 40 Users’ Experience in LBS ............................................................................................ 45 Tourists’ Attitudes of LBS ........................................................................................... 50 Discussion of LBS ....................................................................................................... 51 CHAPTER 3. METHODOLOGY ........................................................................................... 55 Research Design........................................................................................................... 55 Research Questions ...................................................................................................... 56 Course Design .............................................................................................................. 57 Population .................................................................................................................... 59 Instrumentation Design ................................................................................................ 59 Data Collection ............................................................................................................ 62 Interview Questions ..................................................................................................... 63 iv Data Analysis ............................................................................................................... 63 Significance of the Study ............................................................................................. 63 CHAPTER 4. DATA ANALYSIS AND RESULTS .............................................................. 65 Learning Outcomes ...................................................................................................... 65 Learning Attitudes ....................................................................................................... 69 Interview Outcomes ..................................................................................................... 74 Summary ...................................................................................................................... 77 CHAPTER 5. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION .............................................................. 80 Discussion of Statistical Findings ................................................................................ 80 Discussion of M-learning Outcomes and Students’ Learning Attitudes ..................... 81 Discussion of the t-Test of Learning Attitudes ............................................................ 82 Discussion of Interview Findings ................................................................................ 83 Recommendations ........................................................................................................ 87 Future Research ........................................................................................................... 88 Conclusion ................................................................................................................... 90 APPENDIX A. EXAMPLE OF QUESTIONS FOR PRETEST AND POSTTEST .............. 91 APPENDIX B. THE STATISTICAL OUTCOMES OF THE PDA QUESTIONNAIRE ... 105 APPENDIX C. THE STATISTICAL OUTCOMES OF THE HANDOUT LEARNING QUESTIONNAIRE ............................................................................................................... 107 REFERENCES .....................................................................................................................