Sample

The sample of this study is made up of thirty-two university professors and lectures (53.12% men and 46.88% women) from five Spanish universities: The University of Cantabria, the University of the Basque Country, the University of Zaragoza, the University of La Laguna and the University of Valladolid. A non-probabilistic, intentional, and opinionated sampling was used for their selection (Sáez-López, 2017), ensuring the diversity of the participants relative to the branch of knowledge, teaching category and years of teaching experience. In this regard, teachers from all branches of knowledge, different teaching categories, with professional experience ranging from three to thirty-three years participated in the study. The participation of teachers was in the form of six focus groups distributed in two periods of time: the first during the 2014-2015 academic year and the second during the 2021-2022 academic year.

Tools

A semi-structured ad-hoc template was designed with questions for the development of focus groups, as a qualitative data collection technique to examine concepts, perceptions, mental images, beliefs, emotions, interactions, thoughts, experiences, processes, and experiences. collectively manifested in the language of the participants (Hernández-Sampieri & Mendoza, 2018). The semi-structured question guide created for the focus groups consisted of seven large blocks, each one with different questions and a final summary and closing block (See Annex 1: https://figshare.com/s/07db0c68aed2dbcf8a41).

The validation of the information collection technique was performed by a content analysis using expert judgment, with the aim of knowing whether the questions posed were adequate and relevant to collect information on the concepts to be dealt with. To do this, five expert judges were consulted, selected based on their extensive knowledge of the specific topic and their experience in conducting qualitative research. Along with the focus group question guide, following Escobar-Pérez and Cuervo-Martínez (2008), a template was also sent to the judges for the evaluation of the instrument (See Annex 2: https://figshare.com/s /f8117add4f71ee42c700).The judges gave a highly positive assessment of the script of the questions and thanks to their comments and assessments the instrument was improved by introducing sub-questions, examples, and nuances in the wording.

Procedure

The qualitative research follows a longitudinal design to address the evolution of the phenomenon under study over a period of seven years. The information collected in the six focus groups was recorded and transcribed for later content analysis with the support of the Atlas.ti 6.0 program, which allowed the content to be codified and categorized, and was able to select relevant citations and establish networks. In this case, a deductive-inductive categorization was conducted. The research was based on categories in the focus group script, but new categories also emerged at the time of analysis.

In order to provide greater validity and credibility to the results, a process of triangulation of researchers was carried out (Okuda & Gómez, 2005; Ruiz, 2003) for the coding of the data and the analysis of the categories, obtaining a Kappa coefficient of .80. Table 1 shows the matrix with the categories, subcategories and codes used in the analysis of qualitative data.

Knowledge

The conceptual, emotional, or operational associations made by the teachers in response to the word “smartphone” provide knowledge on the ideas, sensations and concepts that they link or that relate to the term. Two networks are presented below (Figure 1 and Figure 2) with the associations made by the participating teachers in the 2014-2015 academic year and by the participants during the 2021-2022 academic year.

One can see that terms such as “connection”, “technology” and “utility” appear in both time periods, related to the description of the device and the possibilities it offers. However, there is an increase in the most negative associations, such as “dependence”, “attachment”, or “stress”, in the more recent manifestations.

Regarding the subcategory "Self-perceived Knowledge", the participants of the focus groups in the 2014-2015 academic year consider, for the most part, that their level was that of a "medium-low" user, while the participants in the 2021-2022 academic year said their level was "medium" user. In other words, teachers currently have a slightly higher self-conception of their teaching competence for the use and handling of the tool.

Use

The type of smartphone use by higher education teachers is collected in the analysis units coded around the subcategories “personal use” and “academic-professional use”. Both the participating teachers during the 2014-2015 academic year and during the 2021-2022 academic year, refer to a personal use associated, generally speaking, with communication and information:

• “I use it mainly for communication. I have email and WhatsApp. And then I always have the translator... I have installed and used the GPS, I have also installed the weather program... I use what I see that interests me and it is mainly for communication” (USO_PER_14-15).

• “I use it a lot as a personal newspaper. I think it is the modern-day way since until now we have read a print version of a newspaper and now we do it on this type of device” (USO_PER_14-15).

• “I, fundamentally, like V, use it mainly for communication. I also use it to look up information, because access is everything on the internet, be it repositories or whatever... But fundamentally, if I stop and think, I use it for communication and information search” (USO_PER_21-22).

• Regarding the academic-professional use of the smartphone, it is worth noting, in the two samples (2014-2015 and 2021-2022), a predominance in its use is mentioned for communication and management purposes in the professional field:

• “I use it more and more, although I thought I wouldn’t, for e-mail. I almost use the phone more for email than the computer. I also use WhatsApp groups and it helps you stay in touch” (USO_ACA_CG_2014-2015).

• “I am deputy director of the Department, so yes, there are a series of management issues that have to be performed and I do them with the mobile too” (USO_ACA_CG_2021-2022).

• “There are times when you have management issues, or things with projects and you need to provide an answer, other times with students… And then, for communication, we have a WhatsApp group for the entire work group. So, when tasks arise within the research group, we solve them via the WhatsApp group” (USO_ACA_CG_2021-2022).

• Similarly, although less frequently, teachers also refer to experiences related to the teaching use of the tool:

• “I apply other methodologies and, practically speaking, I don't give lectures. So, what I do is encourage the use of the smartphone because it is the tool they have most at hand to find things. You raise any issue with them and the first thing I tell them is: 'come on, let's see what you find'. I want you to look for videos about such and such. So, there they are all looking and seeing. Well, it is one way of doing it” (USO_ACA_DOC_2014-2015).

• “I use an application called Socrative, in which you ask them the questions on the computer, and they answer from the smartphone, tablet or whatever they have. That has worked quite well, and I am very happy. (...) They did not want to answer questions I used to ask orally” (USO_ACA_DOC_2014-2015).

• “I use Kahoot!, Edpuzzle, Wikis and others, especially after COVID. I no longer aim to use it so much to motivate or encourage them, which I think ultimately depends on the teacher, regardless of the tool, but rather because they are already so familiar with it, it is much easier for them. Just imagine telling them “you have to write by hand”, “excuse me?” (USO_ACA_DOC_2021-2022).

• “I realized something. A few years ago, it did motivate them, it seemed innovative, for example, using Kahoot! but now they say 'just like in high school'. So, for example, I like to break that association between high school and university. It is no longer new to them; it does not seem to motivate them much” (USO_ACA_DOC_2021-2022).

As seen in the comments, it is noteworthy how they attached great value to the inclusion of the smartphone as a pedagogical tool in their teaching in the 2014-2015 academic year, while they no longer perceive it as such a novel practice or motivating for students in the 2021-2022 academic year, despite having had to repeatedly use Mobile Learning as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Finally, in relation to the "Use" category and despite the differentiation between the use of the tool in the personal and academic-professional spheres, teachers in recent years have been expressing their concern about the lack of limits between what is personal and professional given the omnipresence of technology, a circumstance that was not expressed in the first focus groups:

• “The truth is that I only use the smartphone for my personal use. I separate the personal from the work and I have a tablet for the agendas and for all class matters” (USO_INT_2014-2015).

• “I'm on holiday by the pool looking at my email... It's like, if you don't look at it, when you get back to work later, and have 500 emails, you can't handle everything. I prefer to look every day and delete them. I don't have any type of limitation, let's get on with it” (USO_INT_2021-2022).

• “I look at my mobile at midday because I get 200 emails and when I look at my mobile at night, and... I think there is no longer a separation between the personal and the professional in the case of teachers. It has disappeared” (USO_INT_2021-2022).

Benefits

The main advantages and potentialities that teachers perceive in relation to the use of the smartphone are collected in the subcategories “Personal benefits” and “Academic-professional benefits”.

The personal benefits highlighted by the teachers in both the time periods fundamentally refer to speed and immediacy, free access to information, versatility, or agility in communication:

• “Thanks to the smartphone we can do several things at the same time. In other words, I am talking to a person and at the same time he or she is sending me information on WhatsApp and tells me they will look at it tonight... And they have not told me that information face-to-face” (BEN_PER_2014-2015).

• “The best thing for me is its immediacy, having access to any information or data and being able to control anything” (BEN_PER_2021-2022).

• On the other hand, the academic benefits most valued by teachers are convenience, versatility, and communication options with students, as well as the possibilities for student evaluation and motivation:

• “Because it is a vehicle for communication, access to information, facilitator of learning... It is a tool that, if used well, has lots of possibilities, which are still not fully known and exploited. And everything is in a single device. I mean that before you had to do one thing, and then another, another... but having everything compact in the same instrument really is an advantage or a benefit” (BEN_ACA_2014-2015).

• “There is an intrinsic motivation, the student is very interested in using the mobile” (BEN_ACA_2014-2015).

• “Something good is that immediacy has saved me many times, in the sense of answering an important email, validating a project... Because, in fact, I no longer have a laptop, I use the computer in the laboratory office and the smartphone. And, if I go to a congress, I use the smartphone” (BEN_ACA_2021-2022).

• “I think the students are motivated, they like it. For example, what we were talking about before Kahoot! or that type of application, they like them a lot” (BEN_ACA_2021-2022).

Difficulties

The analysis units included in the "Difficulties" category collect the main limitations, risks, or threats that higher education teachers identify in relation to the use of the smartphone. Specifically, there is an analysis of the content in the subcategories “Personal difficulties” and “Academic-professional difficulties”.

The personal difficulties mentioned by the teachers in both periods are related to the vulnerability of privacy, lack of attention or the risks always derived from access to communication and information, such as anxiety, dependence and lack of limits between the professional and the personal. There are also references to the controversy between technological hyper connection, the need for intimacy and the real loneliness that it provokes.

• "I think the smartphone is responsible for a problem of chronic lack of attention that may be an illness" (DIF_PER_2014-2015).

• “But it is true that there are many people who now coordinate through WhatsApp much faster, much more immediately… But it makes me feel anxious. It is not good to be connected twenty-four hours a day with work issues. I restrict my spaces” (DIF_PER_2014-2015).

• “It is the loneliness of the big cities. But how can this be the case if you are surrounded by people and you do not go into the subway? Yet you feel completely alone. And where is there more communication? In towns with twenty inhabitants” (DIF_PER_2014-2015).

• “Yes, they sometimes put limitations on me at home. They tell me that there are times when you can't be on your mobile, that you shouldn’t look at it, and I say 'but sometimes it's inevitable'. “Very often you see the message and say ‘well, I will answer it’ and other times it is something urgent that you have to answer the student. Well, in the end you get used to the fact that you are available twenty-four hours a day. I have received emails at twelve o’clock at night, at one in the morning on a Saturday, and in the end, you get used to being connected 24/7, it seems that we are on permanent call” (DIF_PER_2021-2022).

After analysis of the textual citations, one can see that, in the first focus groups, the teachers were aware of the risks, but tried to define the spaces and times of professional and personal use of the tool. However, when analyzing the latest responses, one can also see that, despite continuing to be aware of the risks, they have difficulty in defining the moments and purposes of connection.

On the other hand, regarding the academic-professional difficulties mentioned in the first meetings with the teachers, they referred to how the smartphone could favor thoughtlessness and lack of criteria in the selection and consumption of content, leading to the isolation and disconnection of students.

For their part, the teachers who participated in the 2021-2022 focus groups consider that the teaching use of the tool is highly pernicious as it favors “multitasking”, and time wasting. In both periods (2014-2015 and 2021-2022) they perceive that it promotes distraction and that some technical limitations, such as the small screen, hinder its usefulness.

• “One difficulty I notice is that they monopolize the student's attention, which isolates them and, many times, you are talking to a wall because no one or very few people have heard you or are paying attention in class. I have noticed that a lot. And then you realize this when they ask you things I have repeated thirty times. Many are taking notes because they are in the habit of taking notes with it. Sure, this is small, it catches your attention and isolates you and you don't listen to the teacher. And that is a problem for me. And if they are looking at social networks, I don’t even want to tell you” (DIF_ACA_2014-2015).

• “An advantage has been mentioned, but I can see it as a drawback: access to information is too easy. It takes a very judicious use of technology to really take advantage of it without the inconvenience of the enormous waste of time and energy that it can entail. In fact, do our students know more than they did twenty years ago? I am not sure at all” (DIF_ACA_2014-2015).

• “I believe that this immediacy gives us the option of making mistakes much faster, in other words, of not being reflexive in an absolutely categorical way” (DIF_ACA_2014-2015).

• “I don't see it as useful. Not Kahoot!, not Mentimeter, not any of these things. It seems a waste of time to me, it is like playing in class and I don't see that they learn anything doing that. Their motivation needs to come from home and participation is their duty, then I don't have to motivate them, I don't have to be doing weird things, I don't have to be wasting time on such nonsense” (DIF_ACA_2021-2022).

Training

Information from the category "Training" is analyzed according to the subcategories "Training experience" and "Training needs".

Firstly, Figure 3 and Figure 4 show that teachers refer to a highly intuitive, self-taught learning process, although, on some occasions, they mention more traditional training processes such as manuals or officially regulated courses.

Secondly, regarding the training needs, the demands related to the knowledge and handling of specific applications were verified in the 2014-2015 group, pointing out the importance of the format of the course or seminar to be taught. In other words, they consider the execution of an eminently practical and extensive training in which the teacher supervises and accompanies the learners throughout the entire process as being fundamental. However, as regards the 2021-2022 academic year, they no longer require as much training due to both the possibilities they have for self-training through the Internet and the more critical view of the educational application of the smartphone.