Design and Architecture of a Location and Time-based Mobile-Learning System: A Case-Study for Interactive Islamic Content

This paper describes a software design, architecture and process of a novel mobile-learning (m-Learning) approach based on smart-phone devices for retrieving relevant content in real-time based on the user’s-location and the currenttime and presenting the content to the user in a manner that support portable learning on-the-move. Mobile-learning using Islamic content is used as a case-study of the proposed system, which can easily be adapted for other learning-content. The proposed system is highly interactive and frequently purges the host-device for details of the current user-location and currenttime (e.g. the time, day and month in the solar and the lunar calendars) before such details are used to retrieve the most relevant content. In this study, Quranic-verses, corresponding interpretations (Tafseer) and Hadith (Prophetic words or actions) relates to the online content being fetched in this application. For example, a user may be performing some travel/pilgrimage during Ramadan, in which the relevant content/teachings (based on the user’s location and the current time) are presented to the user in a timely manner in order to learn the rituals of that day or location. The information fetched is then presented and displayed in an interactive user-friendly manner. A summary and comparative analysis of some related applications is presented, showing the limitations of other mLearning applications and demonstrating the new contribution of our architecture design. Finally, the described system allows authorized scholars to upload and report Islamic-decrees made in real-time based on findings/experience at a particular time and/or location-of-interest (e.g. the new rulings/decrees are then published online in real-time). It is anticipated that millions of end-users shall benefit from the proposed system through the benefits of fast, highly-accessible, user-friendly and relevant information retrieved online in real-time. Advantageously, the potential application and large impact of the proposed mLearning approach for use with other learning-content/courses is notable. Keywords—Mobile-Learning; Context-Aware Notifications; Time and Location Based Reporting; Interactive-Knowledge based User-Events and Activities; Design and Architecture