Instructional Videocasts: Facilitating Learning in a Mobile World

This paper critically discusses the new opportunities unique to the use of mobile platforms to complement formal learning with informal learning in an apprenticeship context. It begins with an outline of a problem identified by the teacher-researcher with phase six apprentice bricklaying students achieving psychomotor learning outcomes, mainly due to high student numbers and limited available workshop time. A solution to this problem is presented through the facilitation of the students using eleven short instructional video demonstrations on mobile phones to optimise their time. These were uploaded to the memory cards of the students’ mobile phones. Within an action research approach, data was collected from sixteen students using a combination of a survey, a practical assessment, a focus group interview, and through keeping a research diary. The study showed all of the students were in favour of using their mobile phones for just-in-time training and more than 90% wanted to utilise this method of learning on their work sites in the future. Ninety five percent (95%) found the picture quality of the videos good on their standard mobile phones and had experienced limited technical difficulties. Most importantly, the study showed that the use of mLearning was more effective in enabling apprentice students to achieve practical learning outcomes than the previous face-to-face training alone.Read More: http://journals.heacademy.ac.uk/doi/abs/10.11120/tran.2011.08020004