Design guidelines for technology-enhanced learning via mobile devices in a tertiary education context in South Africa

Abstract

Smartphones and tablets are ubiquitous in educational contexts, where students on-the-move access learning material via digital devices, on and off-campus. Successful m-learning experiences can be facilitated by mobile learning environments that are multi-facetted and effective, and that meets students’ versatile needs. This study synthesizes a comprehensive set of guidelines for designing and developing mobile-learning environments, with the aim of supporting successful m-learning experiences. The research is a secondary outcome of the development and evaluation of a real-world learning environment for tertiary education, called Mobile Learning Research (m-LR). An initial set of theoretical guidelines emerged from an extensive literature study and was used in the generation of m-LR. Findings from iterative evaluations of m-LR, in turn, contributed to the evolution of a further set of guidelines from real-world practice. These guidelines emerged from positive and negative feedback in the findings of heuristic evaluations by experts and questionnaire surveys among students.