Students’ Attitude towards the Sustainable Use of Mobile Technologies in Higher Education

• Main Authors: Liliana Mâță, Otilia Clipa, Venera-Mihaela Cojocariu, Viorel Robu, Tatiana Dobrescu, Carlos Hervás-Gómez, Ionuț Viorel Stoica
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2021-05-01
• Series: Sustainability
• Subjects: mobile technologies; higher education; learning activity; Mobile Technologies Questionnaire; factor analysis; university students
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/11/5923

Our study aims to identify students’ attitudes towards the use of mobile technologies (MT) during learning activities in higher education. Data were collected using the Mobile Technologies Questionnaire/MTQ, a ten-item brief questionnaire that was designed to determine attitudes towards the use of mobile technologies in the learning process among university students and academic staff. The MTQ was completed by 575 students from a state university in the northeastern region of Romania. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses revealed two latent factors: MT facilities for study resources and communication and MT facilities for learning. Along with general analysis of the statistical indicators regarding the attitude towards the use of MT, the relationships between the use of MT and five socio-demographic variables (gender, age, place of residence, year of study, academic status and study program) were analyzed. Comparative data showed some statistically significant differences but with small or modest effect sizes, depending on age, year of study, place of residence, academic status and the study program in which the students were enrolled. This study provides additional support for the construct validity of a brief tool that was designed to measure students’ attitudes towards the use of MT during learning activities carried out in higher education.