The smartphone has ceased to be merely a device for personal communication and has become a genuine pedagogical mediator within higher education.
Research conducted with 525 students from UNAN-Managua shows how this resource, when didactically integrated into different subjects, not only facilitates immediacy in access to information but also fosters interaction, academic organization, and the collective construction of knowledge. Its ubiquity positions it as a natural ally of mobile learning, particularly in a country like Nicaragua, where digital divides coexist with the growing penetration of smartphones.
Yet, the very immediacy that makes the smartphone a powerful tool also generates pedagogical shadows: technological dependence, attentional dispersion, and a limited mastery of applications with deeper educational potential, such as those designed for academic management, language learning, or access to scientific databases.
This landscape suggests that, while students already use their phones in intuitive and functional ways, the pedagogical exploitation of the smartphone remains partial and calls for a critical digital literacy that goes beyond the mere consumption of content.
Accordingly, the study urges higher education institutions to reflect on the urgency of formative strategies and university policies that promote a conscious, creative, and academically oriented use of mobile technology. It is not simply a matter of introducing the smartphone into the classroom as an extension of everyday life, but of designing learning experiences that integrate it strategically, strengthening autonomy, collaboration, and equity.
In this regard, mobile learning is not a passing trend but rather a pathway for reconfiguring university dynamics and responding to the challenges of an ever-evolving digital student body.
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How to Cite: López-Noguero, F., Romero-Díaz, T., & Gallardo-López, J. A. (2023). Smartphone as a Teaching-Learning Tool in Higher Education in Nicaragua. RIED-Revista Iberoamericana de Educación a Distancia, 26(1), 307–330. https://doi.org/10.5944/ried.26.1.34016
