Robin L. Donaldson
May 5, 2010
Prospectus Defense
Florida State University
College of Communication and Information

Wireless delivery of learning content through handheld device – any time & anywhere.
(Tsvetozar Georgiev, et al., 2004)

Personal Use
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32% use a cell phone for Internet access
19% use mobile Internet access
Learning & information resources
Higher Education
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Initial stages
Learning & information resources
Digital divide
Identifying value and determinants

 Technology acceptance research most mature research area in IS literature.
 Limited research using technology acceptance theories
 Unique characteristic of mobile learning
 IS models may not fully address mobile learning

 Use technology acceptance theory as a theoretical framework to examine the determinants associated with community college students’ acceptance and use of mobile learning.

 TAM & TAM2 –
 Do not consider variables that may negatively impact behavior (system characteristics, training, support)
 Are not able to explain as much of the variance in user behavioral intention to use and actual use as UTAUT.
 Failure to acknowledge individual differences such as age and gender
 TAM3 -
 Lack of supporting research
 Non- academic participants and information systems

 Age and gender
 Explain as much as 70% of the variance in user behavioral intention to use and actual use
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Performance Expectancy
▪ “the degree to which an individual believes that using the system will help him or her to attain gains in job performance”
Effort Expectancy
▪ “the degree of ease associated with the use of the system”
Social Influence
▪ “the degree to which an individual perceives that important others believe he or she should use the new system”
Facilitating Conditions
▪ “the degree to which an individual believes that an organizational and technical infrastructure exists to support use of the system”

 Population being studied
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Community college in north Florida
GED or Highschool degree
Large percentage required to take developmental courses &
SLS 1510
Facilitating conditions
Diverse ages
Diverse access levels to technology
 Participants
 Convenience sample
 All students enrolled in college credit courses

 Self-management of learning is “the extent to which an individual feels he or she is selfdisciplined and can engage in autonomous learning”

 Voluntariness of Use
 “the degree to which use of the innovation is perceived as being voluntary, or of free will”
 Perceived playfulness -the extent to which the individual
 perceives that his or her attention is focused,
 curious during interaction,
 finds the interaction intrinsically enjoyable or interesting.

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Quantitative descriptive and comparative research design
Utilize cross-sectional survey data
Mixed Method

 General
 Convenience sample
 Cross sectional
 Course and participant availability for interviews
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Survey
 Statistical significance within the design does not imply cause-and-effect relationships
Self reported
Does not allow the researcher to obtain an in-depth understanding
 Interviews
 Protocols and transcribing is time consuming
 Participants can be influenced by researcher
 More difficult to analyze
 Coding and theme development time consuming

 General
 add breadth and depth of understanding of research questions
 corroboration of research findings
 Survey
 cost effective
 producing precise descriptions of large populations
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 collection of a data from a large number of participants
 repeated in other research or to assess if any changes that have taken place
 Interviews
 can probe for additional responses
 can provide clarity to questions
 observations of the respondent can be recorded
 gain a more in-depth understanding of participants’ survey responses

 Procedure
 Sequential explanatory strategy
 Pre-existing survey
▪ Cross sectional
 Interviews

 UTUAUT survey instrument, perceived playfulness, self-management of learning, voluntariness, demographic and opinion related
 Demographic and opinion-related questions
 Gender/age
 access to a home computer
 enrollment in developmental courses;
 Internet experience;
 frequency of use of mobile devices;
 types of information, and library and learning resources currently used and interested in accessing

 Research Question 1. Are the following independent variables significant predictors of the behavioral intention to use mobile learning: performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, facilitating conditions, voluntariness, perceived playfulness, and self-management of learning?
Analysis: multiple regression
 Research Question 2. Are the following independent variables significant predictors of the use of mobile learning: performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, perceived playfulness, self-management of learning and facilitating conditions?
Analysis: multiple regression
Why? Used to explain relationships - determine if predictor variables are predicting a continuous dependent variable.

 Research Question 3. Is there a statistically significant difference between males and females on the behavioral intention to use mobile learning?
Analysis: independent samples t-test
 Research Question 4. Is there a statistically significant difference between males and females on the use of mobile learning?
Analysis: independent samples t-test
Why? comparing two groups gender and intention to use or actual use.

 Research Question 5. Are there statistically significant relationships among the participants’ age, behavioral intention to use mobile learning and the actual use of mobile learning?
Analysis: bivariate Pearson correlations (r)
Why? seek to determine if age is related to intention to use or actual use mobile learning.

 Research Setting and Population, and
Participants
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Convenience sampling
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Selecting participants
Courses targeted

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Semi structured questions
Protocol
 Interviewer
 Script
 Face-to-face, online, or phone

 Research Question 2 - Predictors of use
Interview Question 1. What factors influence your actual use of mobile learning?
What factors prevent you from using mobile learning?
 Research Question 4 - Difference in use between males and females
Interview Question 2. Do you believe there is a difference in the amount of time men spend on mobile learning when compared to the amount of time women spend on mobile learning ? Please explain your answer.
 Research Question 5 - relationships among the participants’ age, intentions, and actual use
Interview Question 3. Do you believe age affects your actual use of mobile learning? Please explain your answer.

 Content Analysis
 Organize
 Code the
 Categorize
 Narrative discussion
 Interpretation to assign meaning