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USE OF ELECTRONIC MOBILE DEVICES IN TEACHING AND LEARNING IN HIGHER EDUCATION IN KENYA:
AN EMERGING PEDAGOGY
Anne A. Aseey1, Julius Mwakondo Mwabora2
1Senior Lecturer, Department of EducationalStudies, University of Nairobi, P. O. Box 30197
00100, Nairobi, Kenya.Tel. +2547212020685,Email:
[email protected](corresponding author)2 Professor of Solid State Physics and Chairman, Department of Physics, University of Nairobi, P. O. Box 30197-00100, Nairobi,
Kenya Tel.+254 722709507,Email:[email protected]
Introduction Worldwide, the process of teaching and learning has been an avenue for early adopters and adapters of innovations in technology. Carroll &Fiona(2011)noted that, as more and more new technologies are emerging in our everyday lives, they are not only influencing us in what they can do for us ,or even what they can enable us to do, but they are also affecting our lives and activities we perform substantially.
The mobile devices which comes in all shapes and designs and are capable of performing various roles in our lives have also affected our education system. Mobile learning has been used by researchers to refer to all forms of computer technology like laptops, tablets, cell phones which in education, can be embedded in the teaching /learning process. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the use of electronic mobile devices among undergraduate and postgraduate students at the University of Nairobi, Kenya
UNESCO (2009) stated that, a growing number of projects have shown that mobile technologies provide an excellent medium for extending educational opportunities to learners who may not have access to high-quality schooling. In the classroom, mobile learning is offering a personalized approach to learning and teaching in dwindling economies.
In Africa, use of technology in education is a key component and major concern to many governments and education stakeholders. Countries like Kenya, has had a high penetration of mobile devices with the mobile phones penetration reaching 67% majority being smart phones. In America, Smartphone adoption among teens has increased substantially and mobile access to the internet is pervasive. One in four teens are “cell-mostly” internet users, who say they mostly go online using their phone and not using some other device such as a desktop or laptop computer. Ferster 2014 acknowledged that,“Teaching machines can be only as effective as the
pedagogical methods they employ…and how they stay focused on the learner”.
MethodologyUsing a survey method, the study mainly targeted ongoing postgraduate and undergraduate students at various levels of their study. It focused on the student’s use of electronic mobile devices for academic and social purposes. A total of 197 students both male and female aged between 18-50 years were involved in the study. They were asked several questions using closed and open ended questionnaires relating to ;ownership of mobile devices, how they use them for academic and social purposes, challenges they face in using the devices,
whether the devices can improve their learning, the type, internet access among other variables. The open and close ended survey questions were coded using a thematic analysis based on the variable being investigated and also, responses were all tabulated using frequency counts. The questionnaire return rate realized was 99.8%.Theoretical BackgroundThe study is grounded on expectation-disconfirmation theory (EDT), Bhattacherjee, Perols, and Sanford (2008) proposed the information technology (IT) continuance model to explain individuals’ intention to continue using information and communication technology.
In EDT, intention to continue using a product is influenced by prior satisfaction. Users, degree of satisfaction or dissatisfaction are the consequence of the following four processes. First, users have certain expectations about the product. Second, users have exposure to the product (i.e., they try, consume, or use the product), and thus compare the experience of using the product with their initial expectation.
Third, users determine whether the product is better or worse than expected by confirming or disconfirming the use of the product. Users expectations are confirmed when the product meets the expected standard or disconfirmed when the product fails to meet expected standards. Fourth, users make a satisfaction or dissatisfaction judgment based on discrepancies between the expected product attributes and the experience of the product
RESULTS
Mobile use in higher education Table 1.Elecronic devices and their use among the respondentsOne of the major findings of the study was the multiple roles of the electronic mobile devices among respondents. This gives technology a cutting age in higher education.
Courses Popular mobile devices for academic purposes
Common use of mobile devices Popular social network sites for social and academic purposes
Diploma in Human Resource Management
Mobile phone/Smartphone
Tablet/Laptop
Browsing, texting, taking pictures, Social network ,course work and research project work, job search
Bachelor of Computer Science Smartphone
Tablet/Laptop/IPod
browsing, texting , social network, class presentation, course work research, computer and video games, web development, blogging and podcast, web mashups
Instagram, linkeldn,
WhatsApp, Youtube, tumbir, google scholar
Bachelor of Physical Sciences(micro pressing technology, physics, Astronomy and Astrophysics &Geology)
Smartphone
Tablet/Laptop/Ipad
browsing, texting , social network, class presentation, course work research, computer and videogames, blogging and podcast, web mashups
Twitter.instagram
WhatsApp, Youtube
Master of Arts(Project Planning and Management)
Mobile /Smartphone/ipad/
tablet and laptop
browsing, texting, social network, class presentation, talking pictures, course work and research project work, job search
Facebook,Hi5
WhatsApp, Youtube
Master of Science(Actuarial Science and Physical Sciences)
Mobile /Smartphone and laptop browsing, texting, social network, class presentation, course work and research project work, access electronic materials, job search
Twitter, instagram, google
Scholar, WhatsApp, Youtube
The other major was that, all the respondents had mobile phones with over 80% having Smartphones which could connect to the internet directly hence enabling them to perform various activities online and offline. This justifies the faster penetration of mobile phones in Africa with Kenya being one of the highest consumers as reported in PEW Research Centre 2012 that texting is most common among cell phone owners in Indonesia (96%), Kenya (89%), and Lebanon (87%), with eight-in-ten or more in Poland, Mexico, Japan and China.
The respondents (89%), agreed that they have social networks sites (SNS) accounts which they use for both social and academic purposes. For social purposes, a part from motivating and engaging the learners, the sites also helps them to be socially aware of their environments, the family and other current issues as learners and community of citizens.
According to Abdulraheem(2013),educational practitioners and theorists are exploring how social media can be harnessed to describe and implement new paradigms for communication, learning and education while Mcarthy(2010) stated that, effectively, engaging students requires not only understanding their attitudes towards academic life, but also understanding their social life. In this study, 99% of the respondents agreed that they have email addresses which the check either daily, weekly or on a fortnight basis. The respondents also agreed that they communicate to their lecturers online once in a while but not frequently as to their peers.
90% of the respondents agreed that electronic mobile devices are shaping higher education sector in Kenya as it exposes and enables them to link to other networks through back links and others for academic purposes. For example, the blogs, chatrooms and discussion platforms which were popular among the science based respondents are a good way of learners being exposed to various facets of learning which sharpens their skills, knowledge acquisition, retention and synthesis.
Access to internet which allows them access relevant information, meet friends and peers online acquire knowledge and interact nationally and internationally anytime and anywhere them was popular among the respondents. Challenges in using mobile devices cost in use, purchase and adoption of electronic mobile device was a challenge to many of the respondents.
• The structure of the timetable in most courses does not give students ample time to use their electronic mobile devices while in class unless they are doing presentation.
• 88%of the respondents indicated that there is information overload on the social network sites that they visit hence interference with what they intend to do academically.
• The respondents also indicated that there is a conflict of interest between academic and social sites. 60% of the respondents agreed that, at times they end up logging in to social network sites instead of academic sites.
• Online hackers and cyber security issues were also some of the challenges the respondents noted.
• Balancing of time for academic and social life was a challenge as 50% of the respondents noted that SNS can compromise academic time.
DiscussionElectronic Mobile devices ranging from Smartphones to, ipads, laptop and others are gaining popularity in all sectors of the economy education included. With this rising demand and popularity, the education sector is set to gain by using these technologies especially with the emergence of Web 2.0 technologies and social media (Dron & Anderson, 2009; Conole, 2010; Weller, 2010; Kop 2011).
The study indicated that, some of the lecturers still do not interact freely and consistently with their students on mobile devices or online. This is in line with a study by Corpola et al.,(2002) that noted that, for lecturers who participated online in newly introduced course in one of the universities in the US in early years, they could be regarded as persuaded ‘volunteers’ at best and as ‘coerced conscripts’. This is major challenge to effective use of technology in education and especially mobile devices.
ConclusionThe focus of this study was on the use of electronic mobile devices for learning and teaching purposes. First, the study looked at the variety of mobile device the students use for academic purposes in an academic year since the study was done in one year period. Second, by using the expectation-disconfirmation theory (EDT) of Bhattacherjee, Perols and Sanford(2008),
The study aimed at gaining insight into university students’ continuous use of mobile devices and discontinued use if it does not serve the purpose it is intended for. The study contributes to the body of knowledge in current researches examining the benefits and challenges in using Technologies in the teaching learning process in higher education.In summary, the general findings revealed that, when university students possess any mobile device , they use it for both social and academic purposes which according to various researches have proved workable.
For future researchers, it would be recommendable to capture tutors/lecturers use of mobile devices in the teaching and learning process and the experiences and challenges they face. And also, to gain more insight into why students differ in their adoption and adaptation of various mobile devices, future studies should investigate which student variables influence students ‘selection of a particular mobile device for academic usage.
ReferencesAbdelraheem,Ahmeded Yousif .University students’ use of social network sites and their relation with some variables.WEI International Conference Proceedings. January 14-14, 2013, Antalya, TurkeyBhattacherjee, A., Perols, J., & Sanford, C. (2008). Information technology continuance: A theoretic extension and empirical test. Journal of Computer Information Systems, 49(1), 17_26. Carrol Fiona and Rita Ropt (2011).A learning ,Research and Development Framework to Design for a ‘ Holistic’ Learning Experience E-learning and Digital Media, Volume 8 Number 4 2011 www.wwwords.co.uk/ELEA.retrieved 23/12/2013 ttp://dx.doi.org/10.2304/elea.2011.8.315Coppola N.W., Hiltz, S, R. & Rotter,N, G.(2002) Becoming a Virtual professor: Pedagogical ROLES AND Asynchronous Learning Networks. Journal of Management Information Systems/Spring 2002, Vol.18.No.4, pp169-189Dron,J.& Anderson,T.(2009).Lost in Social Space; Information retrieval issues in Web 1.5,Journal of DigitalInformation,10(2).http://journals.tdl.org/Jodi/article/view/159/151.Retrived 27th May 2010
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