NDLI: Prioritizing students' mobile centric information access needs: A case of postgraduate students

Content Provider	IEEE Xplore Digital Library
Author	Chipangura, B. van Biljon, J.A. Botha, A.
Copyright Year	2013
Description	Author affiliation: Sch. of Comput., Univ. of South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa (Chipangura, B.; van Biljon, J.A.) \|\| CSIR, Pretoria, South Africa (Botha, A.)
Abstract	Students enrolled at Open and Distance Learning (ODL) institutions tend to combine study and work and to succeed they have to optimize free time for studying. Therefore, many ODL students access and interact with information in a mobile context, which implies that interaction takes place in dynamic and changing environments. This presents students with a number of overlapping contextual challenges that need to be managed when accessing and interacting with information. Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs) are also confronted by these challenges as they strive to provide access through technologies that are accessible, usable, scalable and sustainable to students. Against this background, it is important to have an understanding of the categories of information that students would want to access and interact with through the devices that they privately own, of which mobile phones are the most common. This study investigated the categories of information that students would want to access through mobile cellular phones. The data capturing involved both qualitative and quantitative data. In order to get a comprehensive and representative set of information access needs it was necessary to start with open-ended questions. Based on the analysis of the 50 responses to the open-ended questions, fixed-response questions were formulated. The 84 responses to the fixed-response questions were then analyzed to determine the importance of the information access needs as well as the access frequency. The contribution of this paper is a set of prioritized information needs that provide some insight into the mobile centric information needs of students at the University of South Africa (UNISA) as an example of an ODL institution.
Starting Page	1
Ending Page	7
File Size	223470
Page Count	7
File Format	PDF
ISBN	9781479930678
ISSN	23269448
DOI	10.1109/ICASTech.2013.6707519
Language	English
Publisher	Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
Publisher Date	2013-11-25
Publisher Place	South Africa
Access Restriction	Subscribed
Rights Holder	Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
Subject Keyword	Computer aided instruction Mobile phone Discussion forums Mobile phone acces Information access needs Materials Mobile communication Educational institutions Mobile handsets Libraries
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article

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