Learning Self-Defence on the Go? A Review of Mobile Applications
Benjamin Bonn, Anna Klees, Nico Schué, Swen Körner · Martial Arts Studies · 2025
The increasing number of available mobile applications and their everyday use direct the focus of pedagogical research towards terms like mobile learning. This includes mobile applications in the area of martial arts and self-defence. Nevertheless, mobile learning has not yet emerged as a relevant object of research in the field of martial arts studies itself. Following keyword-based research and categorization of mobile applications related to self-defence and martial arts, the following contribution provides first insights into the potential of everyday life learning of self-defence and martial arts through portable digital devices. The results show a remarkable number of possible applications for these topics, including a great variety of martial arts disciplines and other key concepts. The subsequent discussion of these results identifies concrete professionalization-related areas that future research could follow up on, such as qualitative content analyses of applications as well as survey-based insights about practices and effects.