The Homeward Bound

Last week the project steering group met to discuss the best way to use the remaining three months of the project. As I have previously blogged, I have already consumed a large amount of literature focussing on mobile learning. I have performed primary research that has concluded the types of mobile devices our students are using and the ways in which they are using them. I have spoken to technology enthusiasts within LJMU who already utilise technology in their teaching and learning and I have been in contact with other institutions to gauge their uptake of mobile learning. It was therefore decided that the remaining research time and effort should be channelled in a slightly different way.

I will now be approaching the research from a different tact looking at the strategic ways in which we can encourage our academics to embrace a mobile learning culture within the university and to exploit the possibilities this would involve in their teaching and learning. I hope to liaise with both the LDU and the academics in order to glean the information I will need in order to make informed recommendations at the end of the project.

I will also look to conduct focus groups with our students to ascertain the ways in which they feel they study and learn best, how they currently make use of technology in their academic study and how they hope this use will develop in the future.

I then anticipate targeting students that are typically ‘distance’ students, coming ‘on campus’ perhaps only once a week or less via online questionnaires. From this I hope to gauge opinion about learning and technology from our students who would perhaps benefit from a mobile learning culture more than most.

I am also in the process of trying to organise visits to approximately 5 other institutions (ideally 2 HE, 2 FE and 1 school) in order to compare and contrast the ways in which mobile learning has been adopted, again informing the recommendations made in the final project report.