Students' characteristics influence readiness to use mobile technology in higher education

Abstract

The purpose of the current study was to explore students' characteristics that influence student's readiness to use mobile technology at An-Najah National University in Palestine. The researchers used a mixed- methods approach to achieve the purpose of the study. 214 students from different schools were participated in the study. A descriptive and one-way ANOVA to test the hypotheses were used in data analysis stage. The findings of the study revealed that the availability of technology is an important factor to use mobile technology in higher education, as well as the student's capability to use mobile technology for her study. Furthermore, student's attitudes towards mobile technology integration play crucial role in student's readiness to use it. Higher education institutions could benefit from the findings of the study through designing capacity building programs for students to encourage them to use the mobile services inside and off campus. One of the limitations of the study was collecting data from one higher education institutions in Palestine. Furthermore, it depends on only on students' perspectives without including instructors' perspectives about students' readiness to use mobile technology.