Mobile Learning and Commuting: Contextual Interview and Design of Mobile Scenarios

This paper presents a case study on the design of mobile applications for on-line learning, based on the needs of its potential users. From the User-Centered Design (UCD) perspective and based on a qualitative approach, in-depth interviews have been held with students who carry out learning-related tasks in a commuting context, together with ethnographic observations of this context. The objective of this research was to understand the needs and requirements of students who learn on-line and who take advantage of their travel time to study or to carry out study-related tasks. Through the content analysis of the data gathered, the tasks carried out by students in a mobile context are contemplated, detecting their inconveniences and needs. From this analysis m-learning application scenarios have been built based on the potential users' requirements.

[1]  Steve Chi-Yin Yuen,et al.  M-learning: Mobility in Learning , 2004 .

[2]  Heinz Ulrich Hoppe,et al.  Educational scenarios for cooperative use of Personal Digital Assistants , 2003, J. Comput. Assist. Learn..

[3]  Nikleia Eteokleous,et al.  We need an educationally relevant definition of mobile learning , 2005 .

[4]  Andreas Holzinger,et al.  Lifelong-learning support by m-learning: example scenarios , 2005, ELERN.

[5]  S. Geddes,et al.  Mobile learning in the 21st century: benefit for learners , 2004 .

[6]  Andreas Holzinger,et al.  HCI and Usability for Education and Work, 4th Symposium of the WG HCI&UE of the OCG Austrian Computer Society, USAB 2008, LNCS 5298 , 2008 .

[7]  Klaus Krippendorff,et al.  Content Analysis: An Introduction to Its Methodology , 1980 .

[8]  Mark Frydenberg,et al.  PODCASTING IN THE CLASSROOM: STUDENT-CREATED MEDIA FOR MOBILE LEARNING , 2007 .

[9]  Eva Patricia Gil-Rodríguez,et al.  Educational Uses of the e-Book: An Experience in a Virtual University Context , 2008 .

[10]  Mark J. W. Lee,et al.  Pervasive, lifestyle‐integrated mobile learning for distance learners: an analysis and unexpected results from a podcasting study , 2007 .

[11]  Agnes Kukulska-Hulme,et al.  Mobile learning: a handbook for educators and trainers , 2005 .

[12]  Kevin Wheldall,et al.  When will we ever learn? , 2005 .

[13]  Karen Holtzblatt,et al.  Contextual design , 1997, INTR.

[14]  Mary Beth Rosson,et al.  Usability Engineering: Scenario-based Development of Human-Computer Interaction , 2001 .

[15]  K. Eisenhardt.  Building theories from case study research , 1989, STUDI ORGANIZZATIVI.

[16]  Pablo Rebaque-Rivas,et al.  Mobile learning scenarios from a UCD perspective , 2010, Mobile HCI.

[17]  Sanghoon Park,et al.  Toward New Definition of M-Learning , 2004 .