RP3015: Team-Based and Game-Based Mobile Learning

_{Peer Reviewed Research Publications}

RP3015: Journal Article: Learning for low carbon living: the potential of mobile learning applications for built environment trades and professionals in Australia

Professionals and tradespeople do not promote low carbon building options unless they have proven solutions and confidence to implement them. Consequently, without effective education and training they continue to ‘lock in’ high carbon options. Studies of education and training in sustainable and low-carbon building practices indicate collaborative learning approaches are required to address this issue.

This paper presents interim results arguing there is potential to explore mobile learning application opportunities using user segmentation and emotional goal modelling methods. The research challenge addressed by this project is how to equip and motivate professionals, tradespeople and consumers to adopt low carbon opportunities.

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RP2015: Journal Article: Emotional attachment framework for people-oriented software

In organizational and commercial settings, people often have clear roles and workflows against which functional and non-functional requirements can be extracted. However, in more social settings, such as platforms for enhancing social interaction, successful applications are driven more by user emotional engagement than functionality, the drivers of user engagement are difficult to identify. A key challenge is to understand people's emotional goals so that they can be incorporated into the design.

This paper proposes a novel framework called the Emotional Attachment Framework that is based on existing models and theories of emotional attachment. Its aim is to facilitate the process of capturing emotional goals in software engineering. To demonstrate the framework in use, emotional goals are elicited for a software application that aims to provide help for homeless people. The outcomes are evaluated by domain experts and compared with an alternative approach. The results indicate that the Emotional Attachment Framework has the potential to help system analysts uncover additional emotional goals as well as provide valuable insights into these emotional goals.

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RP3015: Journal Article: Does it fit me better? User segmentation in requirements engineering

Deriving requirements that satisfy the needs and desires of users is crucial in software engineering. However, to be able to specify these requirements, potential users must be identified and perhaps prioritised first. In organisational and commercial settings, users often have well-defined roles and responsibilities tied to specific work-flows, which are exploited in requirements engineering methodologies. However, in more social settings, such as platforms for enhancing social interaction, there are a range of non-specific users with ill-defined roles.

This paper proposes a novel approach to segment potential and target users based on system goals, adopting customer segmentation concepts adopted from the field of marketing. The authors evaluate the appropriateness of the proposed approach on two different case studies. Results indicate the proposed method is a suitable approach for finding potential and target users and that user segmentation gives system analysts a better insight for requirements elicitation.

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_{CRCLCL Project Reports}

RP 3015: Final Report: Learning for Low Carbon Living: The Building Quality Passport - Mobile Learning for Australian built environment trades and professionals - Final Report

This final report supports the completion of the Cooperative Research Centre for Low Carbon Living (CRC LCL) Research Project (RP) 3015: Increasing knowledge and motivating collaborative action on Low Carbon Living through team-based and game-based mobile learning (2014-2018). 

The project aimed to address a challenge which is central to the CRC LCL's stated purpose, of overcoming barriers to the adoption of low-carbon construction processes, products and services. Regardless of technological advances or policy changes toward energy efficient and low carbon building design, the quality of construction practices needs to improve to harness the significant opportunities available in the market. The central question for this project was: How might we facilitate a sense of responsibility toward embedding sustainable practice into the culture of the tradespeople and builders?

Input from project industry partners, as well as semi-structured interviews and surveys with trades instructors, builders and students supported the contention that leveraging situated peer to peer and authentic learning on the building site (contextualising rather than abstract instruction), combined with social learning strategies might be well suited to addressing these issues during teaching of trades apprentices, builders and design professionals.

This project therefore focussed on how this could be facilitated by mobile learning (M-Learning) using smart-phone technology to align the learning needs of apprentices, the instructional needs of trainers, and builders needs for work-site efficiency, business benefits through continuous improvement, compliance, quality assurance tracking, and documentation. It recognises that “…learning and acting are interestingly indistinct, learning being a continuous, life-long process resulting from acting in situations” (Brown, Collins and Duguid 1989).

The Building Quality Passport - Mobile Learning for Australian built environment trades and professionals (5683684 PDF)