RSS and Vodcasting for Undergraduate Design and Technology Students: Mobile Learning Scenarios, Issues and Challenges

This paper describes a study of mobile learning for undergraduate design and technology education. The methodology is action research, to assess student/ lecturer competencies with mobile learning on two modules. It was found that RSS and Vodcasting learning scenarios require a fundamental shift in stakeholders’ management of internetbased educational information for design and technology education. Collecting data on learning scenarios using RSS and Vodcasting revealed some interesting issues and challenges. Generally, future mobile learning scenarios require training for all stakeholders to encourage habits of use. Two mobile learning scenarios were trialled: Firstly, a scenario for implementing RSS into a Sustainable Design course using six interviews with lecturers and six video-recorded student participant observations. It was found that RSS was unusable for learning tasks on a mobile device. The second scenario demonstrates how to use video podcasts with mobile technology to aid teaching of electronics on a Foundation Technology course. Short video clips were created of lectures and in labs. Interviewing lecturers and technicians identified four learning hurdles which students face, year after year, with this particular module. Thus, four small mobile video files were trialled with four students. The results show students can use these mobile devices in the lab to help them to learn to design. The results from these scenarios have culminated in the D & T MobileBasics programme, a reusable blueprint for embedding mobile learning with students’ design practices in the Department of Design and Technology, Loughborough University.