Digital Skills of Mobile Journalists: Exploring Learning Needs and Learner Experiences of Just-in-Time Learning With Smartphones

Abstract

Through a semi-structured survey of mobile journalists (N = 433), the study investigated mobile journalists’ learning needs and learner experiences related to their digital skills development with smartphones. Results indicate that not only novice journalism students but also experienced educators, professionals, or mass communication and media workers had a high level of demands on developing specific digital skills, especially skills with smartphones, such as writing better headlines and stories for mobile audiences, shooting and editing 360° videos, and programming skills such as HTML. Recommendations are made for future research that mobile journalists indicated mobile microlearning is a promising approach to support their just-in-time learning.

Keywords

mobile journalists digital skills learning needs mobile microlearning just-in-time learning

Introduction

Mobile journalism (MoJo) has rapidly moved to embrace mobile technologies as tools of gathering and disseminating digital news since the late 2000s (Cameron, 2009; Martyn, 2009; Marymont, 2006). In particular, smartphones have become an important resource in journalists’ daily work routines in the 21st century (Kitsa, 2019; Salzmann et al., 2020). The nexus of smartphones allows journalists to process information on the go within minutes and quickly edit and report news anywhere from the field at any time (Cervi et al., 2020; Westlund & Quinn, 2018). By consequence, this change creates a need for mobile journalism education (Bui & Moran, 2020).

Mobile journalists (MoJos) are solo reporters who use their smartphones as a comprehensive production unit for newsgathering, editing, and dissemination (Salzmann et al., 2020). Because the mobile media have changed from a 24-hr news cycle to a minute-by-minute update format (Costello & Oliver, 2018), journalists must report news as soon as they gather it, digesting it and breaking it down into smaller pieces of mobile-friendly contents (Wenger et al., 2014). Therefore, digital skills with smartphones are requested by news companies and media industries when they hire employees to write multiplatform-appropriate headlines for mobile audiences, push breaking news on social media, and create original stories according to recorded documents (Wenger et al., 2018). This new phenomenon leads to the following research questions: What are the specific digital skills with smartphones that MoJos urgently need? Which new digital skills do they want to develop (in addition to the digital skills that they already have)? What types of learning formats do they perceive as useful for supporting their on-demand learning?

Mobile microlearning (MML) is a promising way to support MoJos’ on-demand learning because it can customize chunk-size instructions within 5 min and be delivered in mobile applications (Costello & Oliver, 2018; Emerson & Berge, 2018; Jahnke et al., 2020). However, evidence-based investigations of whether MoJos themselves want and need to engage in this type of learning are lacking. Therefore, guided by Knowles’s theory of adult learning, the study aims to investigate the kinds of digital skills that MoJos learn on demand and whether MML is perceived as a potential approach to support MoJos’ just-in-time learning. The ultimate purpose of this study is to contribute to the body of academic journalism research and provide insights into and explicit learning approaches for the training of MoJos.

Aligned with the study purpose, three research questions (RQs) are proposed as follows:

RQ1: What types of digital skills with smartphones do MoJos need?

RQ2: What ways of learning do MoJos perceive as useful to support the development of their digital skills?

RQ3: How do MoJos perceive MML as a potential learning approach to support their just-in-time learning?

Literature Review

Digital Mobile Skills Desired in the 21st-Century Mobile Journalism

The need for digital skills with smartphones is changing rapidly due to the continuous development of mobile technologies (Kitsa, 2019; Wenger et al., 2014). According to Wenger et al. (2018), journalism educators are aware of this phenomenon. To understand what kinds of digital skills are requested and needed in 21st-century journalism education, Wenger et al. investigated more than 18,000 journalistic job positions from the top 10 news companies in the United States from 2010 to 2015. Wenger et al. (2018) indicate that digital skills on mobile devices are essential criteria for several job positions: web-related positions listed these skills as a 100% critical requirement; more than two thirds (69.6%) of news director jobs required these criteria, and other positions, such as print and broadcast producers and anchors, also asked for mobile capabilities.

Aligned with Wenger et al.’s (2018) study, a comprehensive digital skillset was proposed as a learning guide for mobile journalism education, including shooting and editing videos and audios with mobile devices, writing better headlines and stories for mobile audiences; using social media skills (e.g., Facebook Live stream, Snapchat, and Instagram) for storytelling or personal branding; and using multiplatform skills (especially mobile apps) and audience analytics to drive traffic, using data journalism to develop enterprise stories, creating simple graphics (e.g., maps, charts), and telling stories using podcasts. These identified skills guide the present study in identifying what specific digital skills are important to MoJos regarding their continuing professional development.

Educators have already started to integrate digital mobile skills training into journalistic learning contexts to prepare MoJos with skills ready for the job market (Cervi et al., 2020). For instance, Kraft and Seely (2015) examined the improvement of journalism students’ news reporting skills, using iPads as tools, and obtained positive results. Cervi et al. (2020) examined a massive open online course (MOOC) delivered to MoJos’ smartphones for their digital skills training and explored the course structure and functioning. However, these studies focused on technologies and materials, whereas Knowles’s adult learning theory asserts that to design a high-quality curriculum for specific learners, one must first listen to what the learners need and want to learn. Learners’ needs can be a foundation that supports educators’ decisions on the design of learning contents, formats, media usages, and learning environment settings (Thomas et al., 2016). Hence, the study targeted on learner needs and experiences in journalism education.

MoJos’ On-Demand Learning: Just-in-Time and Just Enough With MML

MoJos may encounter problems that they have not learned in school or training (Maniou et al., 2020). For example, they may need specific techniques or IT skills to record interviews from the field with their smartphones, or they may need immediate suggestions to create news headlines on the go. When encountering such problems, MoJos have the desire to learn “anytime, anywhere, anyhow” (Brandenburg & Ellinger, 2003, p. 308), and they want to acquire skills that are useful, immediately impact their work, and solve problems (Costello & Oliver, 2018; Knowles, 1980). To learn on-demand and just when needed, smartphones can be used to deliver lessons for MoJos to solve problems (Costello & Oliver, 2018). This learning format is called on-demand or just-in-time learning.

It is essential to rethink how effective learning should occur to support MoJos’ goal-oriented and self-directed learning—they want to learn just in time and just enough for performing tasks from the field (Maniou et al., 2020). However, as argued by Costello and Oliver (2018), just-in-time learning raises questions surrounding the complexity of content and the length of the course for busy journalists’ practice.

MML may be a potential solution to support MoJos with just-in-time learning because it aims to deliver bite-size units, which can be effectively absorbed by journalists (Costello & Oliver, 2018). Generally, each MML lesson is between 30 s and 5 min and presents only one concept (factual knowledge related to job skills) at a time (Jahnke et al., 2020). MoJos from the field can pause and continue the microlesson on their smartphones, continually check their learning performance, and adjust their learning progress when they need to (Shail, 2019). In this case, MML seems to be an accessible learning approach that allows MoJos to learn whenever they need it; however, there is a lack of evidence regarding whether MoJos perceive this type of learning is useful. This study aims to fill this knowledge gap.

Theoretical Framework

Learner needs are defined as the learner’s expectations, demands, and feelings of the necessity to acquire specific knowledge and skills (Abuzid, 2017; Khikmatova, 2020; Ooi et al., 2019). Learner needs are addressed as the discrepancy between the present level of competency and the required level of competency, which can refer to the learner’s expectations or organizational and social requirements (Knowles, 1980). In journalism education, MoJos’ learning needs are the discrepancy between the present level of digital skills and the level of digital skills required by 21st-century news companies or media industries (Wenger et al., 2018). However, the specific digital skills that are needed by MoJos to enhance their present capacities and the learning approach that can fulfill MoJos’ demands of just-in-time learning are unclear.

To analyze learner needs, two components of learner analysis are suggested by Thomas et al. (2016): learners’ general characteristics (e.g., gender, work experience, and position status) and learning experiences (e.g., preferred learning formats or successful learning methods). The framework for studying MoJos’ learning needs (the discrepancy) is described in Figure 1.

Figure 1.

Theoretical framework of MoJos’ learning needs (Adopted from Knowles’ adult learning theory–learner needs assessment).

Method

A semi-structured survey method with a mixed data analysis approach (Benesty et al., 2009; Mayring, 2004) was applied in this study.

Data Collection and Measures

The data were collected in the summer of 2017 through an online questionnaire that consisted of 18 items, including 12 closed questions and 6 open-ended questions, asking for MoJos’ general characteristics (e.g., gender, position status, and years of work experience in journalism), their needs for developing digital skills with smartphones, and their successful experiences of learning digital skills. Ten digital skills were identified as the investigation items, according to those found in Wenger et al. (2018) and Wenger et al. (2014). The questionnaire is in the Appendix.

Participants and Sampling

The study selected the participants from the population of interest, including student journalists and professional journalists. In total, 835 potential contacts were provided by the School of Journalism. The survey was distributed via email using the contact list, social media, and online flyers. During the survey distribution process, two to three follow-up emails were sent to increase the response rate. Two $50 gift cards were offered as a compensation to encourage participation. A screening question was provided as the first question item in the survey to automatically exclude irrelevant participants and recruit only the target population: journalism students, educators, journalism professionals, and mass communication and media (MCM) workers. After data collection was completed, the qualified responses were screened to ensure the final sample was representative. Missing responses or incomplete survey answers were excluded before the data analysis. The final qualified survey responses are presented in the results section.

Data Analysis

Quantitative data (closed questions with five-point Likert-type scales, from 1—“strongly disagree” to 5—“strongly agree”) were analyzed using three statistical methods: Pearson’s correlation coefficient, the one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), and the multiple regression analysis by SPSS statistics software (Benesty et al., 2009; Park, 2009). Qualitative data (open-ended questions) were analyzed using the content analysis method and are presented by percentage (%) and the frequency of count (f) (Mayring, 2004).

Results

The study received a total of 690 responses and 433 complete responses; the response rate was 62.75%.

Participants’ Demographics

Of the 433 participants who gave complete responses, 39% were males, 45% were females, and 16% expressed no gender preference. Table 1 shows the four groups of journalists, including 27 journalism students, 64 journalism educators, 293 journalism professionals, and 49 mass communication and media (MCM) workers whose work is related to journalism. Across all participants, the number of years of work experience ranged from less than 1 year to more than 20 years.

Table 1.

Participants’ Demographic Information in the Four Groups.

Participants	N	Gender n (%)
Participants	N	Male	Female	No pref.
Total (all groups)	433	170 (39)	195 (45)	68 (16)
Journalism students	27	8 (30)	16 (59)	3 (11)
Journalism educators	64	24 (38)	30 (47)	10 (15)
Journalism professionals	293	118 (40)	128 (44)	47 (16)
MCM workers	49	20 (41)	21 (43)	8 (16)

Note. “No pref.” means that the participants do not prefer to answer. MCM = mass communication and media.

Across all groups, there was no significant gender difference between male, female, and people who prefer not to indicate their gender, F(2, 432) = 2.32, p = .09. Only the professional group showed a significant gender difference, F(2, 363) = 4.03, p = .02, that female professionals have higher needs than male professionals according to the Tukey’s honest significant difference post hoc test (p = .039). In addition, there was no significant gender difference when comparing the years of work experience among the five categories (less than 1 year, 1–4 years, 5–9 years, 10–19 years, and 20 and more years of work experience), F(4, 432) = 2.03, p = .09.

Types of Digital Skills With Smartphones MoJos Need (RQ1)

A Likert-type scale was used to analyze the level of need with six sub-questions, giving a total of 6 to 30 points. The four groups scored as follows: journalism students (M = 18.62, SD = 5.03), professional journalists (M = 18.92, SD = 5.67), the MCM workers (M = 20.79, SD = 5.51), and the educator group (M = 20.89, SD = 4.96). The educator group showed the highest mean score, but there was no statistically significant difference among the four groups according to the one-way ANOVA, F(3, 432) = 2.50, p = .08 > .05. Therefore, all participants had a high level of need to develop digital skills in using smartphones for news reporting.

In addition, 10 digital skills identified from the literature (Wenger et al., 2014, 2018) were used to investigate participants’ need to develop specific skills. Participants were asked to rank each skill on a Likert-type scale from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree) to present their needs. Figure 2 shows the percentage of participants who agreed or strongly agreed that they needed each skill. “Presenting stories better for mobile audiences” was the most needed skill, indicated by 69% of participants (36% strongly agree and 32% agree). Detailed information is shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2.

Participants’ needs of the 10 digital skills.

Using an open-ended question, participants were also asked about additional digital skills that they wanted to develop. Participants frequently mentioned “social media skills” (frequency of count, f = 53), “news headlines, storytelling, breaking news writing skills” (f = 29); “data visualization and search engine optimization skills” (f = 21); “basic programming and coding skills such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript” (f = 15); and “shooting and editing 360-degree, remote, virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) videos” (f = 8).

To deeply examine the kinds of digital skills that each subgroup needed, a multiple regression analysis was conducted. The 10 digital skills (questionnaire items #5 and #6) were predictors (independent variables) of participants’ level of learning needs (dependent variable, questionnaire item #4). Results are shown in Table 2. The 10 digital skills were significantly predictive of participants’ needs for developing digital skills with smartphones, according to the ANOVA statistics in all groups, F(3, 432) = 25.43, p < .05, R² = .36. This means that all the participants needed to develop these 10 digital skills.

Table 2.

Predicting the Needs of Developing Digital Skills With Smartphones Among the Four Groups (Journalism Students, Educators, Professionals, MCM Workers) Using the Regression Analysis.

Predictors: digital skills with smartphone	Regression analysis by groups coefficient with β-value (std. error)
Predictors: digital skills with smartphone	All groups (n = 433)	Students (n = 27)	Educators (n = 64)	Professionals (n = 293)	MCM workers (n = 49)
Using social media for reporting	.92 (.19)	1.84 (.73)*	.81 (.40)*	.93 (.26)*	.88 (.58)
Using social media for personal branding	.20 (.20)	.75 (.77)	.19 (.46)	.05 (.26)	.55 (.65)
Using Facebook Live stream for story telling	.57 (.20)*	1.25 (.80)	.57 (.47)	.51 (.26)*	1.75 (.71)*
Using Snapchat and Instagram for story telling	.33 (.19)	.03 (.80)	1.12 (.48)*	.15 (.24)	.04 (.67)
Using audience analytics to drive traffic and inform coverage	.39 (.19)*	−.07 (.77)	.82 (.43)	.32 (.26)	.69 (.68)
Writing better headlines for mobile audiences	.51 (.23)*	1.72 (1.38)	.78 (.47)	.46 (.30)	1.31 (.73)
Presenting stories better for mobile audiences	.13 (.25)	.25 (1.20)	.16 (.58)	.20 (.33)	.67 (.81)
Using data journalism to develop enterprise stories	−.14 (.20)	−.29 (.81)	−.38 (.44)	−.05 (.28)	.12 (.52)
Creating simple graphics, such as maps and charts	.51 (.21)*	−1.08 (.89)	−.49 (.57)	.60 (.27)*	1.32 (.72)
Telling stories using podcasts	.92 (.17)	1.22 (.68)	.46 (.44)	1.04 (.22)	.89 (.62)
	F = 25.43*	F = 3.98*	F = 6.13*	F = 15.54*	F = 5.14*
	Inter. = 4.47	Inter. = 6.14	Inter. = 6.17	Inter. = 4.53	Inter. = 9.39
	R² = .36	R² = .31	R² = .45	R² = .33	R² = .26

Note. “*” = the p value of the result is < .05, which means the result is statistically significant; Inter. = the intercept; R² (standardized R²) = the degree of explaining the variance in the dependent variable; MCM = mass communication and media.

The predictors with the highest Beta value (β) are the most important variables in interpreting the learning needs. Results across all groups indicated that “using Facebook Live stream function for storytelling” was the strongest predictor, with the value β = .57. This was followed by the scores for “writing better headlines for mobile audiences,” “creating simple graphics (e.g., maps and charts) on smartphones,” and “using audience analytics to drive traffic and inform coverage.” Therefore, these four skills were the most important digital skills with smartphones that MoJos need.

Looking into each group, “using social media for reporting” was the strongest predictor of learning needs in the student group (β = 1.84) and the professional group (β = .93). “Using Snapchat and Instagram for storytelling” was the strongest predictor (β = 1.12) in the education group, and “using Facebook Live stream function for storytelling” was the strongest predictor (β = 1.75) in the MCM group. Accordingly, different groups needed different skills when using smartphone applications to report news.

The Ways of Learning MoJos Perceived Useful in Developing Digital Skills (RQ2)

Across all groups, participants’ needs significantly correlated with their most successful way of learning digital skills (r = .139, p = .002). When looking deeper into each group, the professional group (r = .166, p = .003) and the MCM group (r = 0.259, p = .039) had significant correlations between their need to develop digital skills with smartphones and their most successful ways of learning digital skills. In contrast, there was no significant correlation in the student group (r = .215, p = .163) or the educator group (r = .003, p = .488).

Results of the content analysis showed that “in-person workshops and conferences” were perceived as the most successful way of learning digital skills (before the COVID-19 pandemic) by 45% of educators (f = 29), 30% of journalism professionals (f = 89), and 22% of MCM workers (f = 6). This was followed by “teaching themselves by watching video or reading” and “asynchronous online learning.” In contrast, 22% of students (f = 6) indicated that their most successful way of learning digital skills was “teaching themselves by watching video or reading,” followed by “in-person workshops and conferences” and “college classes.” “Live online training at a set time” (e.g., webinars) was least selected by all the four groups.

Open-ended questions were asked about why participants felt that the ways they proposed were successful in supporting their learning.

In-person workshops or conferences. MoJos stated that this facilitated asking questions and receiving immediate feedback. They also appreciated the opportunity to interact and learn together with others, have hands-on exercises, and leave daily work to reduce the distractions from learning. Participants’ (P) comments are shown below:

“Real-time interaction with other learners, in person, afforded me the benefits of hearing others’ points of view, questions, etc.” (P23-MCM worker)

“In-person causes me to stop and think intensively about that one thing. It’s hard to integrate learning (steep learning curve) with regular work.” (P103-educator)

Teaching themselves and asynchronous online training

Flexibility is key. MoJos stated that they could select what they needed based on their own situation, learn on their own pace, and refer back and retrieve learning content anytime as needed. Participants commented the following:

“I can learn at my own pace, in the style that works best for me (re-watching/re-reading multiple times, for example) for whatever specifically needs to be done at the time.” (P47-professional)

“Because it was on-the-go, during my reporting process or while editing audio or video. It had a sense of urgency and yet excitement at the same time like journalism.” (P3-educator)

Informally learning from a colleague

MoJos indicated that they appreciated the flexibility and efficiency of this mode of learning. They commented that they could ask questions and receive immediate feedback from colleagues when they had specific needs. Examples of responses include the following:

“They (colleagues) could answer questions that were specific to what I did not already know in a brief, time-efficient manner” (P213-MCM worker).

“Allowed me to target very specific skills I needed, ask questions without feeling stupid, did not waste any time on subjects I already know” (P323-professional).

Live online training at set times

Participants indicated that they could have interactions with instructors and peers in real time without traveling somewhere. They could participate in such training for a short time while they were at work, have questions answered, and obtain instant feedback and correction.

MoJos’ Perceptions About MML for Digital Skills Development (RQ3)

Willingness to Spend Time on Digital Skills Learning

Approximately half of the participants (45.73%) were “willing to spend 31 to 60 min per week” on mastering one digital skill; this means the participants would be happy to spend 4 to 8 min per day on learning a digital skill. In addition, one-fifth of participants (17.78%) were “willing to spend 16–30 min per week” on learning, which means that they would be happy to spend 2 to 4 min per day on learning a digital skill. More detailed information is shown in Table 3.

Table 3.

Time Participants Are Willing to Spend on Mastering One Digital Skill Per Week.

Time per week (min)	Participants n = 344 (%)
31–60 min	198 (45.73)
16–30 min	77 (17.78)
61–120 min	75 (17.32)
121 min or more	32 (7.39)
1–15 min	18 (4.16)
None	7 (1.62)
No answer	26 (6.00)

Note. % = percentage of the total number of participants; min = minutes.

Willingness to learn with mobile micro lessons

The results indicated the willingness to try a 15-min microlesson for mastering a digital skill on smartphones. A Pearson’s correlation analysis showed a weak (r = .251) but statistically significant positive (p < .000) correlation between the participants’ willingness to learn with a mobile-based short lesson and their need to develop digital skills with smartphones. Furthermore, a regression analysis indicated that the participants’ level of willingness to learn with a mobile-based short lesson could significantly predict the level of need to develop their digital skills, F(1, 432) = 29.14, β = 2.22, p < .000. This means higher the level of willingness to spend the time in learning, the more needs of learning MoJos perceive.

Discussion

The study aimed to examine MoJos’ learning needs and learner experiences toward their digital skills development with smartphones. More than half of the 433 participants “agreed” or “strongly agreed” that they had learning needs, including writing better headlines, optimizing the presentation of stories for mobile audiences, and creating simple graphics (e.g., maps and charts) on smartphones. All groups—novice journalism students, experienced educators, journalism professionals with more than 20 years’ work experience, and MCM workers—had a high need to develop digital skills with smartphones.

Different types of MoJos indicated needs to learn different specific digital skills, which was subsequently reflected in the regression analysis. The use of social media for news reporting (e.g., Twitter feeds) was the most urgent learning need for journalism students and professionals; the use of Snapchat and Instagram for storytelling was the most urgent learning need for journalism educators; the use of Facebook Live stream for storytelling was the most urgent learning need for MCM workers. These results align with past research which has indicated that the 21st-century journalism training is going beyond journalism schools, and different types of MoJos learn on-demand to continuously enhance specific digital skills according to their own needs, especially the need for skills with smartphones (Bui & Moran, 2020; Kitsa, 2019; Maniou et al., 2020).

Furthermore, this study identifies additional digital skills that MoJos learn on-demand: shooting and editing 360° videos, creating VR and AR videos, and basic programming and coding skills such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. This finding corresponds to Mabrook and Singer’s (2019) statement that there is an increasing need to create 360° videos and VR storytelling pieces in mobile journalism because these media enable consumers to engage “inside” the environment to embody virtual characters, explore virtual spaces, and make sense of their own experiences within the news stories (Mabrook and Singer, 2019). VR-based storytelling is technically complex—it must be shot using multiple cameras and digitally stitched together to produce a seamless virtual environment. This requires comprehensive skills such as virtual storytelling, programming, user experience, and interaction design, and motion graphic design. Therefore, further research is needed to provide empirical evidence about which training formats can effectively cultivate such advanced digital skills.

The study also reveals that MoJos’ learning needs correlate significantly with their successful ways of learning. MoJos indicated that their most successful learning experiences were through attending in-person workshops and conferences—these learning modes gave them a specific time for learning outside of their daily work, as well as a chance to participate in hands-on exercises and receive immediate feedback. Notably, the MoJos in the study indicated that they found live online learning at a set time (e.g., webinars) less effective than in-person workshop training. However, the study was conducted before the COVID-19 pandemic. Due to the sudden outbreak of the pandemic, journalism education is facing challenges, and learning methods have been dramatically changed (Crawford et al., 2020; Fowler-Watt et al., 2020). To stop viruses from spreading, educators and learners cannot meet in person frequently; thus, live and asynchronous online learning and the use of remote conferencing tools such as Zoom and Skype have become primary and indispensable learning modes. MoJos’ current learning experiences could be different from those found in the study, and an examination of MoJos’ learning experiences in the context of the COVID-19 crisis is needed.

Another finding of the study is that MML is perceived as a promising approach to support MoJos’ just-in-time learning during their unpredictable and busy schedules. In the study, MoJos’ willingness to learn through a 15-min mobile microlesson significantly predicted their need to develop digital skills with smartphones. Half of the participants indicated that they were willing to spend 4 to 8 min per day on learning a digital skill, and one-fifth of participants were willing to spend 2 to 4 min per day on learning. This result reflects the design principle of MML as each learning unit lasts between 30 s and 5 min, providing short and bite-sized learning contents adapted to small-screen mobile devices (Jahnke et al., 2020). Accordingly, it is possible to have MML as a potential learning approach in mobile journalism education.

There is a limitation in the study that must be noted. The 10 digital skills used as the investigation items were created based on the literature review. However, as the mobile technologies and educational environments are rapidly changing, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, new emerging skills (e.g., remote interview skills, virtual newsroom networking, and worldwide collaboration skills) were excluded from the study.

Conclusion

This study provides insights and concrete suggestions for mobile journalism education. Different MoJos have a variety of learning needs related to digital skills with smartphones, such as the need to write better headlines, optimize stories for mobile audiences, and advance their skills in data visualization and VR/AR media editing. The study results indicate that journalism students, educators, journalism professionals, and MCM workers have differing specific needs for digital skills development. Even experienced MoJos require continuous learning. Educational practitioners should consider those learning needs when developing effective learning materials and environments for future mobile journalism training. The MML approach is recommendable because each learning unit is no longer than 5 min, fitting MoJos’ busy schedules and meeting their need for just-in-time learning. For the academic research community, future studies are needed to further examine which MML design principles can positively facilitate MoJos’ learning and how MML affects MoJos’ learning effectiveness and efficiency. In addition, this study has found that MoJos are willing to learn with MML, but the correlation between the level of willingness to learn and the length of time that MoJos learn from the field remains unclear. These knowledge gaps can be topics for future research.

Footnotes

Appendix

Acknowledgements

I am very grateful to all the participants and Information Experience Lab (ielab.missouri.edu) members who worked on this study in particular He Hao, Brian Flanagin, Minh Pham, the previous project manager, Neeley Current, the IE Lab director, Dr. Isa Jahnke. Finally, I thank the Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Fellow, Lina Austin for her professional supports in the field of journalism education, and thank the Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute, School of Journalism at the University of Missouri-Columbia for supporting this project.

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

I want to thank the Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute, School of Journalism at the University of Missouri-Columbia for their support.

ORCID iD

Yen-Mei Lee

Author Biography

Yen-Mei Lee is a user experience and usability researcher and currently a Ph.D. candidate at the School of Information Science and Learning Technologies at the University of Missouri, Columbia. She holds a master’s degree in Educational Psychology from National ChengChi University, Taiwan. Her research focuses on learner needs assessment and the evaluation of learning efficacy with digital technologies.

References

Abuzid

H. F. T.

(2017). Applying QFD tools for quality improvements in curriculum design and teaching strategies to meet with the customer (learner) needs. Journal of Engineering and Applied Sciences, 12(3), 684–669.

Benesty

Chen

Huang

Cohen

(2009). Pearson correlation coefficient. In Noise reduction in speech processing (pp. 1–4). Springer.

Brandenburg

D. C.

Ellinger

A. D.

(2003). The future: Just-in-time learning expectations and potential implications for human resource development. Advances in Developing Human Resources, 5(3), 308–320.

Bui

M. N.

Moran

R. E.

(2020). Making the 21st century mobile journalist: Examining definitions and conceptualizations of mobility and mobile journalism within journalism education. Digital Journalism, 8(1), 145–163.

Cameron

(2009). Mobile journalism: A snapshot of current research and practice. In Charles

Stewart

(Eds.), The end of journalism: News in the twenty-first century (pp. 63–72). Peter Lang.

Cervi

Pérez Tornero

J. M.

Tejedor

(2020). The challenge of teaching mobile journalism through MOOCs: A case study. Sustainability, 12(13), 5307–5322. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12135307

Costello

Oliver

(2018). Human resource management in the media. In Albarran

Mierzejewska

(Eds.), Handbook of media management and economics (2nd ed., pp. 95–110). Routledge.

Crawford

Butler-Henderson

Rudolph

Malkawi

Glowatz

Burton

… Lam

(2020). COVID-19: 20 countries’ higher education intra-period digital pedagogy responses. Journal of Applied Learning & Teaching, 3(1), 1–20.

Emerson

L. C.

Berge

Z. L.

(2018). Microlearning: Knowledge management applications and competency-based training in the workplace. Knowledge Management & E-learning (KM&EL), 10(2), 125–132.

10.

Fowler-Watt

Majin

Sunderland

Phillips

Brine

Bissell

Murphy

(2020). Reflections on the shifting shape of journalism education in the Covid-19 pandemic. Digital Culture and Education. Advance Online Publication. https://www.digitalcultureandeducation.com/reflectionson-covid19/journalism-education

11.

Jahnke

Lee

Y. M.

Pham

Austin

(2020). Unpacking the inherent design principles of mobile microlearning. Technology, Knowledge and Learning, 25(3), 585–619.

12.

Khikmatova

M. A.

(2020). Learner needs analysis and its application in the process of learning foreign languages. Наука и образование сегодня, 4(51), 47–49.

13.

Kitsa

(2019). Smartphones in journalism. Media Literacy and Academic Research, 2(2), 94–108.

14.

Knowles

M. S.

(1980). The modern practice of adult education: From pedagogy to andragogy (Rev ed.). Follett.

15.

Kraft

Seely

(2015). Making mojos: How iPads are enhancing mobile journalism education. Journalism & Mass Communication Educator, 70(3), 220–234.

16.

Mabrook

Singer

J. B.

(2019). Virtual reality, 360 video, and journalism studies: conceptual approaches to immersive technologies. Journalism Studies, 20(14), 2096–2112.

17.

Maniou

T. A.

Stark

Touwen

C. J.

(2020). Journalism Training Beyond Journalism Schools. Journalism & Mass Communication Educator, 75(1), 33–39.

18.

Martyn

P. H.

(2009). The Mojo in the third millennium: Is multimedia journalism affecting the news we see? Journalism Practice, 3(2), 196–215.

19.

Marymont

(2006). How they did it: Fort Myers “Mojo” journalists search out news at the neighborhood level, identify community contributors. Gannett’s News Watch. https://web.archive.org/web/20080421124521/

20.

Mayring

(2004). Qualitative content analysis. A Companion to Qualitative Research, 1, 159–176.

21.

Ooi

S. K. G.

Makmur

Soon

A. Y. Q.

Fook-Chong

Liew

Sia

S. Y.

Lim

C. Y.

(2019). Attitudes toward artificial intelligence in radiology with learner needs assessment within radiology residency programmes: A national multi-programme survey. Singapore Medical Journal, 1, 22. https://doi.org/10.11622/smedj.2019141

22.

Park

M. H.

(2009). Comparing group means: t-tests and one-way ANOVA using Stata, SAs, R, and SPSS. Centre for Statistical and Mathematical Computing, Indiana University. https://scholarworks.iu.edu/dspace/handle/2022/19735

23.

Salzmann

Guribye

Gynnild

(2020). “We in the Mojo Community”–Exploring a Global Network of Mobile Journalists. Journalism Practice, 1-18. https://doi.org/10.1080/17512786.2020.1742772

24.

Shail

M. S.

(2019). Using micro-learning on mobile applications to increase knowledge retention and work performance: A review of literature. Cureus, 11(8), Article e5307. https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.5307

25.

Thomas

P. A.

Kern

D. E.

Hughes

M. T.

Chen

B. Y.

(Eds.) (2016). Curriculum development for medical education: a six-step approach. Johns Hopkins University Press.

26.

Wenger

Owens

Thompson

(2014). Help wanted: Mobile journalism skills required by top US news companies. Electronic News, 8(2), 138–149.

27.

Wenger

D. H.

Owens

L. C.

Cain

(2018). Help wanted: Realigning journalism education to meet the needs of top US news companies. Journalism & Mass Communication Educator, 73(1), 18–36.

28.

Westlund

Quinn

(2018). Mobile journalism and MoJos. In Oxford research encyclopedia of communication. Oxford University Press.