Development of solar mobile learning for secondary schools in urban and rural areas

Abstract

This study aims to develop a Mobile learning (M-learning) module that focuses on RE and Solar Energy (SE) concepts and technologies to educate the secondary schools’ students in rural and urban areas of Malaysia. The developed module to be tested to invesitigate the feasibility of the developed module in enhancing the students’ knowledge and awareness of Renewable Energy (RE) and environmental issues and also increase the interest of students about RE education and career. The study was initiated due to a lack of RE curriculum in the secondary education syllabus of Malaysia, which can be fulfilled by using M-learning methods and modern technologies. Malaysia is committed to achieve its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) but recent statistics show that Malaysia is far from achieving its targeted goals, this is mainly due to lack of awareness and knowledge about RE and environmental issues amongst the public. Thus, incorporating RE education from an early stage is fundamental in accelerating the country’s SDGs targets and promote cleaner and sustainable energy production. The study followed the OAR and ADDIE Instructional design model to develop the contents and also the mobile learning system (MyREL). The study was divided into three phases: Phase 1 consisted of the Need analysis using the OAR model to determine the objectives, activities and resources needed for the module. Phase 2 consisted of designing and development of the module and the M-learning system. The results of the development phases included contents related to RE and Solar Energy and environmental issue topics in the form digital media (slides, articles, quizzes, interactive videos) and a web application called MyREL. Finally Phase 3 consisted of implementing and evaluating the developed module. For this phase a quasi-expermiental research methodology was used to test the feasibility of the developed module. The module was implemented for four weeks in secondary schools in urban and rural areas of Malaysia in the states of Selangor and Sarawak and 69 participants were selected using Purposive Random Sampling for data collection. The analysis of the data showed that the knowledge of the students in both the rural and urban schools was increased significantly (p=0.04 and 0.043) respectively in comparison to data before implementing the module. The awareness of the students was also increased and their interest towards RE education and career was also significantly increased in rural area (p= 0.02) and slightly increased in urban area (p=0.051). The results of the feasibility testing showed positive response in using the module by the participants and also positively enhanced their targeted attributes for this study. Thus, this research can be used by teachers to enhance their technological literacy and use M-learning methods for other subjects as well and also the study will allow policy makers and other researchers to investigate and implement M-learning strategies and RE education in the curriculum to promote Education for Sustainable Development in Malaysia.