Social Impact of Mobile Learning Tablets on Education and Sustainable Development: Evidence From a Private Nigerian Tertiary Institution

Abstract

The advent of Information and Computer Technology (ICT) has suddenly turned the world into a global village. One of the ICT gadgets that appeared to be instrumental to the growing global socialization is mobile learning tablet. This study focused on ascertaining the social impact of mobile tablets on education and sustainable development. Recently, a private university in Nigeria with a population of over 8000 distributed Samsung tablet to all students. Using the clustered sampling technique, 220 students participated in the survey study. Simple descriptive statistics and t-test statistics were used in data analysis. The findings were: Out of the five most preferred websites indicated by respondents, the fairly academically inclined website visited by the respondents was Google (87.9%); 81.4% of the respondents were either always or sometimes using the mobile learning tablets for social networking; 48.2% of the respondents used the mobile tablets for chatting sometimes or always. 47.3% of the respondents reported that the mobile tablet had more negative social impact on them.; 58.3% of the respondents concurred they were predominantly using the mobile learning tablet for non-academic purposes; gender factor tended not to have a significant effect on the use of mobile tablets [t=-.825; p=.411]. Hours of usage had a significant social impact amongst the undergraduate students [t=-11.9; p=.000]. Those who used the mobile learning tablet more frequently tend to experience more negative social impact. Based on the findings, it was recommended that management of educational institutions need to exert more control on the use of mobile learning devices to experience more sustainable development-oriented social impact in the system.

Unconventional Approach for Prevention of Environmental and Related Social Risks: A Geoethic Mission

“…Territorial and environmental problems demand, now more than ever, and particularly in our country, where the situation is dramatic, the constant presence of the geologist in all social, cultural, economic and territorial contexts. Following the philosophy of the project, one can compare the geologist to the medical doctor [65], that is, we must leave the offices, laboratories, and teaching halls and go and talk to the people [66,67].…”

Uso de la tableta en el ámbito educativo

“…Este problema también es resaltado por los docentes y los padres de familia, a quienes les preocupa el entorpecimiento del proceso de enseñanza-aprendizaje por el uso incorrecto de estas herramientas. Para que el potencial de las tabletas se realice plenamente, los estudiantes interesados deben ejercer más autocontrol y disciplina para evitar perder tiempo realizando actividades que no estén relacionadas con los objetivos de la clase, del mismo modo, la administración escolar y los padres deben desarrollar dispositivos de control más automatizados para evitar que los jóvenes hagan uso desmesurado de esta herramienta (Odukoya, Ebenezer, y Okunlola, 2017).…”

Research Trend in the Practice of Differentiated Instruction

“…Although, the works of (Odukoya et al, 2017a;Odukoya et al, 2017b) have shown positive impacts of mobile phone and tablets among students, as it could enable students to easily communicate with their parents, friends and relations outside the university but the policy does not prevent students" access to mobile phone; it only provides opportunities to make calls in designated call centres on campus. Apart from that, the policy permits each student to own a tablet which can be used for effective communication through the WhatsApp application.…”