Mobile Application Development

Development of a mobile application for sharing these resources was prioritised because of the strong support students demonstrated during the pilot study for mobile device compatible delivery methods (See Appendix C). Mobile delivery has an important role to play in post-secondary education. For example, Martin and Ertzberger (2013) suggested that mobile learning has the potential to increase student engagement in learning, as mobile technologies are pervasive in the daily lives of many students. Through the use of mobile technologies, students engage with applying a range of skills to decode and apply

information in an on-demand context (Martin & Ertzberger, 2013). Technology forecasters have suggested that institutions should be engaging with incorporating mobile technologies into post-secondary education delivery as these technologies have the potential to enhance student engagement (Adams Becker et al., 2017). The development of the mobile application had by this stage become the main consideration for the project, as it was anticipated that this would be the most effective way of sharing on-demand resources. Whilst other delivery methods had been utilised during the early stages of the project, it was identified that a

mobile application would offer greater accessibility to the BPM cohort. The creation of an Apple iBook seemed to work effectively for sharing the resources on the studio computers; however, the download size inhibited students wanting to download this to their personal devices. Creation of a mobile application would afford students the ability to access information on demand more conveniently.

After the initial investigation it was decided to build the application using the online mobile application generator Appy Pie.10 This method of building a mobile application allowed linkages to social media and to the range of on-demand video resources stored on the YouTube channel. The application’s main focus would be to share the on-demand resources created for the project. Building the mobile application using Appy Pie was straightforward and economical. The drag-and-drop system used for building the application worked effectively, allowing linking of the YouTube playlists incorporated in the project channel to the application. There were other aspects of social media also included in this initial design, namely the BPM Studios Facebook page and Twitter feed. Building the mobile application using this kind of service worked effectively for the context of this project, allowing focus on the design aspects of the application rather than the technical considerations. It did mean, however, that the design was constrained by the design elements available in the Appy Pie system.

Once the application was built into a test instance, it was shared with a group of ten BPM students to gain feedback on the initial design. These students were contacted via social media and those who expressed an interested in providing feedback were provided a link to download the test application. The initial design of the application included links to the YouTube playlist categories covering on-demand resources, which grouped recording studio spaces, equipment, and popular music production techniques. This was done to address the need for on-demand resource design to provide logical structure to speed up the process of searching for relevant information. The tutorial categories addressed some of the preliminary design principles, which included:

• Audio equipment tutorials – where information related to hardware including pre- amplifiers, compressors, equalisers, and other equipment was covered. This provided supplementary knowledge of the function of these pieces of equipment. • Recording tutorials – covering the various microphone placement techniques used

for recording drums, guitars, vocals, and other recording techniques. This was included to offer supplementary information to assist with popular music production skill development.

• SSL AWS 900 tutorials – specific information relayed regarding operation of Studio A’s console the SSL AWS900. This task-specific information was aimed at third- year students who primarily used this studio. It provided differentiated tutorials on the use of this piece of equipment relevant to this group of students.

• Headphone set-up tutorials – covering how to use the headphone monitoring systems of the various studios providing task-specific solutions. This was included because students commonly experienced technical issues during this aspect of recording. These were differentiated to address the requirements of the students across the program through coverage of the various studio spaces.11

• Software tutorials – this playlist incorporated task-specific aspects of

hardware/software configuration. These tutorials included learning how to set-up the digital audio system inputs and outputs, as well as general tutorials related to the program Pro Tools.

• C24 control surface tutorials – this covered the use of the C24 control surface primarily used in Studios C and D by first-year BPM students. This was

differentiated to incorporate resources relevant to those particular groups of students. The links allowed playback of the video content within the application and the playlist categories were grouped to provide easy access to the students based on their needs. This was in response to the requirement for the on-demand resource design to be logical, task specific, and differentiated. Other page links within the mobile application included to the

studio booking system, fault reporting forms, the studio Facebook page feed, contact information, Griffith University email and Blackboard services, and a localised social network. The general idea of the mobile application was to provide BPM students with a simple way of accessing tutorials, along with a range of other services that they would utilize during their studies. The test instance of the application provided the opportunity for BPM staff and students to deliver feedback. This allowed design modification before the

application was shared to the Google Play and Apple iTunes stores. The mobile device application at this stage used an icon-based layout, with individual photos for each of the categories. This was incorporated to utilise a more visual aesthetic to the application, which could potentially assist with finding information quickly.