Evaluation of iTunes University Courses Through Instructional Design Strategies and m-Learning Framework

As mobile learning technology promotes learning accessibility and flexibility, students benefit from social interactivity and connective learning process which will also foster students’ performance and satisfaction on learning content. The primary purpose of this research was to evaluate iTunes U courses based on instructional design strategies and the m-learning framework. A total of 27 iTunes U courses were selected and evaluated based on the following criteria: (a) The course is provided by institutions of higher education; (b) the course should include instructional design components. The results revealed that all courses scored notably higher means on Content Chunking and Objective and Content Structure. However, all courses were rated low mean scores on the Instructional Strategies categories of the following attributes: Learning Engagement, Feedback, and Evaluation. Moreover, the results revealed that all courses scored notably higher means on one of the m- learning framework which is Customisation and were rated low mean scores on the Conversation attribute. The overall conclusion of this study is that the selected iTunes U courses showed some strengths but considerable weaknesses in meeting the instructional design strategies and m-learning framework. Recommendations are provided for turning mundane courses into dynamic, user-friendly ones where students are excited about their learning.