Perception Of M-learning Research Articles

Adoption of mobile application for enhancing learning in higher education: Students’ views from the State University of Zanzibar, Tanzania

Mobile (m)-learning is a technology-enhanced learning approach utilizing mobile technologies to facilitate learning. Despite significant attention from previous researchers, there is a lack of adequate studies about student’s usage and perceptions of m-learning in Zanzibar’s’ higher learning institutions (HLIs). In this study, the researchers explored the specific activities undertaken by students through the m-learning system, the students’ perceptions on the usefulness and ease of use of m-learning system, and the challenges they faced at the State University of Zanzibar (SUZA). The study used the survey method with descriptive statistical analysis and examined 240 randomly selected participating in the m-learning initiative. The findings indicate that 96.7% of participants easily used the system to navigate learning resources, 92.9% viewed assignments, and 94.6% took quizzes. Additionally, the majority of the respondents showed a positive attitude regarding the usefulness and ease of use of the system. However, 57% of participants experienced challenges, including unreliable internet connectivity and system incompatibility with some of their devices. The findings of this study will help HLIs like SUZA to find better strategies to improve m-learning, especially pedagogical features and awareness among students. Moreover, the study underscores the importance of more research to discover factors that influence m-learning adoption in Africa HLIs.

Millennials' Perceptions of M-learning in Higher Education in Developing Countries: The Role of Social Influence

Technology has brought about various changes in the teaching and learning industry. This has further led to a new form of learning known as M-learning. Meanwhile, the attributes of students have changed over time. A new generation of learners known as millennials have varying demands from bodies of knowledge as compared to their preceding generations. millennials have been acquainted with technology for most of their life. Considering these facts, this study seeks to determine factors affecting millennials’ perceptions of M-learning in higher education. An online questionnaire based on a fusion of the Technology and Acceptance Model with the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology framework was used to survey 103 millennials at a university in a developing country. Structural Equation Modelling was used to analyze data. The findings revealed that social influence has a statistically significant impact on millennials’ intention to use M-learning. The geographical location and contextual environment may amplify social influence as a prime factor motivating millennials’ intention to use M-learning. Universities, governments, and other learning institutions should consider this for more suited provisioning of M-learning solutions in higher education.

Female students’ perception of m-learning in the higher education institutions of Palestine during the COVID-19 pandemic

To understand the viability of utilizing m-learning as the principal facilitation channel of education, the present study aims at identifying the Palestinian female students’ perceptions of using mobile phones in higher education during the COVID-19 pandemic in the Gaza Strip to investigate the influence of using mobile phones on the female students’ academic achievement. For the purpose of the study, a questionnaire was designed by the researchers to collect the data from a sample of (156) second-level diploma female students who were selected from the Departments of Child Education and Midwifery at the University College of Applied Sciences (UCAS), and the quantitative descriptive analytical approach was followed. The results indicated that the use of mobile phones improved the UCAS female students’ skills, enhanced their academic achievement, made the learning experience more enjoyable, and improved their use of mobile devices. Additionally, there is no statistically significant relationship between the students’ perception of using mobile phones in the learning process and their academic specialization and their academic achievement. Upon the results of the study, the researchers recommend implementing m-learning in the educational process effectively and conducting future studies to measure the impact of courses’ content design and educational programs using smartphone applications.

Can COVID-19 pandemic influence experience response in mobile learning?

The mass spreading of COVID-19 has changed the paradigm of the education industry. In China and many other nations, universities have introduced compulsory remote education programs such as mobile learning (m-learning) to prevent public health hazards caused by the pandemic. However, so far, there is still a lack of understanding of student’s learning experience responses in compulsory m-learning programs. As such, there is a necessity to explore the factors and mechanisms which drives students’ experience. This paper evaluates the influence of both pedagogy and technology on learner’s compulsory m-learning experience response (ER) by extending the mobile technology acceptance model (MTAM) during the COVID-19 pandemic. An online self-administered questionnaire was used to collect the data, which was then analysed through SmartPLS 3.2.9. Importance-performance matrix analysis was applied as a post-hoc procedure to gauge the importance and performance of the exogenous constructs. The results revealed that perceptions of m-learning’s learning content quality, user interface, and system’s connectivity affect the perceived mobile usefulness and easiness which in turn affects ER. This paper validates MTAM in the field of education by integrating MTAM with pedagogy and technology attributes under a social emergency setting such as the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, the current research explains users' ER rather than behaviour intention which is commonly adopted in past studies.

Students’ Acceptance of Teaching Interaction through the Diversity of Media in M-Learning

The technological and telecommunication development of this decade has had a profound impact, especially on the education system. In relation to this development, mobile technology in learning or M-learning is a new concept in the learning process. Examples of portable technology include PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants), Smartphones, iPads, Tablets, and more. Thus, the availability of these advanced technologies promotes an environment of m-learning among students as it is easy to carry, lightweight, and not burdensome. Through the applications of Google, Facebook, YouTube, Edmodo, Twitter, WhatsApp, and Instagram, information is available anytime and anywhere and to anyone. The objectives of this study were to identify the level of students’ knowledge of m-learning, identify students’ perceptions of m-learning, identify the applicability of students' application to m-learning and identify the relationship between students' level of knowledge and applications usage of m-learning. This questionnaire was used in the data generation, which was analyzed descriptively by using statistical Package for the Social Version 20 (SPSS Statistic 20). The respondents of this study were 204 students in the first year of Faculty Technical and Vocational Education. The finding of the study showed that the use of m-learning in the teaching and learning process has a positive impact which had a min value of 4.00 and above. Besides, this study showed that the use of m-learning is highly recommended as it provides a more engaging learning experience for students. Researchers have suggested that its use of m-learning includes urban and rural students in line with the government's goal of developing an innovative and competitive convergence-based generation.

Design and psychometric properties of willingness to mobile learning scale for medical sciences students: A mixed-methods study.

BACKGROUND AND AIM:Given the absence of a scale specially designed to measure willingness to mobile learning (m-learning) in medical sciences students, the present study was conducted to design and evaluate the psychometric properties of “willingness to m-learning” scale for medical sciences students.METHODOLOGY:The study was carried out as a mixed-method study in two phases at Saveh University of Medical Sciences in 2019. Phase one was a qualitative study to elaborate on the students' perception of m-learning. Then, the statements were extracted, and statement pool was completed through reviewing the text. In the second phase, the psychometric properties including face, content, and construct validities (using explorative factor analysis), internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha), and test–retest reliability (intercluster correlation test) were measured. A total of 482 students who were selected randomly participated in the second phase. Data analysis was done with MAXQDA software (VERBI Software 2019, Berlin, Germany) for qualitative data and SPSS 19 software (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA) for quantitative data.RESULTS:Based on qualitative content analysis and literature review, 92 statements were extracted. After checking face and content validity, 55 statements remained in the study. Construct validity of the questionnaire based on explorative factor analysis removed 10 more statements and the remaining 45 statements were categorized into nine factors, namely technophilia, perceived attraction, perceived ease, perceived conflict, self-management, attitude, behavioral intention to use, educational use, and efficacy of m-learning. Reliability of the scale was obtained as 0.95 based on Cronbach's alpha and stability was checked using test–retest method (intercluster correlation coefficient; r = 0.92).CONCLUSION:Willingness to m-learning scale had an acceptable reliability and validity in medical sciences students. Therefore, it can be used for medical sciences students for improve learning and education.

Exploring students' awareness and perceptions: Influencing factors and individual differences driving m-learning adoption

This study investigates students' awareness and perceptions of m-learning and examines the factors affecting students' behavioral intention to adopt m-learning, by using a modified research model that integrate technology acceptance model (perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use) and unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (social influence) along with other factors (m-learning services and mobile limitations). In addition, control (gender, field of study, study level) and moderator variables (mobile capabilities, level of mobile usage, and frequent use of m-services) were introduced to verify the individual differences between respondents on the key factors affecting the adoption and usage of m-learning. Structural equations modeling and path analysis were used to test the hypotheses and the proposed model. The results revealed that perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use were found to be the primary factors driving students' intentions to use m-learning. Both m-learning services and social influence have positive effects on the acceptance of m-learning, while mobile limitations were found to be the main obstacle restraining students' participation in a m-learning environment. Most of the control variables yield no significant differences between students, but all the moderator variables were found to be significant determinants that can influence students to adopt m-learning. Overall, students have great potential to engage and integrate mobile technology into their educational environment.

Teachers’ perception of mobile edutainment for special needs learners: the Malaysian case

Study of Malaysian adoption of mobile learning (m-learning) is still in the early stages. However, there are numerous researchers in the country exploring the potential and application of m-learning in the Malaysian education system, including special education. A key question is whether teachers are prepared to incorporate mobile technology as part of their teaching tools or do teachers perceive mobile technology only as personal communication gadgets. This paper investigates teachers' perception of m-learning applications in special education classes. Interviews were conducted to collect related information on teachers' perceptions of m-learning in the selected schools. The teachers expressed that there are limited resources to cater to the attention of special needs learners and they believed edutainment technologies such as augmented reality, game-based educational software and animation projects could be the answer. The benefits and challenges of implementing blended learning for special education are also discussed. The paper concludes by summarising the current environment of m-learning in Malaysian special needs education, together with recommendations for future use of the technology.

Library and Information Science students’ perceptions of m-learning

The rapid development of mobile technologies has made mobile learning (m-learning) a new trend in education. This study explores whether Library and Information Science students, whose studies and future work focus on using up-to-date technologies, are familiar with new technological innovations. The study has two objectives: (1) whether personality and individual characteristics are related to perceptions about m-learning and (2) whether differences exist according to level of education, age and gender concerning perceptions about m-learning. The research was conducted in Israel during the first semester of the 2012 academic year. Researchers used six questionnaires to gather data. Findings suggest that individual differences such as resistance to change, learning strategies, and age may predict and influence m-learning adoption. Library and Information Science educators should be aware of these individual differences while teaching and training their students. They should understand that not all students wish to adopt current technologies, either while students or later as professionals. However, since using mobile technologies is an essential activity in these times, Library and Information Science educators should augment the curriculum to maximize exposing students to these platforms. Students will then be able to compare the advantages and disadvantages of various devices in their personal and professional lives.

Teacher perception for m-learning: scale development and teachers' perceptions

Successful integration of mobile learning (m-learning) technologies in education primarily demands that teachers' perception of such technologies should be determined. Therefore, the perceptions of teachers are of great significance. There is no available instrument that assesses teachers' perceptions of m-learning. Our research provided the first findings about teacher perceptions in Cyprus. This article describes the development, testing and application for a suitable instrument. Research data for the tests of reliability and validity were obtained from a sample of 467 teachers from the 32 schools surveyed in 2010. The final version of the Mobile Learning Perception Scale includes dimensions seeking teachers' feedback on three facets of the m-learning. Sub-dimensions are defined as ‘Aim-Mobile Technologies Fit', ‘Appropriateness of Branch’, and ‘Forms of M-learning Application and Tools’ Sufficient Adequacy of Communication'. Validity has been established by the use of factor analysis. Internal consistency coefficient and reliability of the scale showed that this instrument can be used for the future studies. According to the results of this study, teachers exhibited above medium levels of perception towards m-learning.