Owing to the rapid advance and popularity of wireless communication and mobile technologies, mobile and ubiquitous learning has become more and more important (Chu, Hwang, Tsai & Tseng, 2010). Numerous studies about the use of mobile and wireless communication technologies in education have been reported, in which these technology-enhanced learning approaches are referred to as mobile or ubiquitous learning by the researchers (Chu, Hwang & Tseng, 2010; Shih, Chuang & Hwang, 2010). There have been several definitions for mobile and ubiquitous learning. A widely accepted definition of mobile learning is ‘using mobile technologies to facilitate learning’, while a popular definition of ubiquitous learning is ‘learning anywhere and at anytime’(Hwang, Tsai & Yang, 2008; Shih, Chu, Hwang, & Kinshuk, 2010). Although these definitions have been given from different aspects, they share the same idea, that is, the mobile devices (eg personal digital assistants, cellular phones or portable computers) play an important role in the learning activities no matter whether the activities are conducted in the field or in the classroom (Chen, Hwang, Yang, Chen & Huang, 2009; Hwang, Yang, Tsai & Yang, 2009; Vavoula, Sharples, Rudman, Meek & Lonsdale, 2009).

In the past decade, various studies concerning mobile and ubiquitous learning have been conducted in museums, classrooms or labs (Hall & Bannon, 2006). For example, Reynolds, Walker and Speight (2010) arranged students to explore the museum environment and collections with mobile devices. Chiou, Tseng, Hwang and Heller (2010) also developed an adaptive navigation support system for guiding students to learn in museums with mobile devices. Furthermore, Hwang and Chang (2011) reported a learning activity of a local culture course, in which students were guided to learn in a temple using mobile devices.