Abstract:

Over the recent years, mobile technology has become a potent tool for the delivery and reinforcement of content in higher education. Devices such as mobile phone and iPad tablets are gradually replacing personal computers in modern professional context (Attewell, 2005). As in the case of other universities around the world, Zayed University in the UAE has demonstrated the importance of technology integration into its curricula through the development of its technology infrastructure. It embraced mobile learning (mLearning) by introducing the iPad in spring semester 2012, in a roll-out process, to its foundation and general education undergraduate programs. The adoption of these devices was complemented with in-house Professional Development. Course materials such as ereaders were designed for the iPad use. In this way, the faculty and the students were expected to incorporate the use of the iPads in their courses. Although the use of iPad is encouraged whenever possible, the students use other devices such as MacBook Pro, Laptops and mobile phones wherever and whenever they feel comfortable. After two years of distributing the iPads, it was felt that a more precise evaluation of how students rate their experience with the iPads should be documented. Two hundred students from a range of courses were invited to complete a survey about the usage and the usefulness of the iPad in the learning environment.

To this end, three primary research questions are addressed in this study:
1. What do students think of the use of the iPad?
2. How often do students use the iPad in the courses?
3. What is students’ level of satisfaction, preference and frequency of use of the ipad?

A total of 166 students responded positively about the affordances of the iPad.

Keywords:

IPad, m-learning, eBooks, students' satisfaction.