A study of learner experience design and learning efficacy of mobile microlearning in journalism education

With the increasing number of mobile technologies, people rely on smartphones to connect with the world and obtain news and information. The emergent use of mobile technologies changes the way journalists produce and disseminate news. It is important for journalism educators to know how to support journalists' digital skills development, particularly digital skills of mobile technologies, and understand which new forms of learning are suitable and feasible for those learners in the journalism sector. Previous research has shown that mobile microlearning (MML) can be a promising learning approach for specific learning needs. Mobile microlearning basically means learning no more than five minutes of lessons that are distributed on the smartphone. However, there is only a little evidence on the design and effects of MML in the context of journalism education research. Hence, this dissertation aims to examine whether MML can be a useful approach to facilitate mobile journalists' digital skills learning with smartphones. Adapting a sociotechnical-pedagogical learner experience framework with a usercentered design process, a four-phase formative research cycle was conducted in this dissertation: Phase 1, a systematic literature review of mobile microlearning (Study 1), Phase 2, a needs assessment for an understanding of mobile journalists' learning needs and requirements (Study 2), Phase 3, an iterative design and development of a mobile microcourse and studying its usability and user experience (Study 3), and Phase 4, an examination of the learning efficacy (i.e., effectiveness, efficiency, and appeal) and learner experience of the developed mobile microcourse (Study 4). A mixed-method data collection and analysis approach was applied throughout this dissertation. The results in this research provided evidence-based findings and indicated that MML is a feasible and effective approach to support mobile journalists' just-in-time learning when the MML designs follow four sequential design principles: (a) an aha moment to help with the learners connecting their previous experiences to the importance of current learning topics, (b) interactive content, (c) short exercises, and (d) instant automated feedback. Lastly, the dissertation discussed the results and addressed insights and implications of the MML design to improve learner experience and learning efficacy.Includes bibliographical references

Mobile learning for just-in-time knowledge acquisition in a workplace environment

The use of mobile devices in an educational context to support learning has drawn considerable attention, however, there is relatively little systematic knowledge about how it can be used effectively as a knowledge acquisition tool in workplace environments. This paper proposes mobile learning (m-learning) as a just-in-time learning tool to support and manage ICT problem related calls in a Science Museum (SM). Employees’ intention to use m-learning is investigated using the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) model. Selected UTAUT factors including performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence and facilitating conditions are analysed to explain the determinants of m-learning adoption at the SM. Results demonstrate that the selected UTAUT factors had a significant impact on employee’s behavioral intention to use m-learning at the SM. Further examination found age and gender moderate the relationship between the UTAUT factors. These findings present several useful implications for m-learning research and practice for ICT service desk

Mobile Learning for Just-In-Time Knowledge Acquisition at the Science Museum Group

The Science Museum Group (SMG) Service Desk team in the United Kingdom (UK) faces the challenges of Service Level Agreement (SLA) breaches. Furthermore, the museum sector suffers significant reductions in funding made by a major sponsor in the UK. Thus, ICT Service desk staff are required to manage incidents and other demands with minimal resources. To address this problem, this paper recommends serving just-in-time knowledge in the form of knowledge articles that are also responsive to mobile devices to service users. This offering could reduce ICT support calls, increase productivity for both service desk staffs and the service user. Moreover, it presents an opportunity to develop functional technical knowledge among non-ICT SMG staff. The use of knowledge articles log files and ICT incident report log files were used to find out which staff are more likely to read knowledge articles or report ICT incidents for the purpose of targeting those staff with the just-in-time knowledge articles. As with any technological change, challenges are pervasive in technological adoption. This study uses the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) model to explain the determinants of mLearning adoption at SMG. The current study makes an original contribution to theory and practice by broadening the body of knowledge pertaining to understanding the factors contributing to mLearning adoption and its potential use for just-in-time knowledge acquisition for staff in a UK Museum context. The results from this study indicate that the UTAUT constructs Performance expectancy, Effort expectancy, Social influence and Facilitating conditions are all significant determinants of behavioural intention to use mLearning. Surprisingly, the newly proposed construct, Self-determined learning was not a significant determinant of behaviour intentions. Further examination found age and gender moderate the relationship between the UTAUT constructs. These findings present several beneficial implications for mLearning research and practice at SMG and in a wider context. For example, to inform a broader set of technical adoption research and strategy