Research On The Development And Application Of Mobile Learning Software Based On Distributed Cognitive Theory

With the advancement of Mobile communication technology, people rely more and more on communication tools, such as smart phones, to get information, communicate with each other and enjoy entertainment.In order to enhance the learning efficiency, educational psychologists are considering and researching on how to establish an educational model, which will be combined and matched with, and also suitable to the modern information technology. Theories, such as Distributed Cognition, come out under this big background. What the psychologists and computer engineers concern is how to make the theories, including Distributed Cognition, a learning tool and behavior, by designing and developing computer and mobile software system. This thesis tends to combine the psychological theories with the computer communication technology.At the beginning, this thesis makes a probe into the technical approaches on designing and developing mobile learning software, based on the computer hardware and software platform. That is to provide the learners with a highly efficient learning platform, with the ultimate goal of designing and developing mobile learning software, by transforming the psychological theories into an operable tool of strong practical application value, and then to make a UX investigation on the satisfaction and preference of mobile learning software users by way of questionnaire and interview survey. This thesis includes the following three aspects, which are:Firstly, guided by the cognitive psychology, to facilitate the theoretical modeling for designing and developing mobile learning software system in the light of mathematical modeling, and then to complete the computer programming, and then to establish data base for the software, and finally to transform the mathematical model into operable mobile software system.Secondly, by computer simulation, to test the usability of the software system and the mathematical model for it, and to check whether the software will be able to substantiate the theoretical hypothesis and whether the main performance parameters of it are in line with the goal of the design.Thirdly, by means of questionnaire and interview survey, to make investigation on the learners who have tried out the software system, so as to get their feedback, such as their subjective experience and feelings to the software, and to collect data for perfecting the software system in the future.Based on the above three steps, the development of the English Vocabulary Learning software system is basically accomplished. This software has been run for verification in accordance with the testing procedures for the software system development and it has been tried out for verification by a certain number of English learners. The result of running and trail verification shows that the software system operates smoothly. The result of the usability test shows that the designing of the software is successful. The result of the investigation reveals that the users show great interest in this software and that most of them have great expectation towards the effectiveness of the mobile learning software. Meanwhile, parts of the users still have doubt on whether this software will be able to meet their anticipation.Generally speaking, this thesis is a rehearsal of software system designing and development, by dint of the combination of psychological theories with computer software knowledge, which lays a solid foundation for the researcher’s future career on the basis of applied psychology and learning software designing and development.