Evaluating the Effectiveness of m-learning in the Teaching of Multi-media to First Year University Students

• Main Authors: Duncan McPhee, Nathan Thomas, Paula Thomas, Mark Ware
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Kassel University Press 2006-06-01
• Series: International Journal of Emerging Technologies in Learning (iJET)
• Online Access: http://online-journals.org/i-jet/article/view/8

This paper describes an experiment in which we attempt to gauge the effectiveness of m-learning. This is achieved by comparing the teaching of introductory multimedia concepts to first year computer studies students by using, on the one hand, traditional teaching methods, and on the other, a teaching situation that incorporates m-learning. An m-learning based instructional system was developed and used to present a number of multimedia topics to a group of first year students. A second group was taught the same topics in parallel by traditional methods. The two groups were matched for similar pre-knowledge of the subject matter. Post testing revealed that the m-learning group scored significantly higher than the group taught via the traditional method. Further testing also demonstrated that the retention of specific subject knowledge was better in the m-learning group.