Designing Mobile-Assisted Academic Literacies for Low-Bandwidth Contexts: A Design-based Research (DBR) Approach in Rural Pakistani Universities

Abstract

This design-based research (DBR) investigates the development and iterative refinement of mobile-assisted academic literacies (MAAL) pedagogies within low-bandwidth environments characteristic of rural Pakistani universities. Conducted across three intervention cycles over eighteen months, the study engaged 127 undergraduate students and seven faculty members from three public sector universities in Sindh and Punjab provinces. Through participatory design workshops, classroom implementations, and qualitative data analysis, findings reveal that asynchronous mobile strategies utilising offline-first architectures substantially enhance students’ critical reading, disciplinary writing, and information literacy practices while reducing data costs by up to 73 per cent. The research identifies five design principles: modular content architecture, adaptive assessment protocols, peer-to-peer mesh networking, culturally responsive scaffolds, and integrated faculty development. This study contributes empirically grounded frameworks for digitalisation in resource-constrained contexts, addressing the research-practice gap in Pakistan’s higher education landscape.

Keywords: Mobile-assisted academic literacies, design-based research, low-bandwidth contexts, rural universities, digital divide, Pakistan higher education.