Mobile technology and social networks: Mapping architecture students' practice and awareness for educational possibilities

Abstract

Mobile technologies are spreading our daily lives by the help of social media applications. Teenagers and young adults are among the highest percentage of smartphone and social media application users. As an apparent result colleges and higher education institutions are facing an increasing pressure to limit and control students' smartphone and social network use as these practices are accepted to be distracting. On the other hand, academicians are also tending to spend more time with their mobile devices and use social networks. At the brink of a connected World with the Internet of things', it seems things will get tougher to leave these devices out of classrooms. Although the idea of using such applications for the good of education is being discussed for some time now, research on using such tools and technologies for undergraduate architecture students is far from being extensive. Besides, existing data and insights are postulant to become irrelevant with an unusual pace. By the help of a survey data this paper tries to pin undergraduate architecture students' smartphone and social network practice and discuss their possible consideration for educational purposes. Initial findings give clues about some of the web 2.0 tools can help students enhance their design activities.