Facilitating professionals' work-based learning with context-aware mobile system

Work-based learning refers to the learning process occurring at workplace as acquiring knowledge and skills or developing approaches to solve problems. It is a crucial approach to promote professionals' working efficiency. However, the majority of research on professional learning concentrates on holding trainings (off-the-job or on-the-job), seminars and workshops, or on implementing systems for distributing training materials or facilitating communication. Few effort has been paid to support work-based learning which has the characteristics like informal, spontaneous, work-related and just-in-time. The purpose of our work is to facilitate professionals' work-based learning with a context-aware mobile system. This system can guide professionals to engage in work-based learning activities, which are arranged properly based on our online survey results. It can also provide learning supports which are adapted to current engaged work, professionals' learning needs, personal characteristics, environmental situations, etc. In this paper, we present successively the work-based learning activity design, the system structure design, the system technical implementation, the system functionalities and evaluation of learning achievement, and the user attitude and acceptance about this system. With the proposed system, professionals can use their mobile devices to get personalized, adaptive and just-in-time learning supports in real working environment. •The purpose of this work is to facilitate professionals' work-based learning with a context-aware mobile system.•This system can guide professionals to engage in adaptive work-based learning activities.•This paper presents learning activity design, system structure design, implementation, functionalities and evaluation.•By WoBaLearn, professional can use mobile device to get personalized and adaptive learning supports in real work environment.