Mobile creation in communication studies and the challenge of its adoption in higher education

Abstract

In the audio-visual industry it is increasingly common to find professional productions created with mobile devices, mobile journalism continues to grow, the smartphone market places increasing emphasis on camera quality and mobile cinema (created with smartphones) is more relevant every day. Yet despite this change at the industry level, the study ‘Apps4CAV’ reveals that future audio-visual creators receive no training in the use of mobile devices as part of their university courses. Communication and media students are aware of very few mobile applications for the production and distribution of audio-visual content and almost none for scriptwriting, pre-production and post-production. Moreover, they make scarce use of the wellknown apps and perceive mobile devices to be valid tools for audio-visual creation only in the personal sphere, but not for academic or professional work. Should our universities provide training to those future audio-visual professionals in the development of mobile creation skills?