Co-Designing of a Mobile Educational Tool for Innovative Teaching and Learning at the College of Business Education, Tanzania

ABSTRACT

Mobile technologies are increasingly becoming tools for enhancing access and smooth sharing of information, products, and services. In this realization, this study used a design science research users’ participatory approach to co-design a mobile application prototype known as CBE Mobile Educational Tool (CBEMET) to enable lecturers of the College of Business Education (CBE) in Tanzania to share educational materials. The co-design of the prototype involved 3 researchers, one application developer and 25 lecturers of CBE. The testing of the CBEMET prototype shows that downloading and uploading of education resources to the system is adequate. The results also indicate that the prototype enables the access of uniform departmental-related materials by lecturers of the same department at different locations and, in so doing, it increases the quality of teaching and learning at the college. Furthermore, the testing of the prototype revealed that the design meets the requirements of the lecturers and has brought a significant change in their teaching and learning practices. The impact of the study is that it sets a groundwork for future studies involving lecturers in higher education and developers in co-designing and co-developing mobile education tools for innovative teaching and learning in Tanzania and in other emerging economies.