A Study of Mobile e-Learning Applicability for Disadvantaged Minority People and the Establishment of the User's Mode (II)

Welfare design is increasingly important and captures the attention in Taiwan, leading many studies focusing on the way to accommodate the disadvantaged person’s demands in learning. A potential solution is using e-learning tools. Often, due to the tool – normally a desktop is fixed in place (if not easy to move); the learning accession is limited by time and place, which has recently be changed due to the pervasion of Internet and technology in wireless communication. However, due to the characteristics of impairments and disability in the disadvantage person, the design of mobile e-learning tools needs to take the characteristics into account if these tools are to be of really value to the disadvantaged persons’ learning accession. Given the above, this project is dedicated to explore the potential and usability of mobile e-learning tools and the extent to which mobile e-learning could support learning interest in a more effective and efficient manner for the disadvantaged person with a view to identifying the user mode of mobile e-learning and the design requirements for the mobile e-learning tools. On the other hand, the fact that the designer usually has a notebook in hand and the involvement of designing mobile e-learning tools for the disadvantaged person prompt a research interests to explore the potential of mobile design communication, particular in design education, via a virtual design classroom and a design database. Therefore, this project attempts to identify the user mode of mobile communication for design education, and recommend the communication requirements of mobile design education to improve the mobile design communication tools with a view to encouraging and facilitating the communication between the educator and the student. Given the above, the overall aims of the project described in this proposal are to: 1. identify the design requirements for the development of mobile e-learning tools for the disadvantaged minority, 2. explore the design requirements of mobile e-learning tools for design education and communication, and 3. establish the mobile e-learning modes of disadvantaged minority and design educational communication In essential, the whole project follows the framework of design research concept including three steps (investigation, design and evaluation). Prompted by the findings and results in the first year, the research in the following two year will commences with the design of mobile e-learning tools for the disadvantaged people, and development of design database and mobile e-learning environment. It is then followed by users trial to evaluate the mobile e-learning tools with a view to establishing the mobile e-learning modes of disadvantaged minority and design educational communication. Given the achievements above, the project could make contributions to the knowledge in the fields: 1. to establish the user mode of mobile e-learning, 2. to identify the design requirements for the design of mobile e-learning tools for the disadvantage person and design education, 3. to develop a design-for-aging database for the future work, and 4. to give the disadvantaged person equal learning opportunity and reduce the digital divide in learning between the normal and disadvantaged person.

Project ID:PB9308-5270
External Project ID:NSC93-2524-S182-001