The effect of students' subject discipline on their m-learning application preferences

• Published in: Interactive learning environments Vol. 24; no. 8; pp. 1957 - 1966
• Main Authors: Delialioğlu, Ömer, Alioon, Yasaman
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Abingdon Routledge 16.11.2016; Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subjects: Cooperation; Difficulty Level; Educational Technology; Electronic Learning; Foreign Countries; Handheld Devices; Intellectual Disciplines; Interviews; m-learning applications; Mixed Methods Research; mobile-learning; Preferences; Questionnaires; Readiness; Research Design; Skill Development; Statistical Analysis; Student Attitudes; students' experiences in m-learning; students' readiness for m-learning; Technological Literacy; Technology Uses in Education; Telecommunications; Undergraduate Students; Universities; universities' readiness for m-learning; Iran
• ISSN: 1049-4820; 1744-5191
• DOI: 10.1080/10494820.2015.1070273

The effect of students' subject discipline on their preferences toward m-learning applications was investigated by using a mixed-method research design. A questionnaire on students' preferences of m-learning application features was used to collect data from 181 undergraduate students. One-way analysis of variance found a significant difference among perceptions of students from different subject disciplines related to the "collaboration" and "learning" features. Follow-up interviews were carried out to further investigate students' perceptions. Content analysis revealed that "availability" and "ease of use" were the most preferred features, and "collaboration" and "entertaining" were the least preferred ones. Interview results related to universities' readiness for m-learning were categorized into (i) universities' infrastructures, (ii) instructors' skills and (iii) students' skills for m-learning. Students indicated their universities' infrastructures as "moderately ready" for m-learning. They ranked their instructors' skills as "low". However, students assessed their own skills as "moderate" for utilizing m-learning in their respective universities.