Tech Select Decision Aide: A Mobile Application to Facilitate Just-In-Time Decision Support for Instructional Designers

Abstract

With the ubiquitous use of mobile technologies and the increasing demand for just-in-time training, there is a need to prepare and support instructional designers and educators to meet the pedagogical and technological development requirements of their target audience in the most effective and efficient way. This paper reviews the iterative design, development and testing of the Tech Select Decision Aide, a mobile recommender system designed to align instructional strategies with learning technologies based on the pedagogical affordances of the learning technology and the cognitive level of the learning objective. Focus group and survey results show that the Tech Select Decision Aide is a useful and usable mobile app that provides just-in-time performance support to assist instructional designers and faculty in the development and creation of pedagogically sound instructional and training materials using technology. Future areas of mobile development are discussed.