Noa Aharony, Ph.D.
Bar-Ilan University
2012 ‫כנס מיטל‬
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M-learning
 Early perspectives focused on technology and
suggested that m-learning is the delivery of
training by means of mobile device such as
mobile phones, and PDAs (McConatha and
Praul, 2008).
 Sharples, Taylor and Vavola (2007) state that
m-learning is a conversation across multiple
contexts among people and personal
interactive technologies.
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Geddes (2004) defines m-
learning as the acquisition of
knowledge or skills through the
use of mobile technology
anywhere and anytime.
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M-learning
 Improve communication and collaborative
interaction
 Provide more learning opportunities for
geographically distant people and groups
 Encourage active learning
 Enhance learner's feedback,
 Emphasize time on task
 Acquire content quickly (Lan & Sie, 2010).
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M-learning Limitations
 Mobile devices are limited by screen
size, battery capacity, and network
bandwidth (Chen, Chang, & Wang,
2008).
 Some researchers postulate that mlearning cannot fully replace traditional
learning, but only add value to the
current educational setting.
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Research Objectives
 Whether LIS students' personality
and individual characteristics are
related to their perceptions about
m-learning;
 Whether differences exist according
to level of education, age and
gender concerning LIS students'
perceptions about m-learning.
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Resistance to change
 New technologies may cause some form of
change within the users. It could be a minor
change such as a simple modification of the
user interface or a major one when the
individual has to change his routine tasks
(Nov and Ye, 2008).
 Thus, different users may react differently to
changes; some may accept them while others
may resist them.
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Learning Strategies
A deep learning strategy
A surface learning strategy
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Cost-benefit model
The cost-benefit framework
suggests that when deciding to
adopt new technologies, users
would consider both the
benefits and costs and tradeoff
between them (Shen, Huang,
Chu and Hsu, 2010).
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The underlying assumptions of this study are:
 The less resistant to change LIS students are, the more
positive perceptions they have towards m-learning.
 Deep LIS students will have more positive perceptions
towards m-learning than surface LIS students.
 The higher level of computer mastery, computer
academic use, and of media social use, LIS students
have, the more positive perceptions they have towards
m-learning.
 Younger LIS students will have more positive
perceptions about m-learning than older students.
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Procedures
 The research was conducted during the first
semester of the 2012 academic year.
 137 students participated in the research
 The researchers used six questionnaires: a
personal details questionnaire, a perceptions
about m-learning questionnaire, computer
mastery questionnaire, computer use
questionnaire, resistance to change
questionnaire, and a learning strategies
questionnaire.
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Results
 H1 was supported. It was found that the
more LIS students resist changes; the
less willing they are ready to "pay" for
the implementation of new and
advanced technologies in their learning
environments and the more they think
that the new technological application
use is complicated.
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 Results pertaining to H2
demonstrate that this hypothesis
was also accepted, indicating that
deep LIS learners have more
positive perceptions towards mlearning than surface student.
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 H3 was also supported. LIS students who
have more experience with computer in
general, academic computer use in
particular, and social media, understand
the benefits of technological use, and
recognize the advantages of integrating
and using m-learning in their
curriculum.
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H4 was accepted, revealing that
younger LIS students have more
positive perceptions about m-
learning than do older students.
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 Summing up, when considering LIS
students perceptions about m-learning,
we should take into consideration the
importance of individual differences in
technology use and acceptance. This
characteristic may explain why some
students adopt technological
innovations in their study environments
while others do not.
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Noa.aharony@biu.ac.il
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