STUDENTS’ VIEWS ON UTILIZING MT IN TEACHING AND LEARNING: INTEREST, IMPORTANCE AND EFFICIENCY (Published)
With Mobile Technology (MT) getting smaller, cheaper and easier to carry, the new generation has been bombarded with various mobile technology devices that seem to be invading every single aspect of their lives. Educators and learners in higher education institutes need to realize the extent to which undergraduate learners are ready to deploy MT as learning facilitators. Hence, our present study aims to find out the students beliefs and views on the importance of MT in their educational life. In order to fulfill the study’s objectives, 328 undergraduate students were randomly selected across four different departments at the College of Basic Education in Kuwait, during the spring semester of the academic year 2012/2013. The data were collected based on the informants’ responses on 18- itemed questionnaire that was mainly designed to reflect on the students’ views over the main study objectives. As a result, the students’ responses were categorized into three dimensions that should eventually fulfill our study goals; interest in MT devices, efficiency of various MT devices, and the importance of MT application in the students’ education. The study results revealed the students high interested in MT deployment within their education as they motivate them to learn and provide them with wider learning opportunities, especially in the discipline of distance learning. Students have also perceived MT as more efficient. Older students tend to agree less. Efficiency of MT has further been pressed in the discipline of language learning.
Keywords: Efficiency, MALL, Mobile technology, Motivation, digital generation