SHORT PAPER ATTITUDES TOWARDS THE USE OF MOBILE LEARNING: A CASE STUDY FROM THE GULF REGION Attitudes Towards the Use of Mobile Learning: A Case Study from the Gulf Region http://dx.doi.org/10.3991/ijim.v9i3.4596 Mostafa Al-Emran1, 2, Khaled Shaalan2 1 Al Buraimi University College, Al Buraimi, Oman 2 The British University in Dubai, Dubai, UAE Abstract—In the last few years, the way we learn has been shifted dramatically from traditional classrooms depending on printed papers into E-learning depending on digital pages. Mobile learning (M-learning) is a recent technology that has been developed rapidly to deliver E-learning using personal mobile devices without posing any restrictions on time and location. In this work, we investigate students and faculty members’ attitudes towards the use of M-learning in higher educational institutions within two countries in the Gulf Region (Oman & UAE). Two questionnaire surveys have been conducted: one for students and another for faculty members. In these surveys, 383 students and 54 instructors have taken part within the study. An independ- ent sample t-test was performed to examine whether there exist a significant difference among the students’ attitudes and the faculty members’ attitudes towards the use of M- learning with regard to gender and country. Results indicat- ed that students in the UAE were more positive towards the use of M-learning than those in Oman. Moreover, results revealed that 99% of the students own mobile devices, in particular smartphones and tablets, while only 1% has not. Results of this study could help policy makers for better decision making in building the M-learning infrastructure in the higher educational institutions in general and specifi- cally within the Arab Gulf region. Index Terms—Mobile Learning; Attitudes; Gulf Region. I. INTRODUCTION Mobile learning (M-learning) recently has been shifted from being a theory to a real valuable improvement sup- porting the learning environment. M-learning can simply be viewed as the natural evolution of E-learning with more effective communication and powerful personalized mechanisms [1], [2] or a new platform of distance learn- ing [3], [4]. M-learning makes it easy for all students at different ages to study and access the learning material anytime anywhere. Researchers have defined M-learning in different ways. For example, in [5], M-learning has been defined as a technology emerging form Distance Learning; while in [6] it is stated that M-learning is the next generation of E- learning. Many other authors, such as [7], [8], and [9] have defined M-learning as the learning performed with the utilization of small portable devices, such as smart phones, tablets, PDAs. [10] and [21] described M-learning as the learning that occurs when the learner uses mobile technology in order to learn in anytime anywhere. In this work, we investigate students’ and faculty mem- bers’ attitudes towards the use of M-learning in higher educational institutions within two neighboring countries in the Gulf region (Oman and UAE). Understanding stu- dents and faculty members’ attitudes within GCC coun- tries is an important step towards applying M-learning. II. LITERATURE REVIEW Nowadays, mobile technology has been successfully employed in various sectors, in particular, the educational sector. M-learning is a new research trend in the education field that addresses mobility in different dimensions: mo- bility of technology, mobility of learners, mobility of educators, and mobility of learning. It is important to investigate M-learning technology before applying it to the learning process in higher education. This requires investigating and examining users’ attitudes towards the M-learning technology. The users of M-learning are stu- dents and educators. The research conducted by [11] showed through the use of independent t-test that there is no significant difference among the students’ attitudes in terms of gender category towards the integration of M-learning and LMS. Authors of [12], [13], [14], and [15] have similarly found that there is no significant difference in gender towards the use of M-learning. In contrast, the research in [16] and [17] have concluded that female students were more positive to- wards the use of mobile phones rather than males. In addi- tion, the authors of [9] presented in their research study, through the use of independent t-test, that female instruc- tors’ attitudes were more positive towards M-learning rather than males. However, this observation contradicts with the study conducted by [18] as male instructors’ attitudes were more positive towards M-learning than females. Some authors attempted to investigate whether if there is any significant difference among students’ attitudes towards the use of M-learning within two different re- gions, USA, representing a western country, versus UAE, representing a Middle East development country [17]. Findings indicated that USA students were more positive towards the use of M-learning technology (with p < 0.05) rather than the UAE students. It is worth noting that this study was limited to students’ attitudes without consider- ing the faculty members’ attitudes. III. PROBLEM OF THE STUDY M-learning, as one of the recent technologies in the ed- ucation sector, has brought many opportunities for both students and educators in order to facilitate the learning process. Higher education, particularly as an important venue, has employed M-learning in various universities around the world in order to deliver the learning regard- less of place and time. iJIM ‒ Volume 9, Issue 3, 2015 75 SHORT PAPER ATTITUDES TOWARDS THE USE OF MOBILE LEARNING: A CASE STUDY FROM THE GULF REGION We have observed that M-learning has not yet been studied intensively within the Arab Gulf universities. The only exception is the efforts by King Saud University, Saudi Arabia [19] and [9]. Although, UAE has launched the iPad initiative in one of its Federal colleges [20] but this study was incomplete and has focused only on faculty members’ attitudes without considering students’ atti- tudes. Moreover, the scope of this study was limited and addressed only the students at the foundation program level without taking into concern students from different specializations. On the other hand, the research by [17] has conducted a comparative study of students’ attitudes towards the use of M-learning within UAE and USA. However, this study did not investigate the faculty mem- bers’ attitudes towards M-learning. To sum up, there are many issues that have not yet been investigated within the Arab Gulf region, the reason that motivate us to conduct this research. Before embarking on developing any technology, it is important to examine the end-user attitudes towards the use of such technology. Attitudes toward technology help in determining strengths and weaknesses and facilitate the development of the required infrastructure. The end-users of M-learning tech- nology are students and educators. Therefore, our research seeks to answer the following research questions: • Is there any significant difference among the stu- dents’ attitudes towards the use of M-learning in terms of gender? • Is there any significant difference among the stu- dents’ attitudes towards the use of M-learning in terms of country? • Is there any significant difference among the faculty members’ attitudes towards the use of M-learning in terms of gender? • Is there any significant difference among the faculty members’ attitudes towards the use of M-learning in terms of country? IV. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY A. Sample and Study Instrument A Data set is collected by using the questionnaire sur- vey method. Surveys have been conducted within two neighboring countries in the Arab Gulf region (Oman & UAE). Surveys are distributed as a hard copy by the re- searchers themselves and with the help of the faculty members at each academic institution. The Data set was collected in the last quarter of 2014. Five universities from the Arab Gulf region (Oman (N=1) and UAE (N=4)) are responded and participated effectively in conducting this research. 383 students have taken part within the study; (N=225) from Oman and (N=158) from UAE. 54 instruc- tors have taken part within the study; (N=24) from Oman and (N=30) from UAE. The population of the participated students was selected randomly with different academic majors from different departments in different levels of study. In addition, facul- ty members were also selected randomly from different nationalities with different academic ranks and experienc- es. TABLE I. STUDENTS’ PERSONAL/DEMOGRAPHIC DATA. Variables Answers Frequency Percentage % Gender Male 135 35.2 % Female 248 64.8 % Age 18 to 22 280 73.1 % 23 to 28 72 18.8 % 29 to 35 23 6 % Above 35 8 2.1 % Major IT 194 50.7 % English 50 13.1 % Business Management 115 30 % Project Management 24 6.3 % Country Oman 225 58.7 % UAE 158 41.3 % TABLE II. FACULTY MEMBERS’ PERSONAL/DEMOGRAPHIC DATA. Variables Answers Frequency Percentage % Gender Male 36 66.7 % Female 18 33.3 % Age 26 to 35 21 38.9 % 36 to 45 19 35.2 % 46 to 55 10 18.5 % Above 55 4 7.4 % Country Oman 24 44.4 % UAE 30 55.6 % Academic Rank Instructor 34 63 % Assistant Professor 9 16.7 % Associative Professor 6 11.1 % Professor 5 9.3 % Table I represents the students’ personal/demographic data while Table II represents the faculty members’ per- sonal/demographic data. B. Surveys Structures Two types of surveys are prepared and distributed: one for students and another for faculty members. The stu- dents’ survey consists of 28 items (questions) that are divided into three main sections. Each survey consists of 3 sections regardless whether it is for students or faculty members. The first section of the survey consists of (8 items) that represents the student/faculty member personal information/demographic data. The second section con- sists of (10 items) that represents the student/faculty member information regarding the mobile technology. The third section of the survey consists of (10 items) that represents the attitudes towards the use of mobile learning. A five-point Likert Scale, with strongly agree (5), agree (4), undecided (3), disagree (2), and strongly disagree (1), has been used to measure the (10 items). C. Measurement Analysis Reliability test has been measured for the ten independ- ent variables that represent the attitudes by calculating Cronbach’s alpha. The Cronbach’s alpha values for the students’ attitudes (Alpha = 0.94) and for the educators’ attitudes (Alpha = 0.93) were greater than 0.7 as per the tables (III, IV) respectively while [17] found this value as (Alpha = 0.80) for similar purpose. 76 http://www.i-jim.org SHORT PAPER ATTITUDES TOWARDS THE USE OF MOBILE LEARNING: A CASE STUDY FROM THE GULF REGION TABLE III. RELIABILITY TEST FOR STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES. Cronbach's Alpha Cronbach's Alpha Based on Standardized Items No of Items 0.94 0.94 10 TABLE IV. RELIABILITY TEST FOR EDUCATORS’ ATTITUDES. Cronbach's Alpha Cronbach's Alpha Based on Standardized Items No of Items 0.93 0.93 10 V. FINDINGS RQ1: Is there any significant difference among the students’ attitudes towards the use of M-learning in terms of gender? An independent samples t-test was carried out to exam- ine if there is any statistical significant difference among the students’ attitudes towards the use of M-learning with regard to their gender. As shown in Table 5, the results imply that the mean values for both male and female stu- dents do not indicate any significant differences among the students in their attitudes in terms of gender. The computed value of t is 1.024 and the significance level is (p = 0.307, p > 0.05). Nevertheless, the mean values indi- cate that both genders are willing to seize the mobile tech- nology advantages in their education. TABLE V. DIFFERENCES BETWEEN STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES IN TERMS OF GENDER. Gender N Mean Std. Dev. t Df Sig. Male 135 3.5030 1.09775 1.024 381 0.307 Female 248 3.3919 0.96519 Similarly, the research conducted by [11], [12], [13], [14], and [15] have indicated that there were no significant differences among the students’ attitudes towards the use of M-learning with regard to their gender. However, [16] and [17] have indicated significant differences among the students’ attitudes in terms of gender where female stu- dents were more positive towards the use of mobile tech- nology rather than males. RQ2: Is there any significant difference among the students’ attitudes towards the use of M-learning in terms of country? An independent samples t-test was performed in order to test if there is any statistical significant difference among students’ attitudes towards the use of M-learning within both countries of residence (i.e. Oman & UAE). As shown in Table 6, results indicated a statistical significant difference among the students’ attitudes (p = 0.000, p <= 0.05), the differences were in favor of students resident in UAE. This is reasonable due to the technological re- sources availability, technology awareness in Dubai, UAE as compared to Al Buraimi, Oman. TABLE VI. DIFFERENCES BETWEEN STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES IN TERMS OF COUNTRY. Country N Mean Std. Dev. t Df Sig. Oman 225 3.22 1.0070 - 5.05 350.2 0.000 UAE 158 3.73 0.9487 However, [17] indicated when attempted to compare the students’ attitudes within two different countries, that USA students were more positive towards the use of M- learning technology rather than UAE students. RQ3: Is there any significant difference among the faculty members’ attitudes towards the use of M- learning in terms of gender? An independent samples t-test was performed to exam- ine if there is any statistical significant difference among the educators’ attitudes towards the use of M-learning with regard to their gender. As shown in Table 7, results indicate that the mean scores for both males and females do not indicate any significant differences (p = 0.482, p > 0.05) among the faculty members in their attitudes with regard to their gender and the calculated value of t is (- 0.708). However, the mean values for both genders re- vealed that faculty members are ready to use mobile tech- nology for better learning delivery. TABLE VII. DIFFERENCES BETWEEN FACULTY MEMBERS’ ATTITUDES IN TERMS OF GENDER. Gender N Mean Std. Dev. t Df Sig. Male 36 3.5694 .86877 -0.708 52 0.482 Female 18 3.7389 .74054 In contrast, [9] revealed through the use of an inde- pendent t-test that female instructors’ attitudes were more positive towards M-learning rather than males. Further- more, [18] indicated that male instructors’ attitudes were more positive towards M-learning than females. RQ4: is there any significant difference among the faculty members’ attitudes towards the use of M- learning in terms of country? In order to test if there is any statistical significant dif- ference among the educators’ attitudes towards the use of M-learning within residence in both countries (Oman & UAE); an independent sample t-test was carried out. As shown in Table 8, results indicate that the mean scores for both countries (Oman and UAE) do not reveal any signifi- cant differences (p = 0.763, p > 0.05) among the faculty members in their attitudes with regard to their country and the calculated value of t is (-0.303). However, the mean values for faculty members in both countries could attrib- ute to the fact that faculty members are willing to use the technology into their classrooms but without any noticed difference among the two countries. TABLE VIII. DIFFERENCES BETWEEN FACULTY MEMBERS’ ATTITUDES IN TERMS OF COUNTRY. Country N Mean Std. Dev. t Df Sig. Oman 24 3.5875 0.7914 -0.303 52 0.763 UAE 30 3.6567 0.8633 VI. CONCLUSION AND FUTURE WORK In this research, we have presented the state-of-the-art in M-learning regarding students and educators attitudes towards the use of M-learning in terms of gender and country differences. The gaps that have not yet been cov- ered in the current available research have been highlight- ed in our study. An attempt was made to examine students iJIM ‒ Volume 9, Issue 3, 2015 77 SHORT PAPER ATTITUDES TOWARDS THE USE OF MOBILE LEARNING: A CASE STUDY FROM THE GULF REGION and faculty members’ attitudes within the higher educa- tional institutions in Gulf region (Oman & UAE). Two surveys have been conducted: one for students and one for faculty members. 383 students and 54 instructors have taken part in this study. An independent samples t-test was performed to examine whether there is any significant difference among the students’ attitudes and the faculty members’ attitudes towards the use of M-learning with regard to their gender and country. Results indicated that students in UAE were more positive towards the use of M-learning than those in Oman. Results revealed that there was no significant difference among the students in their attitudes in terms of gender. Moreover, results indi- cated that there was no significant difference among the faculty members in their attitudes with regard to gender and country. Furthermore, Results revealed that 99% of the students have mobile devices, i.e. either smartphone or tablets, while only 1% of them have not. Results will help policy makers to take the suitable decision on whether or not to implement M-learning at the Arab Gulf region. 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Innovative Higher Education, 39(1), pp. 45-57. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10755- 013-9259-y [21] Al Emran, M., & Shaalan, K. (2014, March). E-podium Technolo- gy: A medium of managing Knowledge at Al Buraimi University College via M-learning. In BCS International IT Conference. AUTHORS Mostafa Al-Emran is the Head of Technical Support and a Researcher in Computer Science, Al Buraimi Uni- versity College, Oman (e-mail: malemran@buc.edu.om). Khaled Shaalan is a full professor at The British University in Dubai, UAE. He is an Honorary Fellow at the School of Informatics, University of Edinburgh, UK. (e-mail: khaled.shaalan@buid.ac.ae). Submitted, 09 March 2015. Published as resubmitted by the authors on 09 April 2015. 78 http://www.i-jim.org iJIM – Vol. 9, No. 3, 2015 Attitudes Towards the Use of Mobile Learning: A Case Study from the Gulf Region