The Academics’ Voice: mLearning Student-Generated Activities in a Malaysian University

mLearning, or mobile learning, student-generated activities enable students to adopt an active approach in learning their subjects. In developed countries, such as the USA, UK and Australia, this method is widely practiced compared to developing countries, such as Malaysia. The largely qualitative study reported in this paper focuses on extending this practice to the Malaysian context. An intervention involved students of local cultural studies creating multimedia content using mobile devices, such as mobile phones, to record video and audio, and take photos. Following the intervention, interviews with five academics at a Malaysian university were undertaken in order to understand the academics’ voice in this student-generated mLearning. The data from the interviews were analysed using thematic analysis and organised using NVivo software. The main themes that emerged were the affordance of mobile devices for mLearning, particularly in student-generated learning; mLearning achievements; and opportunities and requirements in overcoming mLearning challenges. Thus, this study indicates the holistic perspectives of academics concerning the contributions of student-generated activities in the Malaysian context in studying local cultural subjects.