Abstract:

The terms co-creation and user-centered development have been embraced as a new approach for higher education institutional engagement with stakeholders. However, community stakeholders' unequal participation in the co-creation of knowledge and tools is evident, resulting in problems in the designed solutions' suitability. To ensure the use and uptake of any designed solutions to stakeholders' needs, the concept of co-creation or user-centered development is paramount. The current study aims to engage institutional community stakeholders in co-creation and testing a mobile app reinforced by user preferences. Co-creation workshops involving Mountains of the Moon faculty members and dairy farmers from the Rwenzori region in Uganda were employed to obtain data. First, we made an inventory of user needs and requirements through co-creation workshops. Secondly, a technical team in app development was engaged in designing and developing a prototype mobile application based on the knowledge and ideas generated during the co-creation workshops. The developed prototype app's functionality and content were assessed via a testing and demonstration workshop with a group of 45 dairy farmers. A survey was additionally used to shed light on the technicalities of the devices used by dairy farmers to test the prototype app. The co-creation workshops' results show four key variables: milk production, breeding, feeding, and health preferred by the target users to incorporate in the final app. Participants also suggested that the app include a messaging feature focusing on reminders about, Vaccinating animals, deworming, spraying, and the expected date of delivery of the dairy animals. The survey results showed that most participants owned smartphones, use SMS, WhatsApp and can afford to buy mobile data. The co-creation process discussed in this study provides an initial point for increasing community engagement in higher education institutions. Thus, further research is warranted to assess the target users' readiness to engage with the co-created app.

Keywords:

Higher Education Institutions, Co-Creation, community stakeholders, prototype mobile application.