2014 e learning innovations conference kim musila i masomo mobile app

A MOBILE APPLICATION (I-MASOMO) FOR ENHANCING INFORMATION ACCESS FOR

UNIVERSITY COURSE SELECTION IN KENYA

DR. EVERLYNE MAKHANU AND

KIM MUSYOKA MUSILA

STRATHMORE UNIVERSITY

FACULTY OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

2014 eLearning Innovations Conference

DR. EVERLYNE MAKHANU & KIM MUSYOKA MUSILA STATHMORE UNIVERSITY

Introduction•Demand to access university education in Kenya

•Limited intake capacity in public universities

• Increased number of Qualified students

•Placement is based on merit, applicants choice& criteria (KUCCPS)

•Limited access to courses information


Research Problem• Demand for Univ. edu. is ever increasing surpassing the present

capacity of public universities in Kenya

• Majority of students fail to secure chances of admission to universities or pursue courses of interest due to limited info. on various degree programmes and requirements for admission.

• Information is still manual or, where available electronically it is incomplete or not easy for prospective students to make informed decision

• Therefore, the study sought to address the recurring problem of students seeking admission to institutions of HE.


Significance of the study• Prospective students will be able to access relevant information and

make well informed decisions on course and career selection

• Give insight on how mobile phones can be used to enhance student enrolment

• Help in Policy formulation in education sector

• Provide awareness on information access via mobile in Ed. sector .

• Help in addressing existing research gaps or in relation to the use of mobile phone in ed. sector

Assumptions of the Study• Prospective students, parent and guardians have access to mobile

phones (internet enabled)


Research Question(s)

1. How is mobile phone technology being used currently for admission in higher education?

2. What are some of the current mobile applications initiatives in higher education in Kenya?

3. Which design requirements are considered when developing the mobile application?

4. What are the challenges to utilizing mobile phone applications in Kenyan Universities?

Literature review

1. Theoretical Framework

Study anchored on Task Technology Fit (Goodhue & Thompson, 1995) model

The model affirms that technology is developed to aid an individual accomplish a specific task.



Literature Review

• Technology in Education - traced back to early 1980’s (White, 2008)

• Importance of ICT in Education – Schools used computers for administrative work, records keeping and management.

• WWW -> more Research, >info sharing and eased Communication

• Mobile Technology in Education: -• (West ,2013) Mobile phone has become inevitable in human life

• (Jacobs, 2013) Mobile have extended learning beyond classroom.

• Mobile apps. adopted in Education1. Credible Kenyan Colleges - registered colleges, courses, contacts

2. ChaguaPlus web portal – help students make decision based on rating (Okwero, 2011)

3. Mprep - quiz system developed to serve primary school


Research design• Descriptive Survey: Used to collect data from the targeted population

comprising - students, parents and teachers

• Target population: 4th year students/graduates, parents and teachers

• Sampling methods: Probability (stratification) and non-probability (purposive)• Stratified random sampling used to select schools • Purposive sampling used to sample parents and teachers


Research design• Data collection: Questionnaires administration - 2 types

• Pre-test – to aid in system development• Post-test for solution testing

• Data Analysis: Descriptive data analysis was done (SPSS)

• Ethics: All ethical aspects of research were adhered to including:• Authorization letter to conduct research• Integrity of handling questionnaires• Assurance of confidentiality

Nokia47%

Samsung24%

Huawei2%

Techno15%

Others12%

Mobile Phone Used

Nokia Samsung Huawei Techno Others



Results and Analysis – (Pre-test) • There was no difference in mean attitudes of the perceptions towards access to university course and admission information among the three sampled groups (student, parent and teachers) via a mobile app.

37.9

31

22.4

84.5

60.3

69

77.6

15.5

0 20 40 60 80 100

Access infor. via internet

Access academic infor.

Awareness of existing Mobile apps

Can mobile phone influence decision makingon academic related ways

Percentage

Mobile Phone Usage

No

Yes


Results and Analysis – (Post-test)• *Age, status

(i.e. whether student, parent or teacher) and education level, no difference existed in user satisfaction of “i-masomo” utilization among the respondents.

91.6

83.3

91.7

99.7

83.3

8.4

16.7

8.3

0.3

16.7

0 20 40 60 80 100 120

General Satisfaction

Usability (accessibility to infor)

Accessing to specific infor

Ease of use

Information Comparison

Percentage

User Satisfaction (i-Masomo)

Disagree/Strongly Disagre Strongly Agree/Agree

System Design and Architecture

Architecture: Client Server (3-tier)

• Presentation/Logic/Data layer

Main Components:

• User End System/Back End

• Infrastructure

Development Environment:

• Java/MySql /PHP



Conclusions

Mobile technology can suitably be used in HE sector

Adoption of mobile apps will enhance access to HE related information

Integration of Mobile apps to the existing academic management systems will positively enhance information access in the HE sector.


Limitations of the Study

• A detailed portfolio for the different universities could not be fully achieved as some universities viewed the exercise as exposing them to their competitors.

• Despite of the level of access to mobile phones high students didn’t have mobile phone at their disposal at schools (school policies)


Recommendation for future study

• Mobile application developers and various stakeholders within the HE sector should embrace use of mobile apps in their processes.

• Although industry specific, “i-masomo” mobile app can be used to stimulate experimentation and innovation in the education sector and other sub-sectors

• Diversification/improvement of “i-Masomo” mobile application could be enhanced for multi-platforms and infrastructure in order to increase user acceptance within the target population.

• Stakeholders in HE could invest in mobile technology infrastructures to enhance adoption of mobile application in the ed. sector


Mobile App Demo


Web portal Demo

KIM MUSYOKA MUSILA | 073618


Back-end Administration

KIM MUSYOKA MUSILA | 073618

THANK YOU
