This presentation for the 2011 UCISA "Future is Mobile" event describes research Manchester Metropolitan University is undertaking with its students to inform its mobile strategy. It also illustrates how MMU is partnering with ULCC and oMbiel (makers of campusM) to enhance Moodle for mobile access.

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UCISA Future is Mobile | MMU Case Study
Birmingham | December 2011
Professor Mark Stubbs
Head of Learning & Research Technologies
m.stubbs@mmu.ac.uk | http://twitter.com/thestubbs
Case Study Context | Surveys | Interviews | Response
Tuesday, December 06, 2011 1

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Case study: MMU
• Large, popular, multi-campus university
• 37,000+ students | 1,000+ courses | 7 sites
• Links with over 70 professional bodies and associations

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Case study: MMU
• Changing
– New curriculum
– New admin processes and systems
– New learning and mobile technologies
– New quality processes
– New buildings
• Partnering
– With other Universities to understand students’ mobile needs
– With the JISC to catalyze ambitious service-oriented e-admin
– With shared service providers to deliver solutions at scale quickly
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Understanding students’ mobile needs
• Multi-method approach triangulating surveys & interviews
• Standard survey questions agreed with other universities
– Device ownership & contract limitations
– Device usage & previous experience
– Preferences & priorities
• Self-selecting survey sample
– Followed a link from student portal
• Responses
– First term 2010: n=980
– First term 2011: n=240 (ongoing)
• Find out more on our JISC Distributed VLE blog
– http://lrt.mmu.ac.uk/w2c
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Survey results
Q4 2010 (n = 980) Q4 2011 (n = 240 so far)
Smartphone ownership Smartphone ownership
#1 Blackberry 19% #1 Apple 30%
#2 Apple 18% #2 Blackberry 24%
#3 Android 8% #3 Android 19%
Most useful mobile features Most useful mobile features
#1 Course/info deadlines (79%) #1 Course/info deadlines (81%)
#2 Course/exam timetables (76%) #2 Course/exam timetables (78%)
#3 Accessing VLE (56%) #3 Accessing VLE (77%)
#4 Library account (48%) #4 Library account (59%)
#5 PC Availability (42%) #5 PC Availability (39%)
IT used several times a day IT used several times a day
#1 Websites (67%) #1 Websites (77%)
#2 Email (51%) #2 Email (63%)
#3 Facebook (49%) #3 Facebook (57%)

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Reported device ownership (Q4 2010)
100%
90%
80%
70%
60% iPod Touch
50% iPhone
Blackberry
40% Android
30%
20%
10%
0%
F < 20 M < 20 F 20-29 M 20-29 F 30-39 M 30-39 F 40+ M 40+

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Device-led interviews (Q1 2011)

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Mobile use when studying (Q4 2011)
Checking deadlines/timetables
Discussing/arranging coursework
Listening to music/blocking noise
Accessing learning materials
Looking up references
Taking notes
Producing coursework
Voting/interacting in class
Commenting on learning
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
% of respondents

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Our response: phase 1 (in words)
• Getting the data our students want
– Developing personalized e-admin web services
(deadlines, timetable, PC availability …)
– Working with our Moodle partner ULCC to develop VLE
web services (announcements, new resources …)
• Giving access through multiple channels
– Working with oMbiel to develop CampusM (Moodle and
personalized RSS feeds)
– Testing our new Moodle theme on a range of devices
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Taken with the blackberry I was testing!
http://lrt.mmu.ac.uk/w2c/2011/07/27/our-new-moodle-theme/

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Our response: phase 1 (in a picture)

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Our response: phase 2
• Pulling varied initiatives into a coherent mobile strategy
– so staff and students can see how they can contribute
• Improving service-oriented data delivery
– to ensure we can deliver what students want on varied platforms
• Improving mechanisms to learn from our students
– to ensure we can spot and respond to new patterns of use
• Planning holistically
– to ensure university provision complements students’ own
technology
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