Students' perceptions of using mobile technology in higher education

Abstract

This study explored the perceptions of university students in the educational use of mobile technology. International degree and exchange students from the University of Lapland, Finland, were the main focus. Research questions were: 1. What is the rate of educational use of mobile technology by higher education students? 2. What is the rate of mobile technology use in promoting university students’ learning? and 3. What is the amount of hindrance in the educational use of mobile technology by university students? The study described the Teaching and Meaningful Learning (TML) and the Enhanced Teaching and Meaningful e-Learning (ETMeL) models based on Ausubel’s Theory of Cognitive Learning which explains the importance of meaningful learning process as being dependent on the abilities of learners to relate new concepts and propositions to what they already know. The models and the theory were used to investigate the research questions. In the study, I attempt to do an analysis of a survey done with the international degree and exchange students on the use of mobile technology (i.e., smartphone, laptop and tablet computers). This is to find out how the models have provided awareness into how mobile technology can be utilized in a pedagogically meaningful way in teaching, studying, and learning processes and to reflect on how some of these popular practices could be supported to enhance learning among the student community. Based on 120 survey responses, numeric data was used to gather all the relevant variables where the results of the study were analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively. In the final results, it was observed that the use of mobile technology for learning purposes has been widely adopted by students. Ownership and access to mobile computing devices was high among the respondents and through various synchronous and asynchronous online platforms, learning among students has been promoted. The study therefore concludes that the use of mobile technology has improved pedagogical possibilities among higher education students.