Design, Implementation and Sustainability of Mobile Learning in Primary Education: A Longitudinal Case Study



Author Information

Maria Zarkada, European University of Cyprus, Greece

Abstract

The sustained integration of innovative digital technologies in school education remains a complex challenge, particularly in primary education, where pedagogical, organizational, and human factors strongly influence innovation processes. This study examines the design, implementation, and long-term sustainability of mobile learning as an educational innovation in a Greek experimental primary school. The research was conducted as a three-year longitudinal qualitative case study, adopting a human-centered and systemic perspective on educational change. Data were collected through vignettes, questionnaires, semi-structured interviews, focus groups, participant observation, reflective field notes, research diaries, instructional artefacts, and school documentation. The qualitative material was analyzed through reflexive thematic analysis supported by ATLAS.ti software and theoretically informed by the human-centered sustainability framework of Ng and Nicholas. The findings indicate that sustainable mobile learning integration did not emerge solely from technological availability, but through a gradual process of teacher professional learning, distributed leadership, collaborative school culture, and recognition of the pedagogical value of mobile technologies. While pedagogical, social, and organizational dimensions were strongly developed, economic and technological constraints remained ongoing challenges. The study contributes empirical evidence on how innovative technologies can become embedded in primary education and highlights the importance of human-centered design, contextual adaptation, and long-term support for achieving sustainable educational change.


Paper Information

Conference: PCE2026
Stream: Design

This paper is part of the PCE2026 Conference Proceedings (View)
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Posted by James Alexander Gordon