Trends and research issues of mobile learning studies in physical education: a review of academic journal publications

The present study aims to investigate the trends of mobile learning in physical education by reviewing the journal publications from the Scopus database. Several dimensions, including application domains, adopted mobile devices, research methods, research subjects, adopted teaching strategies, research issues, and learning locations are taken into account. The results show that the number of mobile learning papers in physical education has increased year after year, and that the integration of new mobile technologies into physical education activities is becoming much more common. The adoption of mobile devices in physical education and professional training, especially for the development of smartphones and wearable devices, facilitates the abundance of physical education and the growth of social physical education; however, the overall usage of such high-tech devices as wearable technologies is still limited. Most attention has been paid to communities on university campuses, but more focus should be placed on junior and senior high school and elementary school students. Currently, the types of sports involved in mobile learning are comparatively few; most focus on dynamic physical education. The application of mainstream teaching strategies of mobile learning in physical education is also limited. Accordingly, several research issues for mobile technologies in physical education are recommended.