The influence of students' ICT skills and their adoption of mobile learning

Abstract

Mobile technology has gained increased focus in academic circles as a way to enable learning that is not confined by time and place. As the benefits of mobile learning are being clarified so too will researchers need to understand the factors that influence its future use. The adoption of mobile technology will largely depend on whether students believe that mobile technology fits their particular needs. However despite the interest in the potential of mobile learning, researchers have only a limited knowledge of the factors that may influence student adoption. To address this gap in the literature, the present study was undertaken to determine how ICT skills impact students' adoption of mobile learning. The study posited that the perceived ease of use and usefulness of mobile technology would mediate the relationship between ICT skills and the intention of students to adopt mobile learning. A survey of 446 students from three tertiary institutions found that students' intention to adopt mobile learning was influenced by specific types of ICT skills. In particular, it was found that advanced skill in mobile technology and basic ICT skills both played significant roles in the intention to adopt mobile learning. No evidence was found to support the assertion that advanced ICT skills influenced their adoption of mobile learning.