Synthesis of a Framework of Design Guidelines for m-Learning Environments - A Study in a Tertiary Education Context in South Africa

Patricia Harpur, Ruth de Villiers

2014

Abstract

Smartphones and tablets are ubiquitous in educational contexts, where students on-the-move expect access to learning material via a range of digital devices in a mobile and transparent manner, whether on or off campus. A successful m-learning experience can be facilitated by a mobile learning environment which is efficient and effective, and that satisfies the users’ versatile needs. An ad hoc design and development strategy that ignores design principles and guidelines, restricts the likelihood of successful m-learning experiences. This study was implemented in a tertiary education context and aimed to establish – from dual perspectives – a framework of design and development guidelines for m-learning environments. An initial set of themes and guidelines was synthesized from a comprehensive literature study. Secondly, the outcomes of a series of iterative evaluations of an m-learning application, Mobile Learning Research (m-LR) were used to generate new themes and guidelines. The quantitative and qualitative findings of heuristic evaluations by experts and questionnaire surveys administered to students, provided positive and negative feedback that was converted to a set of practical guidelines. Jointly, the initial theoretical guidelines and the subsequent empirical findings contributed to the synthesis of a comprehensive and cohesive set of design guidelines for m-learning environments.

References

  1. Amiel, T. & Reeves, T. C. 2008. Design-Based Research and Educational Technology: Rethinking Technology and the Research Agenda. Educational Technology & Society, 11, 29-40.
  2. Anderson, T. & Shattuck, J. 2012. Design-Based Research A Decade of Progress in Education Research? Educational Researcher, 41, 16-25.
  3. Barab, S. & Squire, K. 2004. Design-based Research: Putting a Stake in the Ground. The Journal of Learning Sciences, 13, 1-14.
  4. Botha, A., van Greunen, D. & Herselman, M. 2010. A Mobile Human-Computer Interaction Perspective on Mobile Learning. 6th Annual International Conference on Computing and ICT Research. Kampala, Uganda: Researchspace Software.
  5. Bri, D., Garcia, M., Coll, H. & Lloret, J. 2009. A Study of Virtual Learning Environments. WSEAS Transactions on Advances in Engineering Education.
  6. Cheung, K. S. 2009. A Framework for Developing ELearning Solutions. Fifth International Conference on Semantics, Knowledge and Grid. IEEE Computer Society.
  7. Cochrane, T. & Bateman, R. 2010. Smartphones give you wings: Pedagogical affordances of mobile Web 2.0. Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 26, 1-14.
  8. de Villiers, M. R. & Harpur, P. A. 2013. Design-based research - the educational technology variant of design research: Illustrated by the design of an mlearning environment. Annual Research Conference of the South African Institute of Computer Scientists and Information Technologists. East London, South Africa: ACM International Conference Proceedings.
  9. Ebner, M. 2009. Introducing live microblogging: how single presentations can be enhanced by the mass. Journal of research in innovative teaching, 2, 91-100.
  10. Ebner, M. & Schiefner, M. 2008. Microblogging - more than fun? In: SÁNCHEZ, I. A. & ISAÍAS, P. (eds.) International Association for Development of the Information Society (IADIS) Mobile Learning 2008 International Conference. Algarve, Portugal: Citeseer.
  11. Göker, A. & Myrhaug, H. 2008. Evaluation of a mobile information system in context. Information Processing and Management (Online), 44. Available: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/B6VC8- 4PMJB64-1/2/d221a21b1981c20d6112e7b2d5431aef.
  12. Harpur, P. A. 2013. Evaluation of Usability and User Experience of an m-Learning Environment, CustomDesigned for a Tertiary Educational Context. Unpublished MSc dissertation, University of South Africa.
  13. Jones, P. 2010. Collaboration at a Distance: Using a Wiki to Create a Collaborative Learning Environment for Distance Education and On-Campus Students in a Social Work Course. Journal of Teaching in Social Work (Online), 30. Available: http://0- pdfserve.informaworld.com.oasis.unisa.ac.za/279896_ 731386761_922215591.pdf [Accessed 6 June 2011].
  14. Lai, C.-H., Yang, J.-C., Ho, C.-W. & Chant, T.-W. 2007. Affordances of mobile technologies for experiential learning: the interplay of technology and pedagogical practices. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 23, 326-337.
  15. Landers, P. 2002. From e-learning to m-learning (Online). Ericsson. Available: http://learning.ericsson.net/ mlearning2/project_one/elearnmlearn.html, (Accessed November 2012).
  16. Levy, S. 2003. Six factors to consider when planning online distance learning programs in higher education. Online Journal of Distance Learning Administration, 6.
  17. Li, Q., Lau, R. W. H., Shih, T. K. & Li, F. W. B. 2008. Technology Supports for Distributed and Collaborative Learning over the Internet. ACM Transactions on Internet Technology, 8, Article 10.
  18. Lockyer, L. & Patterson, J. 2008. Integrating social networking technologies in education: a case study of a formal learning environment. Eighth IEEE International Conference on Advanced Learning Technologies, 2008. Santander, Spain: IEEE Computer Society.
  19. Low, L. & O'Connell, M. 2006. Learner-Centric Design of Digital Mobile Learning. Proceedings of the OLT Conference. Brisbane, Australia.
  20. MacCallum, K. & Kinshuk, K. 2008. Mobile technology in collaboration: evaluation of a web-based discussion board. International Journal Mobile Learning and Organisation, 2, 318-328.
  21. March, S. T. & Smith, G. F. 1995. Design and natural science research on information technology. Decision Support Systems, 15, 251-266.
  22. Minocha, S. & Thomas, P. G. 2007. Collaborative Learning in a Wiki Environment: Experiences from a Software Engineering Course. New Review of Hypermedia and Multimedia, 13, 187-209.
  23. Naismith, L., Lonsdale, P., Vavoula, G. & Sharples, M. 2004. Literature Review in Mobile Technologies and Learning. Available: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/ viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.136.2203&rep=rep1&t ype=pdf (Accessed 11 April 2011).
  24. Nielsen, J. 1992. Finding Usability Problems Through Heuristic Evaluation. CHI 7892 Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. ACM.
  25. Nielsen, J. & Molich, R. 1990. Heuristic evaluation of user interfaces. CHI 7890 Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. Seattle, Washington: ACM.
  26. Oinas-Kukkonen, H. & Kurkela, V. 2003. Developing Successful Mobile Applications. IASTED International Conference on Computer Science and Technology. Cancun, Mexico: CSA Illumina.
  27. Parsons, D., Ryu, H. & Cranshaw, M. 2006. A Study of Design Requirements for Mobile Learning Environments. Sixth International Conference on Advanced Learning Technologies (ICALT 7806). Kerkrade, The Netherlands: IEEE Computer Society.
  28. Peffers, K., Tuunanen, T., Rothenberger, M. A. & Chatterjee, S. 2007. A design science research methodology for information systems research. Journal of Management Information Systems, 24, 45-77.
  29. Pinkwart, N., Hoppe, H. U., Milrad, M. & Perez, J. 2003. Educational Scenarios for Cooperative Use of Personal Digital Assistants. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 19, 383-391.
  30. Safran, C. 2008. Blogging in Higher Education Programming Lectures: An Empirical Study. MindTrek 7808. Tampere, Finland: ACM.
  31. Sharma, S. K. & Kitchens, F. L. 2004. Web Services Architecture for M-Learning. Electronic Journal on eLearning, 2.
  32. Sharp, H., Rogers, Y. & Preece, J. 2007. Interaction design: beyond human-computer interaction, USA, John Wiley & Sons.
  33. Simon, H. A. 1981. The sciences of the artificial, Cambridge, MA, MIT Press.
Download


Paper Citation


in Harvard Style

Harpur P. and de Villiers R. (2014). Synthesis of a Framework of Design Guidelines for m-Learning Environments - A Study in a Tertiary Education Context in South Africa . In Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Computer Supported Education - Volume 1: CSEDU, ISBN 978-989-758-020-8, pages 133-143. DOI: 10.5220/0004874501330143


in Bibtex Style

@conference{csedu14,
author={Patricia Harpur and Ruth de Villiers},
title={Synthesis of a Framework of Design Guidelines for m-Learning Environments - A Study in a Tertiary Education Context in South Africa},
booktitle={Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Computer Supported Education - Volume 1: CSEDU,},
year={2014},
pages={133-143},
publisher={SciTePress},
organization={INSTICC},
doi={10.5220/0004874501330143},
isbn={978-989-758-020-8},
}


in EndNote Style

TY - CONF
JO - Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Computer Supported Education - Volume 1: CSEDU,
TI - Synthesis of a Framework of Design Guidelines for m-Learning Environments - A Study in a Tertiary Education Context in South Africa
SN - 978-989-758-020-8
AU - Harpur P.
AU - de Villiers R.
PY - 2014
SP - 133
EP - 143
DO - 10.5220/0004874501330143