ASSESSMENT OF MOBILE LEARNING ACTIVITIES AMONG POST GRADUATE STUDENTS

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ASSESSMENT OF MOBILE LEARNING ACTIVITIES

AMONG POST GRADUATE STUDENTS

K.Thiyagu,

Assistant Professor,

Tamilnadu. India.

[email protected],

[email protected]

ABSTRACT

Today the more and more rapid development of the ICT contributes to the

increasing abilities of the mobile devices (cell phones, smart phones, PDAs, laptops)

and wireless communications, which are the main parts of the mobile learning. On the

other hand for the implementation of mobile learning it is necessary to use a

corresponding system for the management of such type of education. Mobile learning

through the use of wireless mobile technology allows anyone to access information and

learning materials from anywhere and at anytime. As a result, learners have control of

when they want to learn and from which location they want to learn. The main aim of

the study is to assess the mobile learning activities among post graduate students in

Viruudhunagar district. Survey method is employed for this study. The investigator

has chosen 200 post graduate students for the study. Finally the investigator concludes;

(a) There is no significant difference in mobile learning activities among the

postgraduate students with respect to their course in terms (b) There is no significant

difference in mobile learning activities among the postgraduate students with respect to

their Father’s Educational Qualifications. Etc.,

Key words: assessment, mobile learning, activities, PG students

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INTRODUCTION

Mobile phones are a part of the daily culture of almost every student and

teacher. They introduce new types of communication styles that remove spatial and

temporal complexities. Handheld devices can improve classroom dynamics owing to

their computation and communication capabilities, which augment face-to-face

interactions and can support collaborative learning scenarios. M-learning is a natural

extension to conventional e-learning practice through which mobile technology allows

a greater degree of access to learning resources. Currently, most e-learning experiences

are based on learners accessing resources through fixed nodes such as desktop PCs, to

which access is generally restricted by either location, time of day or both. Mobile

learning is defined as “the provision of education and training on mobile devices:

Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), palmtops and handhelds and on smart phones and

mobile phones.” Actually now a days most of them having negative attitude towards

using mobile phone. But in a mobile devices having a lot of facilities to improve of our

knowledge and skills. So the investigator can select the topic “Assessment of Mobile

Learning Activities among Post Graduate Students in Virudhunagar District”

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

1. To find out whether there is any significant difference in the mean scores of

mobile learning activities among the postgraduate students with respect to their

gender, course of study, year of studying, residence of home and locality of the

institution.

2. To find out where there is any significant difference in the mean scores of

mobile learning activities among the postgraduate students with respect to their

Father’s educational qualification.

HYPOTHESES OF THE STUDY

The hypotheses of the present study a formulated as follows:

1. There is no significant difference in the mean scores of mobile learning

activities among the postgraduate students with respect to their gender, course

of study, year of studying, residence of home and locality of the institution.

2. There is no significant difference in the mean scores of mobile learning

activities among the postgraduate students with respect to their Father’s

educational qualification.

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METHOD ADOPTED IN THE PRESENT STUDY

In the present study, the investigator has employed the ‘survey method’.

Survey method is a method for collecting and analyzing data, obtained from large

number of respondents representing a specific population collected through highly

structured and detailed questionnaire or other techniques. This method is useful for

developmental studies where the current problems are described, as at present.

SELECTION AND CONSTRUCTION OF THE TOOL

As there is no suitable tool available for the present study, the investigator has

constructed and validated a scale to measure M-Learning Activities of post graduate

students’. In order to achieve the objectives of the study, the investigators used a self-

prepared questionnaire (MLA –KT = Mobile Learning Activities – K.Thiyagu). The

investigator referred various books and journals to have clarity of concept and in

addition to their information’s he consulted some subject experts about the content for

the development of the tool. Finally the investigator has decided and selected only

seven importance dimensions related m-learning activities, the dimensions are as

follows: Messaging, Contacts, Organizer, Settings, Gallery, Mobile Internet and

Mobile Applications.

Under the seven dimensions, there were 90 items in the m-learning activities.

Some items were boring complex and the investigator wanted to simplify the language

and content. So the investigator has given the items to the experts. Through their

guidance and advices, the investigator has modified certain items and finalized the

scale, based on the experts’ opinions. The final draft of the tool consisted of 75 items.

Each skill is arranged in to form of a rating scale and the respondents are expected to

circle their level of confidence along a scale of 1-5 for each of the Mobile Phone

activities. The Mobile Phone Activities Questionnaire was arranged in two parts, part-

A dealing with General Mobile learning activities and part-B dealing with the

application of Mobile phone for teaching and Learning. The detail dimensions of the

mobile learning activities scale are as follows:

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Table – 1

Description of dimension of mobile learning activities scale

Part S.No Dimensions Number of Questions

Part A

1 Messaging 6 Questions

2 Contacts 7 Questions

3 Organizer 7 Questions

4 Settings 10 Questions

5 Gallery 7 Questions

6 Mobile internet 7 Questions

Part B 7 Mobile Applications 20 Questions

RELIABILITY AND VALIDITY OF THE TOOL

To find out the reliability of the tool, test and retest method was used. The

reliability of the test has been calculated by using Pearson’s product-moment

correlation coefficient formula. The value obtained was 0.87. In this investigation the

tool was submitted to the panel of experts. They scrutinized the developed tool and

their suggestions were incorporated. Thus the validity of the tool is established by using

content validity.

POPULATION AND SAMPLE OF THE STUDY

In this study, all the students studying in Post Graduate at various colleges

irrespective of the nature of management and other criteria but located in Virudhunagar

District, Tamil Nadu have been taken as the population for the study. A good sample

must be representative of the entire population for this study, 230 samples has been

collected using random sampling technique.

STATISTICAL TECHNIQUES USED

Statistical techniques serve the fundamental purpose of the descriptive and

inferential analysis. (Aggarwal, 1986) The following statistical techniques were used

in the present study,

Mean (M),

Standard Deviations (S.D),

‘t’ test and

ANOVA.

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HYPOTHESES TESTING

Null Hypothesis – 1:

There is no significant difference in the mean scores of mobile learning

activities among the postgraduate students with respect to their gender, course of study,

year of studying, residence of home and locality of the institution.

Table- 2

Difference between the mean scores of PG Students in their

Mobile learning activities with respect to gender.

Dimensions

Category

‘t’

value

Remarks

at 5%

level

Male

(N = 82)

Female

(N = 148)

Mean SD Mean SD

Messaging 22.90 5.29 18.27 5.06 6.54 S

Contacts 3 2 . 2 0 4 . 9 9 2 9 . 9 3 6 . 2 3 2.80 S

Organizer 3 0 . 1 0 6 . 2 3 2 6 . 6 1 7 . 0 3.77 S

Settings 4 3 . 8 2 7 . 6 3 3 8 . 6 6 8 . 8 2 4.46 S

Gallery 3 1 . 1 2 5 . 9 1 2 8 . 4 4 7 . 1 1 2.90 S

Mobile internet 2 1 . 6 8 9 . 9 8 1 5 . 9 0 8 . 8 4 4.53 S

Mobile application 5 3 . 5 2 2 1 . 9 2 4 9 . 0 9 2 3 . 4 4 1.41 NS

Total 2 3 5 . 3 8 4 4 . 1 6 2 0 6 . 5 9 5 0 . 7 3 4.31 S

(At 5% level of significance, the table value of ‘t’ is 1.96)

Table - 3

Difference between the mean scores of PG Students in their

Mobile learning activities with respect to their course of study.

Dimensions

Category

‘t’

value

Remarks

at 5%

level

MA

(N = 45)

M.SC

(N = 185)

Mean SD Mean SD

Messaging 19.82 6.62 19.95 5.34 0.13 NS

Contacts 2 9 . 8 7 7 . 8 4 3 0 . 9 6 5 . 4 3 1.10 NS

Organizer 2 7 . 0 7 7 . 1 8 2 8 . 0 5 6 . 8 8 0.86 NS

Settings 3 9 . 9 6 1 0 . 6 7 4 0 . 6 3 8 . 2 6 0.46 NS

Gallery 2 9 . 5 1 7 . 1 4 2 9 . 3 7 6 . 7 5 0.12 NS

Mobile internet 1 9 . 5 6 1 0 . 1 8 1 7 . 5 8 9 . 5 1 1.23 NS

Mobile application 4 8 . 2 4 2 1 . 9 0 4 8 . 8 3 2 2 . 8 9 1.20 NS

Total 2 2 4 . 0 2 5 8 . 7 8 2 1 5 . 1 1 4 8 . 0 6 1.07 NS

(At 5% level of significance, the table value of ‘t’ is 1.96)

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Table - 4

Difference between the mean scores of P.G. students in their mobile learning

activities with respect to year of studying.

Dimensions

Category

‘t’

value

Remarks

at 5%

level

First

(N = 132)

Second

(N = 98)

Mean SD Mean SD

Messaging 19.13 5.49 20.99 5.59 2.52 S

Contacts 3 0 . 0 9 6 . 2 9 3 1 . 6 3 5 . 4 1 1.94 N S

Organizer 2 6 . 8 7 6 . 9 7 2 9 . 1 9 6 . 6 8 2.54 S

Settings 3 9 . 6 4 8 . 3 1 4 1 . 6 5 9 . 2 6 1.72 N S

Gallery 2 8 . 8 0 6 . 5 6 3 0 . 2 0 7 . 1 0 1.54 N S

Mobile internet 1 6 . 2 0 9 . 0 5 2 0 . 3 5 9 . 9 7 3.29 S

Mobile application 4 8 . 5 8 2 5 . 5 5 5 3 . 4 8 1 8 . 7 2 1.60 N S

Total 2 0 8 . 9 5 4 9 . 7 0 2 2 7 . 5 0 4 9 . 4 2 2.81 S

(At 5% level of significance, the table value of ‘t’ is 1.96)

Table - 5

Difference between the mean scores of P.G. students in their mobile learning

activities with respect to residence of the home

Dimensions

Category

‘t’

value

Remarks

at 5%

level

Rural

(N = 139)

Urban

(N = 91)

Mean SD Mean SD

Messaging 19.63 5.08 20.37 6.30 0.99 NS

Contacts 3 0 . 8 3 5 . 4 3 3 0 . 6 2 6 . 7 4 0.27 NS

Organizer 2 7 . 9 4 6 . 6 6 2 7 . 7 5 7 . 3 7 0.20 NS

Settings 4 0 . 6 6 8 . 6 1 4 0 . 2 5 9 . 0 3 0.35 NS

Gallery 2 9 . 1 2 6 . 6 3 2 9 . 8 2 7 . 1 0 0.76 NS

Mobile internet 1 8 . 0 3 9 . 5 5 1 7 . 8 7 9 . 8 6 0.12 NS

Mobile application 4 8 . 2 9 2 1 . 4 8 5 4 . 3 0 2 4 . 7 2 1.95 NS

Total 2 1 4 . 1 5 4 8 . 8 5 2 2 0 . 9 8 5 2 . 5 0 1.01 NS

(At 5% level of significance, the table value of ‘t’ is 1.96)

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Table - 6

Difference between the mean scores of P.G. students in their mobile learning

activities with respect to their locality of the institution

Dimensions

Category

‘t’

value

Remarks

at 5%

level

Rural

(N = 83)

Urban

(N = 137)

Mean SD Mean SD

Messaging 19.15 4.92 20.45 5.97 1.73 NS

Contacts 3 0 . 3 3 5 . 7 4 3 1 . 0 3 6 . 1 3 0.86 NS

Organizer 2 7 . 8 0 6 . 9 3 2 7 . 9 1 6 . 9 6 0.12 NS

Settings 4 0 . 2 0 8 . 7 6 4 0 . 7 0 8 . 7 9 0.42 NS

Gallery 2 8 . 5 8 6 . 4 7 2 9 . 9 6 7 . 0 1 1.50 NS

Mobile internet 1 7 . 5 4 9 . 6 4 1 8 . 2 6 9 . 6 8 0.55 NS

Mobile application 4 5 . 6 8 2 1 . 1 6 4 4 . 0 3 2 1 . 5 8 0.73 NS

Total 2 0 8 . 8 0 4 9 . 5 5 2 0 9 . 3 2 5 0 . 2 9 1.04 NS

(At 5% level of significance, the table value of ‘t’ is 1.96)

Null Hypothesis - 2

There is no significant difference in the mean scores of mobile learning

activities among the postgraduate students with respect to their Father’s educational

qualification.

Table - 7

Difference among father’s education qualification and

mobile learning activities of P.G. Students

Dimensions Sources of

Variation

Sum of

squares Df

Mean

square

variance

Calculated

‘F’ value

Remarks

at 5%

level

Messaging Between 98.83 2 49.42

1.57 NS Within 7069.76 227 31.14

Contacts Between 124.38 2 62.19

1.76 NS Within 8039.00 227 35.41

Organizer Between 178.24 2 89.12

1.87 NS Within 10829.31 227 47.71

Settings Between 155.91 2 77.96

1.02 NS Within 17421.59 227 76.75

Gallery Between 77.48 2 38.74

0.83 NS Within 10561.72 227 46.53

Mobile internet Between 500.90 2 250.45

2.74 NS Within 20779.82 227 91.54

Mobile application Between 2680.44 2 1340

2.60 NS Within 116298.65 227 514.60

Total Between 11678.86 2 5839.43 2.36 NS Within 561228.12 227 2472.37

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(At 5% level of significance for 2,227 df, the table value of ‘F’ is 2.99)

SUMMARY OF MAJOR FINDINGS

1. There is significant difference in mobile learning activities among the

postgraduate students with respect to their gender in terms of messaging, contacts,

organizer, settings, gallery, mobile internet and total, but no significant difference

is found in mobile learning activities among the postgraduate students with

respect to their gender in terms of mobile applications.

2. There is no significant difference in mobile learning activities among the

postgraduate students with respect to their course in terms of messaging, contacts,

organizer, settings, gallery, mobile internet, mobile application and total.

3. There is significant difference in mobile learning activities among the

postgraduate students with respect to their year of studying in terms of messaging,

organizer, mobile internet and total, but no significant difference is found in

mobile learning activities among the postgraduate students with respect to their

year of studying in terms of contacts, settings, gallery and mobile application.

4. There is significant difference in mobile learning activities among the

postgraduate students with respect to their locality of residence in terms of

messaging, contacts, organizer, settings, gallery, mobile internet, mobile

application and total.

5. There is no significant difference in mobile learning activities among the

postgraduate students with respect to their locality of institution in terms of

messaging, contacts, organizer, settings, gallery, mobile internet, mobile

application and total.

6. There is no significant difference in mobile learning activities among the

postgraduate students with respect to their Father’s Educational Qualifications in

terms of messaging, contacts, organizer, settings, gallery, mobile internet, mobile

application and total.

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INTERPRETATIONS

According to the ‘t’ test results

Gender

The ‘t’ test result shows that, male are better than the female post graduate

students in their mobile learning activities by messaging, contact, organizer, settings,

Gallery, mobile internet and total mobile learning activities. This may be due their

curiosity to know the innovative and new things and their environments and also their

keen watch about the update & day-to-day information of new fashion than the female

post graduate students. Male trainees have some confident to face the new things in

life. But female is not like that.

Course of study

The ‘t’ test result shows that, there is no significant difference between arts and

science post graduate students in their mobile learning activities. This may be due the

fact that, basically technology is neither a science nor arts. Both arts and science

students got some work on experience in using computer in their school life. Both arts

and Science students would have the opportunity to get the awareness of technological

instruments. They have ample opportunity to interact with the society through

technology. This develops in them reliable and systematic that looks in their life.

Year of studying

The ‘t’ test result shows that, second year students are better than the first year

post graduate students in their mobile learning activities by messaging, organizer,

mobile internet and total mobile learning activity. This may be due the fact, that second

year have some opportunity to learn technological instrument with their syllabus.

Second year can have a more contact then the first year students. Second year post

graduate students are going to submit their thesis, so they can communicate with their

friends and guides through mobile phone.

Residence

The ‘t’ test revels that there is no significant difference between rural and urban

area post graduate students’ in their mobile learning activities. It may be due the fact,

that mobile, internet facility and other technological facility are available in rural and

urban areas. Rural trainees also got the awareness of technological instruments in

his/her area. It may be due to their free environment to access the new environments

easily and utilize its resources for their learning purposes.

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Locality of the college

The ‘t’ test revels that there is no significant difference between rural and urban

area post graduate college students in their mobile learning activities. It may be due the

fact, that all the post Graduate Arts and Science College having well equipped

computer laboratory and other infrastructure. All PG students having one computer

paper for their syllabus. So there is an opportunity to learn the entire technological

instruments like mobile, laptop etc.

According to ‘F’ test results

Father’s Education Qualification

There is no significant difference in the mean scores of mobile learning

activities among the postgraduate students with respect to their Father’s educational

qualification. This may be due to fact that mostly fathers are engaged in various

household and office works. Even though their educated they could not spend much

time with their wards. And this may be due to the fact that usually father takes less

care about the students’ progress in studies. Also it is a fact that fathers find it difficult

to spend sufficient time with their children. This may be due to fact that mostly fathers

are bought cell phone and gave it to their children. And children spent more time in

home with mobile phones. So they got some awareness of mobile learning.

EDUCATIONAL IMPLICATIONS OF THE STUDY

Learning is mobile in terms of space, i.e. it happens at the workplace, at home,

and at places of leisure. It is mobile between different areas of life, i.e. it may be related

to work demands, self-improvement, or leisure. And it is mobile in terms of time, i.e. it

happens at different time periods, on working days or on weekends. M-learning is

learning supported by mobile devices and intelligent user interfaces. Compared to the

prior generation a few years ago, storage capacity and screen size of mobile devices as

well as transfer speed of wireless connections have significantly increased. Equipped

with mobile devices, learners can conduct learning activities at anytime anywhere. m-

learning is learning that is not constrained to a physical space or specific time and

learning that is supported by communication with embedded computing elements in the

environment on every move of the learner.

Our shared belief is that in the future mobile phones will be a powerful learning

tool integrated in the learning process. Meanwhile, mobile phones are used to

communicate, take pictures and video clips, send e-mails, texts and graphics, browse

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the Web, play games and download programs. Students learn English or study math

and to access university lectures on mobile phones. In learning settings, they can be

used as communication, content input/output, computing devices, and educational

mobile Web Service providers.

CONCLUSION

The emergence of new technological environment may revolutionize the

teaching learning process. The role of the teacher will be different from the traditional

classroom teaching. The teacher could be a manager, monitor, role model, counselor,

facilitator and a social worker. Teaching methodology will shift from teacher-centered

education to learner-centered education. Teacher’s dominance will be replaced by the

knowledge dominance. So students now learn through computer teacher, television

teacher and internet teacher. In future, another teacher who applies these technologies

in the classrooms will replace a teacher who does not apply these technologies. The

investigation end its findings will help educational experts, thinkers, teachers and all

those who are interested in the field of education to focus their attention on the present

problems. This findings and results are not the end of the problem, but just a beginning

of the search for innovation. By applying these results, the quality of teaching learning

process will improve.

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WEBLIOGRAPHY

www.netlibrary.com retrieved on 10.4.11

www.scre.ac.uk/is/webjournals.html accessed on 12.5. 11.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

`

K.THIYAGU (b.1981) was born at Kailasapuram, BHEL Township, Tiruchirappalli

District. He obtained first and second certificates (High school & Higher secondary) from Boiler

Plant Boys Higher Secondary School, BHEL Township, Trichy. He obtained B.Sc., and M.Sc.,

(Mathematics) from St.Joseph’s College, Trichy, affiliated to Bharathidasan University, B.Ed.,

from Manonmaniam Sundaranar University, Tirunelveli, M.Ed., from Department of Educational

Technology, Bharathidasan University, M.Phil.,(Education) from Alagappa University,

Karaikudi, M.Phil., (Math) from Periyar University, Salem.

He has 5 years of teaching experience in various organizations. Now he is working as

Assistant Professor from Dr.Sivanthi Aditanar College of Education, Tiruchendur. He

contributed two books earlier in the area of ICT in Education. He also contributed some

research papers and articles in the area of models of teaching, ICT, Higher Education &

teacher education published in important journals in India like “i-manager” “Edutracks”

“University News” “Journal of Educational Research” “The Indian Educational Researcher” and

“New Horizons in Education”.

.