| As technology has evolved, the field of education has found new ways to integrate technology into, and outside of, the classroom. Computer assisted instruction has become a widely used method of teaching and learning in the classroom that has shown positive effects on increasing student academic ability. With the arrival of the Internet, a new means to deliver education to students at a distance was created that offered greater flexibility around a student's personal life and schedule. Now, with the growing popularity of mobile technology among students, the next possibility of technology based educational support is presenting itself. The following presents a study that examines how mobile technologies might be used to support student learning. Specifically, the study focuses on the use of short message system (SMS) text messaging to support the learning of algebra by high school ninth graders. This study used an experimental mixed method approach to examine how the sending of informational and motivational text messages to students' mobile phones might affect mathematics academic achievement, mathematics self-confidence, attitude towards mathematics, and attendance. The analysis of the data employed the techniques of descriptive statistics, one-way ANOVAs, MANOVAs, the calculations of reliability coefficients, and qualitative analysis. Overall results revealed no significant difference in terms of mathematics academic achievement, mathematics self-confidence, attitude towards mathematics, and attendance, but there was a positive perception seen by both the students and the teacher. |
