The Impact of Using Mobile Technology on Omani Science Teachers' Reflective Practices and Their Motivation Towards Teaching and Planning Lessons

Mobile technologies, especially smartphones, are globally popular, including amongst teachers. Thus, it could be very helpful for in-service teacher training providers to use such technologies in developing teachers’ practices. This study describes using smartphones as a platform for teachers’ professional development. It reveals levels of reflective practices, and motivation towards teaching and planning lessons, of Omani in-service science teachers, and it explores effects of the professional development on these characteristics. A training programme was designed, based on models of reflection (Kolb’s and Gibb’s Cycles) and on the Expectancy-Value theory of motivation, and hosted on Facebook and Twitter. The programme aim was to improve teachers’ reflective practices and motivation. This study took place in the Al Batinah-North Governorate of the Sultanate of Oman. 83 Omani science teachers were involved over approximately 14 weeks. A pre-post experimental design ensured accurate assessment of the mobile technology programme’s effects. Interviews, questionnaires, and document analyses were employed in order to obtain data. The findings were that Omani science teachers believe that they are at a medium level, on a five-point scale, in respect of reflective practices. However, some evidence shows that their reflective practices might objectively be less than this. They self-report a level higher than medium in motivation towards teaching and planning lessons. The results indicate that Omani female science teachers practise reflection and are motivated towards planning lessons significantly more than their male counterparts. There is a positive, but not statistically significant, impact of mobile technology use on the teachers’ reflective practices and motivation towards teaching and planning. Furthermore, there is a positive relationship between teachers’ reflective practices and their motivation towards planning lessons. Influences on Omani science teachers’ reflective practices and motivation are: professional development methods, workload in relation to focus of attention and to time, and teachers’ personality traits.