Modeling Students’ Readiness to Adopt Mobile Learning in Higher Education: An Empirical Study

Abstract

Mobile devices are increasingly coming to penetrate people's daily lives. Mobile learning (m-learning) is viewed as key to the coming era of electronic learning (e-learning). In the meantime, the use of mobile devices for learning has made a significant contribution to delivering education among higher education students worldwide. However, while m-learning is being widely adopted in developed countries, the adoption of such an approach in developing countries is still immature and underdeveloped. Developing countries are facing several challenges and lagging behind in terms of adopting m-learning in higher education. Thus, this paper explores the factors that have an impact on students’ intentions and readiness to adopt m-learning in higher education in Jordan. Based on the data collected from the field, we examine Jordanian students' requirements and preferences in terms of m-learning design, and we also investigate their concerns about adopting m-learning. This empirical study collected data from students using a paper-based questionnaire. The results reveal that students' intentions to adopt m-learning is influenced by several factors that include the relative advantage, complexity, social influence, perceived enjoyment, and the self-management of learning. By providing a picture of students' willingness to adopt m-learning, this study offers useful and beneficial implications for developers of m-learning applications and for educational providers to guide the design and implementation of comprehensive m-learning systems.

Keywords

• mobile learning
• m-learning adoption
• e-learning
• technology acceptance
• perceived enjoyment
• self-management of learning