How factors of personal attitudes and learning environments affect gender difference toward mobile learning acceptance

Abstract

Mobile technology for learning empowers the shift from traditionally pure instructor-centered classroom teaching to fully learner-centered educational settings. Although mobile learning (mlearning) accessing Internet resources anytime and anywhere and it may cause gender difference toward it; thus the issue of the relationship between gender perspectives and m-learning environments has been a controversial topic. Therefore, the main research objective of the research is to explore gender differences toward APP-based, m-learning environments. Subjects of the study were selected university students who had already used an APP-based, m-learning system for one month. A total of 159 valid questionnaires were collected and were split evenly between female and male Taiwan university students. The statistical analyses lead to significant conclusions. Both female and male learners have highly positive perceptions toward m-learning.Additionally, the proposed research model is an acceptable conceptual model for investigating female and male learner attitudes. Furthermore, factors of personal attitudes and learning environments affect gender difference toward m-learning acceptance.

Investigating Attitudes of Prospective Mathematics Teachers towards the Use of Mobile Learning at a Higher Learning Institution

“…An important finding of this study was that the mobile learning attitudes of the male students were higher than those of the female students, but the difference was not significant. This result agrees with those of other studies in the literature [36,39,63,62], while some other studies reported the opposite [4,33]. On the other hand, again in this study, it was found that the attitudes of male students towards the advantages, practicality and freedom sub-factors of the scale were higher than those towards the limitations sub-factor, but not significantly higher.…”

“…Difference in gender is an important factor that should be accounted for in mobile learning environments. In other words, it is rational to argue that male and female students have different perceptions towards mobile learning environments [39]. An important finding of this study was that the mobile learning attitudes of the male students were higher than those of the female students, but the difference was not significant.…”

“…On the other hand, the subject of the relationship between gender differences and mobile learning has been an important matter within the discussion on educational technology in higher education campuses. In a broader context, gender is considered a principle, to clarify the inequalities and identities in our society [39]. It is stated that gender differences in the learners' perceptions toward educational technology should be considered in developing, delivering, and applying educational technology [30].…”

“…It is stated that gender differences in the learners' perceptions toward educational technology should be considered in developing, delivering, and applying educational technology [30]. In the background of computer technologies, the literature recognizes that gender is an element for understanding the differences in user perceptions and attitudes toward technology adoption; especially for learning purposes [39]. For this reason, understanding how gender differences effect the learning adoption is a serious matter on a mobile learning attitude.…”

Perspectives of Students on Acceptance of Tablets and Self-directed Learning with Technology

“…However, this problem can be overcome with user-friendly interfaces which require less effort (Hur et al, 2014). It has been suggested that in the acceptance of applicationbased mobile learning, there is no meaningful difference in terms of gender (Liaw & Huang, 2015). In another study, it was stated that gender affects the intention to use and accept mobile technology for learning (Wang, Wu, & Wang, 2009).…”