Learning on the Move: The use of Mobile Technology to Support Learning for University Students

Abstract

A large proportion of university students are now part of the millennial generation. Mobile technology is now an integral part of their everyday life. We studied the students’ viewpoints about the educational use of mobile technology to support their learning process. Among 2140 students of Psychology and Educational Science in Islamic Azad university of South Tehran Branch, 289 students were selected by using cluster random sampling method. Researcher-made Likert-type questionnaire developed (reliability based on Cronbach's alpha = 0.87). We used U Mann-Whitney test to evaluate the impact of gender and educational course on the rate of the educational use of mobile, kruskal-Wallis test to assess the impact of academic major on the rate of educational use of mobile, and one- sample t- test to assess the effective factors on the rate of the educational use of mobile. The most educational use of mobiles by university students are calculator usage, text messaging, and English dictionary. Having a mobile with multiple capabilities, long battery life and good network coverage are the most influential factors in the educational use of mobiles. Gender has a significant effect on the educational use of mobile, but the academic major and course doesn’t have any significant effect on educational use of mobile by the university students. The findings of current research could help authorities in Iran and possibly other developing countries to lay practically the ground for mobile-based learning in universities.