The students’ acceptance and use of their university’s virtual learning environment

The proliferation of digital and mobile devices, including; smartphones and tablets has led policy makers and practitioners to include these ubiquitous technologies in the realms of education. A thorough review of the relevant literature suggests that both students as well as their course instructors are becoming increasingly acquainted with the adoption of education technologies in the higher educational context. Hence, this study explores the university students’ readiness to engage with the virtual learning environment (VLE). The methodology has integrated measuring items that were drawn from the educational technology literature, including the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology, to better understand the students’ perceptions towards VLE. It investigated whether they were influenced by their instructors or by fellow students to use VLE. The results suggest that most of the research participants were using this technology as they believed that it supported them in their learning outcomes. The findings also revealed that the students were not coerced by their course instructors or by other individuals to engage with VLE. Moreover, the university’s facilitating conditions had a significant effect on the participants’ usage of VLE. In conclusion, this contribution puts forward key implications to practitioners. It also clarifies the limitations of this study and proposes future research directions.peer-reviewe

TURKISH ADAPTATION OF MOBILE LEARNING READINESS SCALE IN THE FRAMEWORK OF THEORY OF PLANNED BEHAVIOR

The aim of the study is to conduct validity-reliability study of mobile learning readiness scale (MLRS) developed by Cheon, Lee, Crooks and Song (2012) in the framework of theory of planned behavior by adapting to Turkish. The participants of the study are 344 pre-service science teachers educating at two different faculties of education (Nevşehir Hacı Bektas Veli University and Kırşehir Ahi Evran University) in the spring semester of 2018-2019 in Turkey. The construct validity of the scale adapted to Turkish was carried out via Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) method. Reliability of the scale was tested by computing Cronbach’s alpha (α) as internal consistency levels. It was found that the level of internal consistency value was .93 and sub-factors of MLRS were in good level. In conclusion, Turkish version of the MLRS in the framework of theory of planned behavior consists of four main factors including attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control and intention and three external beliefs including Attitudinal Beliefs (Perceived Ease of Use, Perceived Usefulness), Normative beliefs (Instructor Readiness, Student Readiness) and Control beliefs (Perceived Self-efficacy, Learning Autonomy) as in the original model

Factors influencing students' acceptance of m-learning: An investigation in higher education

M-learning will play an increasingly significant role in the development of teaching and learning methods for higher education. However, the successful implementation of m-learning in higher education will be based on users' acceptance of this technology. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to study the factors that affect university students' intentions to accept m-learning. Based on the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) (Venkatesh et al., 2003), this study proposes a model to identify the factors that influence the acceptance of m-learning in higher education and to investigate if prior experience of mobile devices affects the acceptance of m-learning. A structural equation model was used to analyse the data collected from 174 participants. The results indicate that performance expectancy, effort expectancy, influence of lecturers, quality of service, and personal innovativeness were all significant factors that affect behavioural intention to use m-learning. Prior experience of mobile devices was also found to moderate the effect of these constructs on behavioural intention. The results of this research extend the UTAUT in the context of m-learning acceptance by adding quality of service and personal innovativeness to the structure of UTAUT and provide practitioners and educators with useful guidelines for designing a successful m-learning system

Towards a Holistic Approach to Designing Theory-based Mobile Health Interventions

Increasing evidence has shown that theory-based health behavior change interventions are more effective than non-theory-based ones. However, only a few segments of relevant studies were theory-based, especially the studies conducted by non-psychology researchers. On the other hand, many mobile health interventions, even those based on the behavioral theories, may still fail in the absence of a user-centered design process. The gap between behavioral theories and user-centered design increases the difficulty of designing and implementing mobile health interventions. To bridge this gap, we propose a holistic approach to designing theory-based mobile health interventions built on the existing theories and frameworks of three categories: (1) behavioral theories (e.g., the Social Cognitive Theory, the Theory of Planned Behavior, and the Health Action Process Approach), (2) the technological models and frameworks (e.g., the Behavior Change Techniques, the Persuasive System Design and Behavior Change Support System, and the Just-in-Time Adaptive Interventions), and (3) the user-centered systematic approaches (e.g., the CeHRes Roadmap, the Wendel's Approach, and the IDEAS Model). This holistic approach provides researchers a lens to see the whole picture for developing mobile health interventions

The acceptance and use of mobile learning applications in higher education

Many individuals are increasingly using ubiquitous technologies, including interactive applications (apps) that are widely available on our mobile devices, including the smart phones and tablets. Therefore, in the last few years, educators and policy makers have introduced mobile learning (m-learning) technologies in order to support their students during their learning journey. A thorough literature review suggests that there are several contributions in academia that have investigated the students’ acceptance and use of technology, in different contexts. In this light, this research has integrated valid and reliable measures from the Technology Acceptance Model and the Theory of Planned Behavior to better understand the university students’ readiness to engage with mobile technologies for educational purposes. Specifically, this study explores the perceived usefulness and ease of use of m-learning technologies. Moreover, it investigated whether the research participants were influenced by their friends, acquaintances and educators to engage with these technologies and / or by the facilitating conditions at their university. The findings revealed that students held positive attitudes toward the m-learning technologies as they perceived them as useful and easy to use. Moreover, the university’s facilitating conditions had a significant effect on the students’ usage of these technologies. This study also reported that the students’ social influences did not have an effect on their intention to use these devices.peer-reviewe

The students’ readiness to engage with mobile learning apps

Purpose: A relevant literature review suggests that today’s children are increasingly immersing themselves in ubiquitous technologies, including interactive media and digital games. Therefore, this research investigates the primary school students’ intrinsic and extrinsic motivations toward learning via gameplay through their mobile devices, at home, and at school. Design: This study was carried out among primary school students in a small European state. It used valid and reliable measures, that comprised the technology acceptance model’s key constructs. However, the empirical investigation also explored the students’ perceived enjoyment and social influences, as plausible antecedents for their behavioral intention to engage with the educational applications (apps). Findings: The findings reported that there were strong correlations between the students’ perceived usefulness of the mobile technologies and their behavioral intention to use them for their learning. The results also indicated that there was no significant relationship between the perceived ease of use and the children’s enjoyment in engaging with the educational apps that were used at school. Originality: To the best of our knowledge, there is no other study in academia that has explored the children’s technology acceptance, normative pressures and their intrinsic motivations to use mobile learning technologies in the context of primary education. Therefore, this contribution opens future research directions, as this study can be replicated in other contexts.peer-reviewe

Assessing regional digital competence: Digital futures and strategic planning implications

Understanding strategic decisions aimed at addressing regional economic issues is of increasing interest among scholars and policy makers today. Thus, studies that proffer effective strategies to address digital futures concerns from social and policy perspectives are timely. In light of this, this research uses strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) analysis tool to frame a regional strategy for digital futures to enhance place-specific digital connectivity and socio-economic progress. Focus group discussions and a structured questionnaire were conducted to examine a SWOT for a digital economy strategy in the Southern Downs Region in Queensland, Australia. The findings show that while the proposed regional strategies for digital futures are susceptible to internal and external forces, strategic planning makes them manageable. The study’s findings also reveal that adaptive strategic planning can help regulate the effects of internal and external factors that shape individual and organisational responses to digital transformation, and that these factors promote regional competitiveness

Using design-based research to develop a Mobile Learning Framework for Assessment Feedback

Students’ lack of engagement with their assessment feedback and the lack of dialogue and communication for feedback are some of the issues that affect educational institutions. Despite the affordance that mobile technologies could bring in terms of assessment feedback, research in this area is scarce. The main obstacle for research on mobile learning assessment feedback is the lack of a cohesive and unified mobile learning framework. This paper thus presents a Mobile Learning Framework for Assessment Feedback (MLFAF), developed using a design-based research approach. The framework emerged from the observation of, and reflection upon, the different stages of a research project that investigated the use of a mobile web application for summative and formative assessment feedback. MLFAF can be used as a foundation to study the requirements when developing and implementing wide-scale mobile learning initiatives that underpin longitudinal practices, as opposed to short-term practices. The paper also provides design considerations and implementation guidelines for the use of mobile technology in assessment feedback to increase student engagement and foster dialogic feedback communication channels