Mobile Discussion Boards: An Analysis on Mobile Collaboration

Abstract

Mobile technology offers learning institutes the opportunity to extend e-learning opportunities and enable students the opportunity to have more control over their learning. Mobile technology truly enables learning to take place were and when the learner wants to learn. Discussion boards are typically used in teaching to enable students to collaborate and interact outside class time. These discussion boards seem particularly well suited to mobile enhancements given that their effectiveness depends heavily on active participation and timely posting/response cycles. This research assessed the effectiveness of discussion forums and how well these forums performed when viewed on four different mobile devices. The research focuses on how the device influences the interaction with the discussion board. The results of this analysis will help determine how different devices support users interacting with a discussion board.