Abstract:

Starting with the most common factors affecting the engagement of the students in the education process, which is significantly lower while using the traditional teaching methods compared to using supportive educational tools, technologies and innovations. several factors were found to contribute significantly in the students' engagement such as: communication, collaboration, active involvement into learning activities, and enriching educational experiences; interactions between students and teachers; levels of academic challenge; and supporting classroom environment. This paper aims to investigate the impact of affecting factors on usage of tablet PCs in education and its effect on the engagement of the students in the educational process. Taking into consideration the effect of two major independent variables, namely; the culture of the Saudi students and its direct effect on the actual usage of the tablets, and the effect of the current epidemic of COVID 19 and how it alter the daily routine of the students and consequently their actual usage of tablet PCs in learning and eventually their engagement in the learning process. Mainly the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) was used to determine the selected factors and the framework was built in combination with the task-technology fit (TTF) theory to determine the compatibility of the task and the technology to the actual usage of the table PC.

Keywords:

Tablet PCs, UTAUT theory, TTF theory, culture, COVID 19.