Abstract:

The emergence of ubiquitous learning technologies (u-learning) has held a great promise for a shift towards a fundamentally new type of learning. U-learning technologies enable the learning process to happen anywhere, any time for students [1]. While u-learning technologies have the potential to improve the learning process by making it more pervasive, interactive, and seamless, somehow the technology has not been adopted within education community as was perhaps expected [2]. Therefore, development of an understanding of factors that have led to adoption (or non-adoption) of ubiquitous learning technologies is a key research task. Once these factors are understood, features of this technology and adoption strategies can perhaps be modified in such a manner as to become more aligned with users’ requirements and to increase the adoption rate. This paper presents an exploratory study aimed at isolating the factors underlying the adoption of ubiquitous learning technologies. This study is limited to include teachers, students, and administrators as the key stakeholders in the adoption of ubiquitous learning technology. In order to achieve this objective, Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) model was modified for each stakeholder [3] and three different adoption models were proposed. Several additional adoption factors, such as culture and system characteristics [4-6], which may affect the adoption behavior of each user group, were also added to each of the three adoption models. After developing a modified adoption model for each user group, a survey of key researchers in the field of ubiquitous learning was designed and conducted to determine their stance on why the various stakeholders would or would not adopt their ubiquitous learning technologies. The paper presents an analysis of the responses to the survey and isolates the factors which had a greater impact on each user group’s adoption behavior. By detecting the most affective factors on each stakeholder’s adoption behavior, researchers will have a better idea of the factors on which they must focus more while developing and deploying their u-learning system.

References:
[1] K. Sakamura and N. Koshizuka, "Ubiquitous computing technologies for ubiquitous learning," in IEEE International Workshop on Wireless and Mobile Technologies in Education, WMTE 2005, November 28, 2005 - November 30, 2005, Tokushima, Japan, 2005, pp. 11-18.
[2] Y.-M. Huang, P.-S. Chiu, T.-C. Liu, and T.-S. Chen, "The design and implementation of a meaningful learning-based evaluation method for ubiquitous learning," Computers & Education, vol. 57, pp. 2291-2302, 2011.
[3] V. Venkatesh, M. G. Morris, B. D. Gordon, and F. D. Davis, "User Acceptance of Information Technology: Toward a Unified View," MIS Quarterly, vol. 27, pp. 425-478, 2003.
[4] B. P. Woolf, I. Arroyo, and I. A. Zualkernan, "Education technology for the developing world," in 2011 IEEE Global Humanitarian Technology Conference, GHTC 2011, October 30, 2011 - November 1, 2011, Seattle, WA, United states, 2011, pp. 493-498.
[5] K. A. Pituch and Y.-k. Lee, "The influence of system characteristics on e-learning use," Computers & Education, vol. 47, pp. 222-244, 2006.
[6] N. Nistor, A. Weinberger, C. Ceobanu, and J. O. Heymann, "Educational technology and culture: The influence of ethnic and professional culture on learners' technology acceptance," Palermo, Italy, 2011, pp. 477-482.

Keywords:

u-learning, ubiquitous learning, UTAUT adoption model.