In the light of higher education budget cuts and growing concerns about environmental issues, there has been increased sector pressure to make, where appropriate, processes electronic. If the University of Winchester decided that staff was required to use technology to undertake daily activities, for instance marking, committee minutes, note taking, then we would need to ensure any decisions about which particular products were suitable had already been considered and tried.
Consequently the Learning and Teaching Development Unit (LTDU), Estates and ITS, decided to run a brief research project where nine staff members would use one mobile learning device a week for a four week period. Each staff member was required to try out specified functions and complete an individual evaluation form for each device which provided both qualitative and quantitative data.