Malaysian Studies is a compulsory course for international undergraduate students in Malaysia. The
subject comprises Malaysian history, its governance and administration system. Due to different sociocultural
backgrounds and histories, most, if not all, international students, struggled with this subject.
This research project aims to create, implement and evaluate a mobile application (app) as a catalyst for
mobile learning (m-learning) for one particular topic of the Malaysian Studies course. The increased
use of technology in learning environments has changed instructional approaches by making it more
accessible and essentially, more student-centered. Using a design-based research approach, the mobile
app is aimed to guide students to write their own notes to assist in deeper understanding of the subject.
The mobile app was also reviewed by users to gauge its effectiveness and ease of use. Findings from the
tests showed the potential to structure the students’ learning from the topic. From the research, there are
a few improvements and suggestions that could be implemented for similar future studies and projects.