Mediating learning with mobile devices through pedagogical innovation: Teachers' perceptions of K-12 students’ learning experiences

This article presents a quantitative study demonstrating that digital pedagogy using mobile devices (e.g., laptops, mobile phones, tablets) impacts teachers' perceptions of pedagogical innovation. We further find that innovative mobile pedagogy adoption positively impacts teachers' perceptions of improved student learning in K-12 settings. Examining teachers' perceptions of pedagogical innovation in digital practice is important as researchers have questioned whether the use of digital devices constitutes an innovative break with traditional pedagogical practice or serves merely as a digital replica of non-digital practices. Further, providing a link between pedagogical innovation and perceived improvements in student learning provides further support for removing barriers to innovation adoption. The study uses the validated iPAC Framework (referring to Personalisation, Authenticity and Collaboration in mobile teaching pedagogies) as the basis of an international survey. The survey measured teachers' perceptions of their adopted pedagogies using mobile technologies during students' completion of a digital task, whether they viewed these practices as innovative, and how such approaches impacted teachers' perceptions of their students' learning experiences. Results from a Structural Equation Model (SEM) demonstrate that when teachers adopt innovative pedagogical tasks into their teaching with digital technologies, they perceive an improvement in student learning experiences. This is the first study that considers both the contribution of digital pedagogies and the contribution of innovation as direct and indirect effects on teachers’ perceptions of student learning experiences. • Teachers indicate innovation occurs when their mobile learning tasks include personalisation, authenticity, and co-creation. • Teachers adopting innovative m-learning pedagogies leads to their perceived improvement of student learning experiences. • Support for teachers to develop and increase their adoption of innovative digital pedagogies should be encouraged.