Design issues for dual device learning: interactive television and mobile phone

Designers of technological support for learning have an ever-increasing selection of platforms and devices at their disposal, as desktop computers are joined by mobile phones, PDA’s, laptops, games consoles, digital television and wearable devices. It is unlikely that a single technology will be a perfect fit for all aspects of a learning task. Many situations will call on the strengths of a number of devices in combination. However, distributing functionality across different devices may create new problems for interaction and interface designers more used to creating consistency and coherence within a single technology. As an example, we describe the design and development of a system that facilitates language learning from a combination of two devices, interactive television (iTV) and mobile phone, drawing on the strengths of each technology. In particular we discuss some of the user interface design issues to be considered in the context of cross platform dual device systems for ubiquitous learning.