Development of Cellular Phone Software to Prompt Learners to Monitor and Reorganize Division of Labor in Project-Based Learning

Abstract

The authors have developed a cellular phone application called ProBoPortable that displays information regarding the progress and achievement of tasks and division of labor in project-based learning (PBL) for higher education. ProBoPortable works as wallpaper on the screen of the learner’s cellular phone, and it cooperates with Web-based groupware. When a learner activates his/her phone, ProBoPortable immediately retrieves the current status of the appropriate project from the groupware database and displays it on the screen. A classroom evaluation was performed in an undergraduate course; the evaluation confirmed that ProBoPortable enhanced mutual awareness of the division of labor among learners, who modified their own tasks by monitoring the overall status of the PBL. Using ProBoPortable increasingly fostered the sense of a learning community among the subjects. Moreover, social facilitation encouraged the learners to proceed with their own task due to the presence of others who are mutually aware of each member’s status.

Evaluating a web-based information system for managing master of science summer projects

“…The positive relationship between good time management skills and academic performance has been emphasised in related work [1,4]. In addition, we provided students with features increasing their progress awareness and motivation [5] by exposing certain progress statistics to the whole cohort, enabling students to compare their own progress with that of their peers (see Figure 1). Project monitors also had to report on the progress of each student and record their meeting attendance on the system.…”