Abstract:

There is no doubt that over the world,Information Communication and Technologies (ICT) has contributed a lot to education both in the area of the changing learning environment and teaching pedagogy in recent time. The use of mobile devices, that is mobile learning (M-learning) in education has gained immense popularity among masses to an extent that the devices can be used at any time and everywhere as these devices are small, portable, comfortable, and smart to utilize by many people. Examples of mobile devices include cell phones, personal digital assistants, smart phones, tablets among others. The benefits associated with the use of these mobile phones in education are enormous. Despite these benefits, a few studies, if any at all, have examined the importance of the use of mobile phones technology in teaching and learning in Ghana in distance education particularly with the College of Distance Education, University of Cape Coast. This paper therefore attempted to explore the importance of the use of mobile phone technology in teaching and learning in distance education. The study used a quantitative research design and a questionnaire was administered to fifty course tutors and 100 distance students of the College of Distance Education, University of Cape Coast centre. It was realised that through the use of mobile phones,students were able to access information, learning materials and communicate with their peers and teachers easily. Also mobile phones were the most powerful and effective means of communication, an easier and more effective way of learning new concepts, increased self-learning, and increased listening skills in students.Despite these benefits of mobile phones technology in teaching and learning, teachers’ readiness for the use of mobile phone in teaching and learning was found to be at a considerably low level. It was therefore recommended that teachers and instructors should be encouraged by stakeholders and administrators to take advantage of the benefits of mobile phones in teaching and learning to help the distance education students to learn in an easy and more effective way to increase their academic performance.

Keywords:

Mobile Phones, m-learning, Teaching and Learning, Education, Information Communication Technology.