THE IMPACT OF MOBILE TECHNOLOGY ON THE ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF STUDENTS

THE IMPACT OF MOBILE TECHNOLOGY ON THE ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF STUDENTS

ABSTRACT: Mobile technologies are a familiar part of the lives of most teachers and students with mobile devices becoming an almost essential part of daily life. This study seeks to determine the impact of Mobile Technology on Academics and its influence on Teaching and Learning and Students Performance at Captain Elechi Amadi Polytechnic. In this study, a total of 100 questionnaires administered to students were analyzed using Descriptive measures and results show that mobile technology improves teaching and learning. Students’ performance improved due to the possession and use of mobile devices. ANOVA was used to test if Age is independent of the Mobile Devices owned by the students and if Gender is independent of the Performance of the students. Results conducted in the study show that mobile devices owned by the students does not depend on their age, and gender does not determine the performance of the students.

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the Study

The whole world is going mobile. Phones, computers, and media devices now fit in our pockets and can connect us to a variety of information sources and enable communication nearly everywhere we go. There is considerable interest in exploiting the almost universal appeal and abundance of these technologies for Educational and Academic use. Mobile technologies are becoming more embedded, ubiquitous, and networked, with enhanced capabilities for rich social interactions, context awareness, and internet connectivity. Such technologies can have a great impact on learning.

Mobile technologies are a familiar part of the lives of most teachers and students in Captain Elechi Amadi Polytechnic. Newer developments in mobile phone technology are also beginning to offer the potential for rich multimedia experiences and for location-specific resources. The challenge for educators and designers, however, is one of understanding and exploring how best we might use these resources to support learning. Most previous reviews of mobile technologies and learning have been concerned with the use of these technologies to address specific Curriculum areas. To fully appreciate the potential of mobile technologies for learning, we must look beyond the use of individual devices and consider their use embedded in classroom practice, or as part of learning experience outside the classroom.

Society is undergoing a radical change in the way they communicate and act, since many activity sectors – financial, education, healthcare, etc. are adopting the use of mobile technology to deliver services. For example, in the financial sector, customers now have access to banking services using mobile technology, while libraries are being digitized and information formatted for access using mobile technology. The healthcare system is also employing mobile technologies to deliver training to healthcare professionals and services to patients. With communication technology, learners can use mobile technology anywhere and anytime to access educational resources, and consequently, these technologies are changing the way we live and how we access education.

This review provides a rich vision of the current and potential future developments in this area. It asks how we might draw on existing theories of learning to help us evaluate the most relevant applications of mobile technologies in Academics.

With respect to technologies, ‘mobile’ generally means portable and personal, like a mobile phone. Personal digital assistants and mobile phones are the most commonly used technologies for mobile learning. Learning and teaching with mobile technologies is beginning to make a breakthrough from small-scale pilots to institution-wide implementations. In order for these implementations to be successful, educators and technology developers must consider the context, mobility, cost, usability, and technical and institutional support on mobile technology. Today we are witnessing the emergence of a connected, mobile society, with a variety of information sources and means of communication available at home, work, and school, and in the community at large. Much of the research into the use of mobile technologies for learning is driven by the technical capabilities of new devices. This is not unexpected, given the rapidly changing face of mobile computing. These new capabilities inspire new practices which can lead to valuable outcomes, but, to date, application of practices to the use of these technologies for academic purposes is lacking. Mobile technologies are computers, but that does not mean that they should be viewed as simply providing more portable versions of the learning activities that are currently supported on more static machines. Being mobile adds a new dimension to the activities that can be supported, both because of the personal and portable nature of the devices themselves, and because of the kinds of interactions, they can support with other learners and the environment. Educators today are using technology to engage students and encourage students to learn. Numerous studies have shown evidence of increased interest to learn when mobile devices are incorporated into the learning environment.

Globalization has changed our lives and one of the ways in which it is changing our lives, every day, is how we communicate; thanks to advancements in Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). One of the ICT’s which is seeing rapid advancement is Mobile Phone (Twum, 2011). They are very popular with young people and are commonplace in our educational institutions.

1.2       Statement of the problem

Too often, new technologies and procedures are dumped into the Educational system with little to guide teachers about their usage or possible benefits. Teachers are expected to learn how to make use of new tools without any assistance or training. Sometimes, and understandably so, they resent the extra time required to figure out new technology or fail to implement it in ways that advance learning. The result is failed experiments and frustration with stagnant educational results. (W. Darrell 2013).

Researchers have discovered that the use of mobile phones in schools is problematic. While in school, students are supposed to take on their prescribed roles as students with full concentration on their studies and free from contact with the outside world. However, the mobile phone gives room to blending students’ roles with other roles thus distracting and disrupting the students’ academic work. (Gergen, 2002; Halpen, 2003; & Franzini, 2002).

1.3       Aim and Objectives of the study

This study seeks to determine the Impact of Mobile Technology on the Academic Performance among the study population and on how Mobile Technology can improve learning and teaching in Captain Elechi  Amadi Polytechnic.

Specific Objective of the Study:

1. To determine if Age is independent of the Mobile Devices Owned among the sample population.
2. To examine if Mobile Technology improves Learning and Teaching.
3. To determine Gender performances of the Students and its Implications.

1.4       Significance of the study

The prevalence of mobile technologies is in itself a motivator to exploit them for learning. Mobile technologies are already widespread among children (NOP 2001). It makes sense, then, for an educational system with limited information and communication technology (ICT) resources to make the most use of the available mobile technology to improve the Academic performances and find ways to put them into good use for the benefit of learning practice. Mobile technologies provide an opportunity for a fundamental change in the education system of learning. Mobile technologies offer learning experiences that can effectively engage and educate contemporary learners.

1.5       Scope of the study

The study was carried out at the Captain Elechi Amadi Polytechnic, Port Harcourt Rivers State, Nigeria. This review advocates an activity-focused perspective on the impact of mobile technologies on Academics and presents these activities along with relevant learning paradigms.

1.6       Limitations of the study

The study was limited to students at the Captain Elechi Amadi Polytechnic. Challenge was encountered by students who do not want to be administered questionnaires. Some students were encouraged to complete the questionnaire.

1.7 Definition of operational terms

• Analysis of variance (ANOVA): This is a technique used to compare means of 2 or more samples using the F-distribution.
• Communicate: To give information about something.
• Connectivity: The ability to make a connection between two or more points in a network.
• Device: An object, machine, or piece of equipment that has been made for some special purpose
• Frequency table: a frequency table list items and shows the number of times they occur.
• Information: Communicable knowledge of something.
• Mobile: Able to move from one place to another.