The use of smartphones as an educational tool in the classroom: Lecturers' perceptions

Abstract

Smartphone with its multifunctional features has gained significant importance as a must have gadget of study, work and everyday life. As an emerging trend in educational settings, many institutions are in the process of integrating smartphone into the classroom as a learning tool. This paper aims to study the lecturers' perceptions toward the use of smartphone as an educational tool in classroom. The study also investigates the benefits and perceived barriers of smartphone use by students in classroom from the lecturers' perspective. A quantitative research design was employed and data from a random sample of 50 lecturers of Kandahar University was collected using a questionnaire. The data was analyzed by descriptive statistics using SPSS v24 software. The findings revealed that the lecturers allow the use of smartphone as an educational tool in classroom for all its functions except for the use of social media. The findings also indicated that the lecturers perceive the use of smartphone by the students in classrooms to be beneficial for students in their learning in various ways. Moreover, the findings indicated no major perceived barriers caused by smartphone use in classroom.