Pushed out learning: LMS mobile applications, push notifications and learning behaviours

Principal Investigator

This project investigates how students interact with mobile Learning Management System (LMS) applications across three Australian universities, with a specific focus on the effects of push notifications in shaping learning behaviours. Despite extensive research into LMS adoption and use over the last two decades, there has been little attention to push notifications in LMS mobile applications. Although LMS mobile apps were introduced over a decade ago, little is known about their effects on students’ learning behaviours in higher education (HE). This study is, thus, a step towards a critical interrogation of the effects of LMS mobile apps and their push notifications, in particular. It adopts a mixed-methods approach to achieve both depth and breadth in identifying students’ interactions with LMS push notifications and comparing them across three Australian universities – University of Melbourne (UoM), University of New South Wales (UNSW) and James Cook University (JCU). Each of these universities has a distinct profile and a different LMS platform. Their LMS platforms – Canvas, Moodle and Blackboard – are also widely adopted across the Australian higher education sector. The study asks the following research questions: RQ 1: How do Australian university students interact with the LMS mobile applications and their push notifications?, RQ 2: How do these interactions shape students’ learning behaviours?, RQ 3: How do these interactions and associated learning behaviours compare across institutions and LMS platforms? The differences in the selected institutions and their LMS platforms will afford a comprehensive understanding of the Australian university students’ interactions with LMS push notifications, informing sector-wide recommendations on training and support for teaching staff. We anticipate that these recommendations will include both technical and pedagogical dimensions, as well as lead to future research nationally and internationally.

05 Jun 2025 - 04 Jun 2026

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