A protocol for evaluating mobile applications

The number of applications available for mobile phones is growing at a rate which makes it difficult for new application developers to establish the current state of the art before embarking on new product development. This chapter outlines a protocol for capturing a snapshot of the present state of applications in existence for a given field in terms of both usability and functionality. The proposed methodology is versatile in the sense that it can be implemented for any domain across all mobile platforms, which is illustrated here by its application to two dissimilar domains on three platforms. The chapter concludes with a critical evaluation of the process that was undertaken

Bespoke Mobile Application Development: Facilitating Transition of Foundation Students to Higher Education

Smartphone usage by students has increased rapidly over the last number of years, and it is expected that the utilisation of mobile applications in educational environments will continue to increase. This chapter focuses on a bespoke mobile application which aims to facilitate the transition of Foundation students to Higher Education in an Irish setting. Foundation students comprise of Access and International Students participating on pre-degree foundation courses. These students experience a major life change in making this transition and it is important that efforts are made to ensure a successful adjustment experience. Research suggests that mobile technologies can play a central role in this endeavour by offering support and access to particular information needs. This chapter will detail the design and development of a bespoke mobile application with such a purpose in mind and will also describe how the app was field tested with a cohort of incoming Foundation students in an Irish third level institute