How Irish Postgraduate Students Use Mobile Devices to Access Learning Resources

Abstract

For almost 20 years, the University of Limerick has run programs in technical communication. These programs have evolved over time to encompass online delivery techniques. More recently, the suite of learning materials includes discrete learning objects and podcasts. These delivery strategies facilitate increased personalization of learning including through mobile devices. This chapter discusses how learning resources, deployed through a virtual learning environment (VLE), are used by postgraduate technical communication students (including a cohort of distance learners) in a personalized manner. Eighteen students completed a short survey about their uses of mobile devices to access learning resources. The findings indicate that over half the respondents regularly access a variety of materials, in various ways, through mobile devices. The findings also imply that, in the absence of policy, educators need to be vigilant to ensure that delivery of materials matches learner expectations.