Pushed out learning: LMS mobile applications, push notifications and learning behaviours
Role
Principal Investigator
Description
We have received this research grant of AUD$5,000 from HERDSA and ethics application is undergoing at the University of Melbourne. Below is the abstract: Pushed out learning: LMS mobile applications, push notifications and learning behaviours Learning Management Systems (LMSs) have been a core feature of higher education (HE) worldwide for over two decades, with Australia as one of the prominent adopters. Today, an increasing number of students are accessing LMSs through purpose-built applications on their mobile devices. Although mobile LMSs (mLMSs) were introduced over a decade ago, there is little critical research into their use among university students. This is a critical gap, as many educators may be unaware of these apps, their features and how students interact with them (see Evans & Rivera, 2022). Push notifications, alerts sent directly to mobile devices, serve as a perceptible example of how mLMSs may be transforming learning behaviours. The project, thus, examines how push notifications and mLMSs, more broadly, shape Australian university students’ learning behaviours. This study adopts a mixed-methods approach to, first, explore students’ interactions with mLMSs through the focus groups and, second, compare these interactions across three Australian universities through institution-wide student surveys. Each of the three universities – University of Melbourne (UoM), University of New South Wales (UNSW) and James Cook University (JCU) – employs a different LMS platform, widely adopted across the Australian HE sector. Exploring the differences between the selected institutions and their LMS platforms will enable a comprehensive understanding of students’ interactions with mLMSs and their push notifications, in particular. To that end, the study will inform sector-wide recommendations for teaching staff training and support, inclusive of both technical and pedagogical dimensions.
Date
01 Jul 2025 - 30 Jun 2026
Project Type
N/A
Keywords
Learning management system;learner diversity;mix-method research;higher education;push notifications
Funding Body
Higher Education Research and Development Society of Australasia (HERDSA)
Amount
5000
Project Team
Mei Li