PROJECT TITLE :

Stop and Think: Exploring Mobile Notifications to Foster Reflective Practice on Meta-Learning

ABSTRACT:

Nowadays, smartphone users are constantly receiving notifications from applications that give feedback, as reminders, recommendations or announcements. Nevertheless, there is very little analysis on the consequences of mobile notifications to foster meta-learning. This paper explores the effectiveness of mobile notifications to foster reflection on meta-learning by presenting the results of two studies: one) a formative study with 37 secondary school students providing a daily reflection and reporting exercise regarding their learning experience during the day; two) an experiment involving 60 adults to browse an eBook on energy-efficient driving for one hour. During that time, the participants received mobile notifications inviting them to reflect in-action. On the one hand, the results from the first study show that students don't have a habit of seeing themselves as learners and developing a “skilled” awareness regarding their daily activity at work/college. On the other hand, the second study explores the effects of different notification types on data gain and motivation. Results envision a higher knowledge gain and motivation for the group assigned with the least advanced interactions with mobile devices throughout the reflection exercise. Finally, these results are discussed and necessary analysis queries for future research on mobile notifications are raised.