Understanding students' usage of smartphone applications for learning purposes: A case study

Abstract

The adoption of mobile learning is known to enhance student performance through the use of mobile applications (apps), empowering them to take control of their learning experience. Students can confirm class exercise answers, and access supplemental content to name a few benefits of mobile learning. This study examines the current use of smartphone apps for learning purposes, of undergraduate students at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), Pietermaritzburg (PMB Campus). In addition to exploring the use of apps, the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) was used to explore the relationship between the students' perceived usefulness (PU), attitude to-wards the use (ATU), and perceived ease of use (PEOU) of smartphone apps for education, along with their behavior in employing smartphone apps. The quantitative method was used to gather data from 364 undergraduate students in different colleges, including Law and Management, Agriculture, Engineering and Science, and Humanities, at UKZN. Convenience sampling was used to personally distribute questionnaires. The results reveal that undergraduate students sometimes use smartphone apps to participate in learning activities. Perceived usefulness was found to have a higher positive impact on attitude in comparison to the impact of perceived ease of use.