Meuruno is a simple mobile learning system that enables a teacher to nudge their students to review previously taught materials. Meuruno relies on the very basic SMS technology for its service that makes it especially suited for mobile-connected developing countries like Indonesia. A pilot study of Meuruno, in a real world learning situation, not only produced an increase in students’ understanding of taught materials but also provided an alternative mobile learning experience that is purely based on basic SMS technology.

1. Meuruno: An SMS-based Learning
System that Nudge Students to
Review Previously Taught Materials
Rahmad Dawood – Sayed Muchallil – Khairul Munadi
Universitas Syiah Kuala
Banda Aceh, Indonesia

2. Meurono
●
Meuruno → Acehnese for study
●
SMS-based system
●
Nudge student to study
– Review previously taught materials
– Send SMS → Summary of materials

3. Motivation
●
Review → important for learning
– Increase recall of materials
●
(Anderson, 2000; Donovan and Radosevich, 1999)
●
Teachers → Remind students
– Not sure will do
●
Meuruno → Nudge students to review

4. Nudge
●
Nudge (Thaler and Sunstein, 2008)
– Push to do something → Not force → Can opt-out
– Mechanism such that will opt-in
●
SMS → Way to nudge
– Students owns mobile phone → Bring everywhere
– Behavior: Receive SMS → Open & read
●
Unlike email → Can't review content → No header
– Mind → Instinctively → Read written materials
●
SMS → Summary of materials
– Read SMS → Read summary → Nudge to review

5. Usage Scenario: Students
●
Attend class → Asked to review
●
Outside class
– Receive SMS → Read → Review
– SMS → Short summary → Taught materials
– Send repeatedly during week → Study time
– SMS stored → Review anytime and anywhere

6. Usage Scenario: Teachers
●
Start of semester
– Prepare teaching materials
– Prepare summary to send → Meuruno
●
End of class
– Schedule delivery → Meuruno
– Meuruno→ Generate SMS → SMS Gateway

7. Architecture – 1/2
●
Python + MySQL
●
SMS Gateway
– Gammu
●
Ran from my laptop + SMS Modem

8. Architecture – 2/2

9. Pilot – 1/3
●
Does it work?!
– Nudge to review → Better recall → Correct answer
– Provide mobile learning experience
●
Pilot → Field experiment
– Software Engineering class @ Unsyiah
– Voluntary participation (95 out of 135 students)
– 2 Groups → Random assignment
●
Treatment → Meuruno
●
Control
– Pop Quiz → Measure recall

10. Pilot – 2/3

11. Pilot – 3/3
●
Provided mobile learning experience (Sharples
et al., 2007)
– “... we can read [these reviews] while we are
relaxing. / … bisa dibaca-baca [bahannya] saat
istirahat.”
– “.. it can help [us] remember materials that were
taught in class. / … dapat membantu [kami]
mengingatkan kembali bahan-bahan yang diajarkan
di kelas.”

12. Next Step
●
Wider deployment → Measure impact
●
Add test → Summary + Test
– Test can further increase recall (Karpicke and
Roediger, 2008)
●
Web interface → Easier to use

13. Conclusion
●
Meuruno
– SMS-Based application
– Nudge students → reviews of taught materials
– Piloted → Software Engineering @ Unsyiah
●
Randomized 2x1 field experiment
– Students in treatment
●
Increased recall
●
Probide mobile learning experience

14. Thank You