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

Effects of Narcissism, Leisure Boredom, and Gratifications Sought on User-Generated Content Among Net-Generation Users

This research identifies the gratifications sought by the net-generation when producing user-generated content (UGC) on the internet. Members of the Net-generation want to vent negative feelings, show affection to their frieds and relatives, be involved in others' lives, and fulfill their need to be recognized. These gratifications were all found to be significantly associated with the users' various levels of participation in UGC (e.g., Facebook, YouTube, blogs, online forums, etc.) What's more, narcissism was predictive of content generation in social networking sites, blogs, and personal webpage, while leisure boredom was significantly linked to expressing views in forums, updating personal website, and participating in consumer reviews. In particular, the results showed the Net-geners who encountered leisure boredom had a higher tendency to seek interaction with friends online. Implications of findings are discussed

Considering complexity in simple solutions: what’s so complicated about Skype?

Video-based communications technologies are not new. However, with increasing drivers for efficiency and cost-effectiveness in higher education, the use of this technology is being explored for what have traditionally been face-to-face activities. This article conceptualises the intricacies of influencing factors affecting the performance of video-based communications in student support activities. Considering video-based communication within student support as a complex adaptive system, the author aims to illustrate how a multitude of intrinsic and extrinsic variables interact and impact upon individual experiences. Using an illustrative diagram, the article explores how psychology and behavioural aspects integrate with communications theory, technological experience, task objectives and social presence theory to necessitate careful consideration of individual need and purpose when planning for technological implementation

Encouraging engagement in game-based learning

It is a common misconception that game-based learning is, by its very nature, engaging for the majority of learners. This is not necessarily the case, particularly for learners in Higher Education who may need to be persuaded of the value of learning games. For some learners, games may simply not be perceived as engaging–either in terms of an initial motivation to play or sustained participation. This paper describes the Alternate Reality Games for Orientation, Socialisation and Induction (ARGOSI) project, which experienced unexpectedly low motivation and participation. Despite extensive marketing, only a small fraction of potential students participated in the game and of those a far smaller number were highly engaged. Evidence from the project is presented and the reasons for the lack of engagement in the game created are considered. Finally the paper reflects on ways in which engagement with game-based learning might be encouraged