Adoption of Mobile Learning Among Distance Education Students in Universiti Sains Malaysia

Abstract

This study was carried out in order to investigate whether mobile learning using Short Message Service (SMS) was a method of learning adopted by the students enrolled in the School of Distance Education, Universiti Sains Malaysia. As adult learners who are in vocation, time and isolation are the bane of self-study. Since all the students own a mobile device that can receive SMS, educational messages can be sent directly to their devices. This experimental study explored the impact of learner’s characteristic, learning design and learning environment to their adoptability. This study utilised two models of data analysis, the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) Version 12.0 and the Rasch model analysis for measurement. The analysis was conducted on a sample of 105 students based on gender, age, ethnicity, programme of study and mobile device ownership. The students were from four different courses which are Bachelors of Science, Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Social Science and Bachelor of Management. The questionnaire-answer session were administered by the respective course managers in their tutorial sessions during the annual residential intensive course in the main campus of the Universiti Sains Malaysia. The result indicated that mobile learning has helped them to pace their studies. By using mobile learning, learners easily get any information that they need at anytime anywhere. Learners would also like to take another mobile learning assisted course if the courses are relevant to their learning needs. Furthermore, the SMS educational content received through their hand phone are easily remembered

Investigating the Perception of Students Regarding M-Learning Concept in Egyptian Schools

“…Most of the students agreed on the fact that m-learning will encourage a sense of responsibility and independent learning thus increasing their confidence and make them more active and involved in creating knowledge. These results are in line with [Al-Fahad [21], 22,23]. In general, the study revealed the positive attitude towards the advantages of mlearning.…”

Mobile Learning in the Institution of Higher Learning for Malaysia students : Culture Perspectives

“…The existing challenges in mlearning from cultural perspectives covers in Malaysia: Lack of devices support for mlearning [22]; Inadequate of appropriate mlearning local culture content [32]; Lack of culture aspects in mlearning design content [3][8]; Lack of telecommunication wireless infrastructure in the rural areas [18] [19]. In addition, there are opportunities in mlearning from cultural perspectives in Malaysia: development for variety types of mlearning cultural content; support from government to create mlearning cultural content; students motivation and engagement with potential mlearning cultural content [3] [8].…”

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