Secondary school students’ awareness and use of mobile phones for academic purpose

Abstract

The study examined secondary school students’ awareness of the educational use of mobile phones and their use of the device. The study adopted survey research design in which 250 senior secondary school students were purposively selected from four public high schools in Ilesa metropolis of Osun State, Nigeria. The instrument for data collection was a self-developed questionnaire divided into two sections with 16 items on each section based on the research topic. Three research questions were generated and answered. The result showed that majority of the respondents are aware of educational use of mobile phone though, the frequency of the use for the purpose of learning is not encouraging but there is significant relationship between the students’ level of awareness and their use of mobile phone for learning. The study therefore suggests that blanket ban should not be placed on the use of mobile phones within the school environment by secondary school students. Curriculum planners should incorporate the use of mobile phone as a tool for learning in secondary school while appropriate rules and regulations should be put in place to guide the use of mobile phones within the school environment by secondary school student.