Advancements and research topics of museum-based mobile learning: a review of journal publications from 2008 to 2019

ABSTRACT

This research reviewed the publications in the Scopus database in the museum-based mobile learning field based on the technology-based learning review model from 2008 to 2019. The aim of this study was to investigate trends in the field of museum-based mobile learning from the main journals and papers, including countries and areas, participants, research methods, learning domains, the orientation of adopted sensing or location-based technologies, learning strategies, and research topics. The cluster and co-occurrence analysis methods were used to analyze the main key terms and the relationships between them. Three thematic clusters, namely strategies and media for mobile-based museum learning, personalized supports for mobile-based museum learning, and applications of mobile-based museum learning were identified. The results show that inquiry-based learning was the most adopted learning strategy for higher education, while contextual mobile learning was the most frequently employed strategy for elementary school students; such extensively adopted mobile learning strategies as peer assessment, project-based learning, video sharing, and synchronous sharing were not adopted in the studies. In addition, an important finding in the literature of the main research purpose of museum-based mobile learning research is the affective domain, followed by the influence of learner characteristics and the effects of mobile learning.

KEYWORDS:

• Cluster analysis
• learning strategies
• museum-based mobile learning
• sensing or location-based technologies
• visualization

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s)).

Additional information

Funding

This study is supported in part by the Ministry of Science and Technology of the Republic of China under contract numbers MOST 109-2511-H-011-004 and MOST 109-2511-H-130-002.

Notes on contributors

Chi-Jen Lin

Chi-Jen Lin is an assistant professor at the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology. Her research interests include technology-enhanced language learning, flipped classroom, discourse analysis, and peer assessment.

Kai-Yu Tang

Kai-Yu Tang is an assistant professor of international business at Ming Chuan University. His research interests include mobile commerce, social network analysis, and computational thinking.

Yun-Fang Tu

Yun-Fang Tu is an assistant professor at the Department of Library and Information Science, Research and Development Center for Physical Education, Health, and Information Technology, Fu Jen Catholic University. Her research interests include digital library, mobile and ubiquitous learning.