Mobile handheld devices are increasingly being used in education. In this paper, we undertook a review of empirical based articles to summarise the current research regarding the use of mobile handheld devices (personal digital assistants/PDAs, palmtops, and mobile phones) in K-12 and higher education settings. This review was guided by the following four questions: (a) How are mobile handheld devices such as PDAs, palmtops, and mobile phones used by students and teachers? (b) What types of research methods have been applied using such devices? (c) What data collection methods are used in the research? and (d) What research topics have been conducted on these handheld devices in education settings, as well as their related findings? We summarise and discuss some major findings from the research, as well as several limitations of previous empirical studies. We conclude by providing some recommendations for future research related to mobile handheld devices in education settings.

The use of online learning is growing very fast in universities. Consequently, understanding how to promote student contribution in asynchronous online discussions, which is considered an integral part of online learning, has become increasingly crucial. Previous research has examined how factors, such as instructor facilitation techniques may influence student contribution. However, issues such as when the online discussion is student facilitated, and students are given a freedom of choice to choose, why students choose to contribute in some forums but not in others are not fully understood. In this article, we report a case study involving pre-service teachers in Singapore that examined this issue. Data were collected from the pre-service teachers' online postings, reflection logs, questionnaires, and interview data. Results suggested six themes that influenced students' decision to contribute or not to contribute: a) relational capital; b) knowledge about the subject or topic; c) discussion activity or topic; d) availability of time; e) reward; and f) random choice. Practical recommendations to motivate students to contribute and future research directions pertaining to asynchronous online discussions are suggested.