Keith Brown
The University of Bath
Using Mobile Apps to Enhance Student Learning in HE
@KeithBrownBath blogs.bath.ac.uk/keithbrown
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
Do Students want Apps?
Apps desired by students
2012 2013Timetable
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%
2015 - Voting Competition
• 40 ideas suggested by students• 400 students voted
Shutterstock
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
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 SystemThis app provides One-click-book function for all university facilities
4. The Queue
The App Factory
• Teaching and Learning
• Research • Induction• Pre-induction• Prospective Students• Widening Participation• Open Days
Roll-out in 2016
The App Factory Ethos
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ueaALhLj90
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 Cream
Digoxin
Pharmaceutical Analysis
Pharmacy Placements
Over the Counter Remedies
Pharmacy & Pharmacology at Bath
Apps created using the App-Factory
Apps for Teaching and Learning – the EvidenceApp 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
Apps Created by Code (NOT created using the App-Factory)Campus Map
Distance Learners Social Media
Study Space AppDesigned by students, for students
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)
•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
Students are now starting to help each other
MSc Analysing International Business
Project Objective is to study the environment and implications of Mobile Apps in Higher Education
15 projects80 Students
School of Management
Do Students want Apps?
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?
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:
Keith Brown
The University of Bath
Using Mobile Apps to Enhance Student Learning in HE
@KeithBrownBath blogs.bath.ac.uk/keithbrown