Evaluating the Effectiveness of m-learning in the Teaching of Multi-media to First Year University Students

Abstract

This paper describes an experiment in which we attempt to gauge the effectiveness of m-learning. This is achieved by comparing the teaching of introductory multimedia concepts to first year computer studies students by using, on the one hand, traditional teaching methods, and on the other, a teaching situation that incorporates m-learning. An m-learning based instructional system was developed and used to present a number of multimedia topics to a group of first year students. A second group was taught the same topics in parallel by traditional methods. The two groups were matched for similar pre-knowledge of the subject matter. Post testing revealed that the m-learning group scored significantly higher than the group taught via the traditional method. Further testing also demonstrated that the retention of specific subject knowledge was better in the m-learning group.