Investigating Students’ Self-Efficacy and Attitudes Towards the Use of Mobile Learning

Abstract

Nowadays, mobile learning (m-learning) presents new and powerful opportunities for effective teaching and learning. Two significant factors that serve in understanding if students accept m-learning technology are self-efficacy and attitudes towards m-learning usage. For this purpose, the present study investigated vocational college students’ self-efficacy and attitudes towards the use of m-learning. The study also examined how some core factors, including gender, prior mobile learning experience and academic major have played a role in students’ self-efficacy and attitudes towards using m-learning. Researcher used two surveys that was completed by a sample of students at the Erzurum Vocational School, Ataturk University. The first scale, Computer Self-Efficacy Measure (CEM), was adapted Compeau and Higgins (1995) modified specifically in regards to mobile learning context. The second scale, m-learning attitudes scale, was adapted Al-Emran, Elsherif, and Shaalan (2015). The results revealed that students’ level of self-efficacy, in general, had moderate and the majority of students had positive attitudes towards using m-learning. Statistically significant differences in students’ self-efficacy towards m-learning based on prior mobile learning experience and academic majör were found. Gender differences existed only in the students’ attitudes, with the male students having more positive perspectives towards m-learning usage than the female students.

Keywords: mobile learning, self-efficacy, attitudes, vocational school