Slides from my presentation at #IGMobileLearning conference 'Realising the Benefits of Mobile Technology and Learning in Higher Education' April 2016

1. Keith Brown
The University of Bath
Using Mobile Apps to Enhance
Student Learning in HE
@KeithBrownBath blogs.bath.ac.uk/keithbrown
keith.brown@bath.ac.uk

2. Projects
The App Factory
Study Space App
A system to support the authoring and distribution of
apps within an organisation
A custom social-media app

3. Do Students want Apps?

4. Apps desired by students
2012 2013
Timetable 89% 92%
Library Services 70% 87%
Past Papers 83% 84%
Lectures 86% 83%
e-books 76% 83%
Find a room/map 57% 66%
Quizzes 74% 63%
n~300 n~1200
Percentage of students
with a smart-phone 85% 92%

5. 2015 - Voting Competition
• 40 ideas suggested by students
• 400 students voted
Shutterstock

6. The Queue
The app is a live feed from cameras
mounted on the bus stop to allow
users to see how long the queue is

7. The Results
1. Boris the Bus Tracker
Where is the bus? Just ask Boris the Bus Tracker! Open the app and
he will pinpoint the exact locations of your bus!
2. Lecture Companion
The best way to automatically bring together all of your lectures for
annotation, highlighting of key points and addition of your own text.
3. One-Click Booking System
This app provides One-click-book function for all university facilities
4. The Queue

8. The App Factory
• Teaching and Learning
• Research
• Induction
• Pre-induction
• Prospective Students
• Widening Participation
• Open Days
Roll-out in 2016

9. The App Factory Ethos
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ueaALhLj90

10. App Centre – An Enterprise App Store
Antibiotic
Guardianship
Clinical
Quizzes
Introduction to
Microbiology
Apps by Staff Apps by Students Apps by Alumni
Kidneys and
Diuretics
Light Activated
Sun CreamDigoxin
Pharmaceutical
Analysis
Pharmacy
Placements
Over the Counter
Remedies
Pharmacy &
Pharmacology
at Bath
Apps created using the App-Factory

11. Apps for Teaching and Learning – the Evidence
App for Programme Unit December 2014 (n=54)
• 100% find the app useful
• 96% find the app easy-to-use
• 83% would use the app for private study
• 85% would use the app for revision
PAL Apps by Students Jan 2015 (n-92)
• 90% of students want to use mobiles devices for teaching & learning
• Almost 100% find the PAL app(s) useful
• Almost 100% find the PAL app(s) easy-to-use
• The PAL apps were predominantly used for Private Study or Revision

12. Apps Created by Code (NOT created using the App-Factory)
Campus Map Distance Learners Social Media

13. Study Space App
Designed by students, for students

14. What is it?
• Social Media type App
• Aligned with how young people use technology
• Database is internal (not on Facebook)
• Additional resource to supplement Moodle
• Community of students helping each other
• Real-time Unit Evaluation (Formative not Summative)

15. • Time-line/ Channel
• Posts
• Anonymous Posts
• Up/Down Vote
• Questions
• Lectures
• Voting Competitions
Features

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Did you enjoy the format of the last two lectures? Please rate on a
scale of 1 to 5 (with 5 being full marks for enjoyment) n = 46

18. Students are now starting to help each other

19. MSc Analysing International Business
Project Objective is to study the environment and
implications of Mobile Apps in Higher Education
15 projects
80 Students
School of Management
Do Students want Apps?

20. 15 student projects
• Library Services
• Objectives of mobile technology from student and staff perspective
• Learning Portals
• Academic challenges that students face and how apps can be used to
overcome these challenges
• Do mobile apps help to improve students’ efficiency and performance
• Peer Assisted Learning
• Would students use an internal University of Bath social media platform?

21. Would students use an internal social media platform?
Our interpretation is that the more students use Moodle, the
more they feel the need to use social media for academic
purposes. This shows that Moodle does not provide a platform
for all of the academic needs of students.
In our qualitative research, we plan to investigate what exactly
students are missing from Moodle and why this is the case.
Extract from interim report:

22. Keith Brown
The University of Bath
Using Mobile Apps to Enhance
Student Learning in HE
@KeithBrownBath blogs.bath.ac.uk/keithbrown
keith.brown@bath.ac.uk