Needs Assessment of a Mobile Application for a

Graduate Program: A Case of FSU ISLT

Taehyeong Lim, Zhongrui Yao,and Vanessa Dennen

Florida State University

How They Started

• Since MIT’s mobile app in 2008, many universities in the U.S. have released their mobile applications (Aldrich, 2010).

University Mobile Applications

University Mobile Applications

Current App Designs

1. Events Calendar (72%)2. Directory (72%)3. News (68%)4. Campus Maps (64%) ……9. Course Catalog (28%) ……22. iTunes University (4%)

Sample: 25 University Apps (Aldrich, 2010)

Current Information Needs

1. News/Alert (38.7%)2. Campus Map (35.5%)3. Course Information (31.0%)4. Campus Directory (27.9%)5. News Feeds (25.0%) ……15.Libraries (0.5%)

Sample: 3,526 Students, Faculty, and Staff(Johnson, Means, & Khey, 2013)

Do university mobile applications meet all of the mobile information needs

of the university community?

Most don’t.

How can we fill the gap?

Gap?

University-Level(General Information)

College-Level(More specific to the college)

Program-Level ?(More specific to the program)

Different Level Mobile Apps @FSU

1. How freqently do users use a university-level and a college-level mobile application?

2. How do users perceive their needs for a program-level mobile application for their academic program?

3. What kinds of features do users think are necessary in a program-level application?

To examine the use of the existing university-level and college-level mobile applications at FSU, and the needs for a program-level mobile application of an academic program at FSU

Purpose of Study & RQs

34% (36 of 106) students50% (3 of 6) faculty participated.

Target Population

106 students6 faculty

2,000+ alumni

Method

Method

• Online Survey17 closed-choice items (multiple choice, 5-6 point Likert)1 open-ended question

• Survey Distribution (Feb 10th - 21th, 2014)via Listserv, Facebook group page, class email

• Data AnalysisDescriptive Statistics(for the multiple choice items)Content Analysis (for the open-ended item)

Results

• Do you have the university-level and the college-level apps?

University-Level App College-Level App

Results

• How frequently do you use?

College-Level AppUniversity-Level App

Results

• What features do you frequently use in

University-Level App College-Level App

Results

• Do you think the program-level mobile app would be useful?

Results

• How are you interested in the program-level mobile app?

Results

• What features do you think would be necessary in the program-level mobile app? (5-point Likert)

Results

• What other features do you want to have in the app?• From Current Students

Results

• What other features do you want to have in the app?• From Alumni

Results

1. Students sometimes use the university-level app, but rarely use the college-level app.

2. More than half think that a program-level mobile app would be useful(61% total, 64% students, 67% faculty, and 53% alumni).

3. Some features are highly preferred: Course description, Social networks links, news, and materials.

4. Users’ mobile information needs are diverse based on their current status.

Conclusions

1. Small number of participants

: N=56; but only 34% (36 of 106) students participated

2. The program’s nature

: IDT field, only Graduate level (no undergraduate level)

Limitations

● General app design guidelines for program-level mobile applications

● Usability studies : Usefulness, Satisfaction, etc.

● Design-based research

● Tool evaluation research

Implications & Future Research

Questions?

Aldrich, A. W. (2010). Universities and libraries move to the mobile web. Educause Quarterly, 33(2), 5-5. http://www.educause.edu/ero/article/universities-and-libraries-move-mobile-web

Johnson, D., Means, T., & Khey, D. N. (2013). A state of flux: Results of a mobile device survey at the university of florida. Educausereview online. http://www.educause.edu/ero/article/state-flux-results-mobile-device-survey- university-florida

Reference