Designing Mobile First e-Courses

The origin of the phrase mobile first is debatable; however, Luke Wroblewski is recognized as one of the first to suggest that the mobile experience for a web application or site should be designed and built before the personal computer

version (also referred to as the desktop version). He put forward 3 reasons in support of the mobile first approach, which include: the increase in mobile user base; the importance of emphasis on important data and actions in applications; and the extended capabilities such as multi-touch input based on gestures (Wroblewski, 2009). Other advocates of the mobile first design and development approach include Google’s [former] Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt and Facebook’s [former] Director of Design, Kate Aronowitz (Wroblewski, 2011).

Moreover, mobile first is further supported given that the user base continues to increase and smartphone adoption is predicted to increase from over 5 billion users in 2019 to 7 billion in 2024, becoming the leading handset type globally by 2025, accounting for nearly 80% of connections (Stryjak & Sivakumaran, 2019). Specific to the target group, estimates

from the Pew Research Center survey show an increase in the ownership rate from the year 2015 to 2018 in advanced economies such as Poland from 13% to 35%, and South Korea from 74% to 91% of persons age 50 years and over owning smartphones. Similarly, during the period 2015 to 2018, the rate of adaption of smartphones has increased in emerging

economies such as Brazil (4% to 32%), India (7% to 8%) and Nigeria (1% to 20%). Albeit, the percentages in the emerging economies are comparatively lower than the advanced economies, most likely due to education and income level (Taylor & Silver, 2019).

In addition to the sequence of design, the mobile first approach to technology in teaching and learning has been linked to a personal and connected approach and is not referring to a mobile only, nor technology first approach (Trucano, 2014).

The aforementioned is an excerpt from my paper on Designing mobile first courses for older adults. To read the abstract and full paper go to the following website: http://oasis.col.org/handle/11599/3289

References

Stryjak. J., & Sivakumaran, M. (2019). The mobile economy [PDF file]. Retrieved from

https://www.gsmaintelligence.com/research/2019/02/the-mobile-economy-2019/731/

Trucano. M., (2014). A mobile first approach to educational technology. Retrieved from

http://blogs.worldbank.org/edutech/mobile-first-edtech

Wroblewski, L. (2009). Mobile first. Retrieved from https://www.lukew.com/ff/entry.asp?933=

Wroblewski, L. (2011). Mobile first. New York, NY: Jeffrey Zeldman.