Research on Mobile Cloud Computing in Teaching and Learning: A Conceptual Model

Abstract

Advances in cloud computing technology coupled with increasing volumes of data has driven the growth and differentiation of cloud-based solutions in teaching and learning. The cloud computing industry has matured over the past decade and the number of publications steadily rose, to build on the maturity of the field researchers investigating cloud computing research in the mobile teaching and learning domain need to be cognisant of the state of the art. The objective of this paper is to analyse the available literature in the field of cloud computing for mobile teaching and learning to identify the main categories of research, the prevalent methodologies and research gaps, and then integrate the findings in a conceptual framework representing the current state of the field in terms of research opportunities. A systematic mapping study on relevant publications in journals and conferences was conducted. Mapping studies are a suitable method for structuring a research field concerning research questions about contents, methods and trends in the available publications. A systematic literature review and mapping was used to select 107 articles from a total of 21 822 publications in five prominent databases, namely ACM, ERIC, IEEE, Google Scholar and Springer. The analysis was done in October 2017 on papers published between 2013 and 2017. The contribution is to classify existing work and suggest future opportunities based on a systematic mapping of mobile cloud computing (MCC) for teaching and learning research. The analysis provides an overview of the field in terms of what is researched, how that is researched and where the future research contributions may lie. The findings are integrated to present a non-prescriptive, conceptual framework on mobile cloud computing research for teaching and learning. Researchers can use the proposed framework as a point of reference in starting or aligning their own projects and establishing where future research opportunities exist.