Dr. Matthew Kearney is Adjunct Professor of Education in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS) at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS), Australia. Since 1999, his research projects in the field of technology-enhanced learning have investigated how new and emerging learning technologies can be used in pedagogically transformational ways, particularly in school and teacher education contexts. Further information from Kearney's academic homepage.

Dr Kevin Burden is Professor of Educational Technology in the Faculty of Arts, Cultures and Education at the University of Hull, UK. Over the past twenty years, his primary research focus and work has been on the professional development and learning of educators and the role that technology can play in mediating and supporting this learning.  Further information from Burden's academic homepage.  

Dr Sandy Schuck is Adjunct Professor of Education in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS).  Her research interests are all related to her interest in enhancing teacher practice and preparation. They include learning and teaching with new media, the development of mobile pedagogies, teaching and teacher education futures, beliefs and practices in mathematics education, teacher professional learning, and mentoring, retention and induction of early career teachers. Further information from Schuck's academic homepage.

Dr Paul Burke is a Professor in Marketing at the UTS Business School. He is also Deputy Director of UTS’ Centre for Business Intelligence & Data Analytics (BIDA). His research interests are related to applied market research and developing new methods to understand choices and perceptions in a range of decision making contexts. This includes research into how teachers approach pedagogy and technology, issues of retention and attraction of teachers, and the design of professional learning. Further information from Burke's academic homepage.

We would like to acknowledge Professor Peter Aubusson's insights and contributions to the development of the iPAC Framework over the past decade, and his leadership of the Optimising Teaching and Learning with Mobile-Intensive Pedagogies project. Further information from Aubusson's academic homepage.

Thank-you to Zhen Yin for his valuable assistance with designing this website and the surveys. Zhen has a passion for building well-architected IT applications which streamline processes. He specialises in web and mobile application development, online survey building, data analysis and visualisation.

Read below if you’d like to use the image in your own works. Right click to download the above image.

Using the iPAC image in your own works

Others are free to use the image under the following conditions.

·       The source of the image is attributed as https://www.ipacmobilepedagogy.com/
·       The author of the work does not make any claim to copyright over the image
·       The publisher of the work does not make any claim to copyright over the image
·       The image is only used for non-commercial purposes
·       The image is captioned or credited as “Reproduced by permission of the publisher, © 2020 by ipacmobilepedagogy.com” (or something equivalent)

If those conditions are met, there is no need to contact ipacmobilepedagogy.com, Matthew Kearney, or Kevin Burden. We hereby grant permission to use the iPAC Framework image under the above conditions.

Other versions of the iPAC image

The above creative commons licensed image is the only one hosted by www.ipacmobilepedagogy.com. There are earlier versions of the iPAC Framework image created by us and others e.g. see Evolution of the iPAC Mobile Pedagogical Framework (Ch. 7) from our new book: Kearney, Burden & Schuck (2020). We recommend use of the current version of the iPAC Framework image above.

The iPAC Framework has been widely used to inform other education researchers’ studies of digital learning. (Our foundational 2012 paper has been cited in over 1000 scholarly papers, according to Google Scholar)

A recent review of mobile learning publications published after 2012 (see this google document), undertaken by University of Hull doctoral student Rebecca Kelly, identified at least 50 research studies that referenced one or more of the iPAC constructs (personalisation, authenticity and collaboration), and at least seven studies that made explicit reference to the entire iPAC Framework . In Chapter 8 of our 2020 book, we focus on and review selected research studies that make explicit use of the iPAC Framework or substantial elements within it (Kearney, Burden & Schuck, 2020).

Invitation: If  your study is associated with the iPAC Framework, and you wish to promote it via the above google document, please email the details to Matthew Kearney.

A series of THREE freely available online resources, underpinned by the iPAC framework, can be used by teachers wishing to improve their digital teaching approaches. The validated online iPAC surveys (see Resource Two) also will be of interest to education researchers wishing to investigate m-learning. The 3 resources are outlined below.

Resource One (of 3)

A mobile learning toolkit (Burden & Kearney, 2018). This resource was developed through a major EU-funded project, Mobilising and Transforming Teacher Educators’ Pedagogies (MTTEP), led by the University of Hull, UK. It includes video cases illustrating the main features of the iPAC Framework, exemplar eBooks illustrating the use of mobile devices in education, and an online rubric for evaluating the pedagogic value of Education apps.

Resource Two (of 3)

A set of validated online iPAC surveys (Kearney et al, 2019) are accessible via the homepage of this website. These robust survey instruments were developed and validated during a major Australian Research Council (ARC) project, led by UTS, titled Optimising Teaching and Learning with Mobile-Intensive Pedagogies. The surveys can be used by teachers or researchers wishing to evaluate either task-specific or typical mobile learning practices using robust, rigorous instruments. There are student and teacher versions of these surveys for triangulation of data.
The surveys contain four sections. Sections A and D collect background data and information about the m-learning task(s). The student surveys contain fewer items in these background sections. Section B is the core of the surveys and contains the validated iPAC scales: 20 items in the teacher version and 21 items in the student version. Section C consists of additional items developed from the literature on m-learning and innovation. The innovation item in the surveys was developed during the DEIMP project (see Resource 3 further down this page) and elicits participants’ views of innovation.
Teachers receive an auto-generated report after submitting their responses, as shown in the image below. It contains polar charts based on responses to the iPAC scale items, and an innovation score based on responses to the  innovation item. If teachers completing the specific task survey choose to implement the corresponding student survey with their class, they also receive a class report based on average scores across all students in the class.

Resource Three (of 3)

A professional learning app for guiding innovative mobile digital practices. It is currently undergoing final testing and has been created during a second EU-funded project: Designing and Evaluating Innovative Mobile Pedagogies (DEIMP), also led by the University of Hull. The app supports educators and pre-service teachers in designing and evaluating creative and innovative m-learning episodes for their students. Activities embedded in the app are informed by the iPAC Framework. Accompanying the app is an evidence-based set of principles for innovative digital pedagogies (Burden, Kearney, Schuck, & Hall, 2019). These 21 principles are shown below and have been aligned with the iPAC Framework (see Ch 14 of our new book: Kearney, Burden & Schuck, 2020).

The iPAC Framework has been developed and applied in 3 of our major funded projects: an Australian Research Council (ARC) project led by The University of Technology Sydney (UTS), Australia; and two Erasmus+ projects led by The University of Hull, UK.

The first Erasmus + project was called Mobilising and Transforming Teacher Educators’ Pedagogies (MTTEP). It was a three-year project (2014-2017), that aimed to create a m-learning network and a toolkit for teachers to use based on the iPAC Framework (Burden & Kearney, 2018). The elements of the toolkit are outlined on the resources page of this website and have been tested extensively by teachers and teacher educators across four continents. The impact of the resources from the toolkit on users was instrumental in a recent international e-Learning award.

Another major project which used the iPAC Framework was funded by the ARC from 2015-2019. Titled Optimising Teaching and Learning with Mobile-Intensive Pedagogies. It investigated how teachers might enhance learning in secondary school mathematics and science through m-learning (Bano, Zowghi, Kearney, Schuck, & Aubusson, 2018). A scale was developed to research how teachers and students perceived their integration of iPAC in their m-learning tasks (Kearney, Burke, & Schuck, 2019). Discussion of how mathematics and science teachers varied in their use of iPAC is presented in Kearney, Burden & Schuck (2020), while students' perceptions are presented in Burke, Kearney, Schuck & Aubusson (2021). The validated surveys are an output from this project and are available from the homepage of this website.

The most recent project (2017-2022) is the Designing and Evaluating Innovative Mobile Pedagogies (DEIMP). This project is also an Erasmus + project. Its focus is on innovation and investigates how mobile pedagogies might be developed for innovative practice (Burden, Kearney, Schuck & Hall, 2019). The innovation principles from this project have been aligned with the iPAC dimensions (Kearney, Burden & Schuck, 2020). A key output from this project is a professional learning app to guide teachers’ innovative digital pedagogies (see Resources page).

All academic citations on this page are detailed on our Publications page.

If referring to the iPAC Framework in an article, please cite our foundational 2012 paper (see * below), or our 2020 book (see ** below)

Key publications relating to iPAC

Burke, P., Schuck, S., Burden, K., & Kearney, M. (2025).  Mediating learning with mobile devices through pedagogical innovation: Teachers’ perceptions of K-12 students’ learning experiences. Computers and Education, 227, 105226, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2024.105226

Kearney, M., Young, K. & Burke, P. (2023). An examination of special education teachers’ digital practices. Journal of Special Education Technology, 38(3), 314-326. https://doi.org/10.1177/01626434221094798

Burke, P., Kearney, M., Schuck, S., & Aubusson, P. (2022). Improving mobile learning in secondary mathematics and science: Listening to students. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 38, 137-151  https://doi.org/10.1111/jcal.12596

** (Book) Kearney, M., Burden, K., & Schuck, S. (2020). Theorising and implementing mobile learning: Using the iPAC framework to inform research and teaching practice. Dordrecht, Netherlands: Springer.

Kearney, M., Burke, P., & Schuck, S. (2019). The iPAC scale: A survey to measure distinctive mobile pedagogies. TechTrends, 63(6), 751–764 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11528-019-00414-1

Burden, K. & Kearney, M. (2018). Designing an educator toolkit for the mobile learning age. International Journal of Mobile and Blended Learning (IJMBL), 10(2), 88-99 https://doi:10.4018/IJMBL.2018040108

Burden, K. & Kearney, M. (2017). Investigating and critiquing teacher educators’ mobile learning practices. Interactive Technology and Smart Education 14(2), 110-125 https://doi.org/10.1108/ITSE-05-2017-0027

Schuck, S., Kearney, M., & Burden, K. (2017). Exploring mobile learning in the Third Space. Technology, Pedagogy and Education, 26(2), 121-137. https//doi.org/10.1080/1475939X.2016.1230555

Burden, K., & Kearney, M. (2016). Conceptualising authentic mobile learning. In D. Churchill, J. Lu, T. Chiu & B. Fox (Eds), Mobile Learning Design: Theories and Application (pp.27- 42). Singapore: Springer.

Kearney, M., Burden, K., & Rai, T. (2015). Investigating teachers' adoption of signature mobile pedagogies. Computers & Education, 80, 48-57

*(Foundational paper) Kearney, M., Schuck, S., Burden, K., & Aubusson, P. (2012). Viewing mobile learning from a pedagogical perspective. Research in Learning Technology 20: 14406 https://doi.org/10.3402/rlt.v20i0.14406

Our other publications associated with iPAC

Burden, K. & Kearney, M. (2023). Optimising teachers’ digital pedagogies through university-school projects. In E. Langran, P. Christensen & J. Sanson (Eds.), Proceedings of Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference (pp. 1989-1994). New Orleans, LA, United States: Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE). Retrieved April 18, 2023 from https://www.learntechlib.org/primary/p/222086/

Kearney, M., Burden, K., & Schuck, S. (2022). Teachers' digital pedagogies during the emergency remote school lockdowns in Australia. In E. Baumgartner, R. Kaplan-Rakowski, R. Ferdig, R. Hartshorne, & C. Mouza (Eds.). A Retrospective of Teaching, Technology, and Teacher Education During the COVID-19 Pandemic (pp. 215-220). Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE). Retrieved from https://www.learntechlib.org/primary/p/221522/.

Kearney, M., Burden, K. & Burke, P. (2022). An examination of teachers’ digital practices during school lockdowns. In T. Bastiaens (Ed.), Proceedings of EdMedia + Innovate Learning (pp. 813-818). New York City, NY, United States: Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE). Retrieved July 8, 2022 from https://www.learntechlib.org/primary/p/221377/

Haering, M., Bano, M., Zowghi, D., Kearney, M., & Maalej, W. (2021). Automating the evaluation of education apps with app store data. IEEE Transactions on Learning Technologies. https://doi.org/10.1109/TLT.2021.3055121

Kearney, M., Burden, K., & Schuck, S. (2020). Designing personalised, authentic and collaborative learning with mobile devices: Confronting the challenges of remote teaching during a pandemic. In R. Ferdig, E. Baumgartner, R. Hartshorne, R. Kaplan-Rakowski, & C. Mouza (Eds). Teaching, Technology, and Teacher Education During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Stories from the Field (pp. 661-666). Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE). Retrieved from https://www.learntechlib.org/p/216903/.

Kearney, M., Maher, D., Pham, L. & Kuang, S. (2020). Pre-service teachers’ self-initiated use of mobile devices to support their online professional learning networking. In K. Burden & A. Naylor (eds.). Transforming Teacher Education with Mobile Technologies (pp. 51-72). London: Bloomsbury Academic.

Burden, K., Kearney, M., Schuck, S., & Hall, T (2019). Investigating the use of innovative mobile pedagogies for school-aged students: A systematic literature review. Computers & Education, 138, 83-100 doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2019.04.008

Burden, K., Kearney, M., Schuck, S. & Burke, P. (2019). Principles underpinning innovative mobile learning: Stakeholders’ priorities. TechTrends 63(6), 659-668 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11528-019-00415-0

Kearney, M., Burden, K., & Schuck, S. (2019). Disrupting education using smart mobile pedagogies. In L. Daniela (ed), Didactics of Smart Pedagogy: Smart pedagogy for technology-enhanced learning ( pp. 139-157) Cham, Switzerland: Springer.

Kearney, M. & Maher, D. (2019). Mobile learning in pre-service teacher education: Examining the use of professional learning networks. Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 35(1), 135-148. https://doi.org/10.14742/ajet.4073

Schuck S., Aubusson P., Burden K., Brindley S. & Kearney, M. (2018) Mobile STEM learning scenarios. In S. Schuck, P. Aubusson, K. Burden & S. Brindley (eds). Uncertainty in Teacher Education Futures. Springer, Singapore https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-8246-7_11

Bano, M., Zowghi, D., Kearney, M., Schuck, S. & Aubusson, P. (2018). Mobile learning for science and mathematics school education: A systematic review of empirical evidence Computers & Education, 121, 30-58

Burden, K., & Kearney, M. (2016). Future scenarios for mobile science learning. Research in Science Education. 46(2), 287-308

Schuck, S., Aubusson, P., Kearney, M., & Burden, K. (2013). Mobilising teacher education: A study of a professional learning community. Teacher Development: An international journal of teachers' professional development, 17(1), 1-18 DOI:10.1080/13664530.2012.752671

Kearney, M. & Maher, D. (2013). Mobile learning in maths teacher education: Driving pre-service teachers’ professional development. Australian Educational Computing, 27(3), 76-84.

The iPAC Framework highlights three approaches that are distinctive to mobile learning: Personalisation, Authenticity and Collaboration (or 'PAC'). How learners experience these signature mobile pedagogies is influenced by how they exploit a more flexible ‘time-space’ (or context) when learning with mobile devices. The framework is underpinned by sociocultural theory and was originally developed by academics at UTS, Australia and the University of Hull, UK (Kearney, Schuck, Burden & Aubusson, 2012). The original representation of the iPAC Framework is shown below:

The iPAC Framework was further developed by the researchers over a series of mobile learning projects. Eg., the sub-constructs for Collaboration and Authenticity were further refined. The current iPAC representation is shown below.

For an introduction to the iPAC Framework, please watch the following brief video. For more detailed explanations of iPAC, and illustrations from school and teacher education, we invite you to also visit the Mobile Learning Toolkit site. Note. The video below was created with reference to a previous version of the iPAC Framework. We are currently updating it to reflect the current version. The 'course' mentioned at the end of the video is part of the Mobile Learning Toolkit. Another course is currently under development via a new project: Designing & Evaluating Innovative Mobile Pedagogies (DEIMP).