Attitudes towards mobile devices in estonian basic education: Using the framework of the UTAUT model

Abstract

Despite the use of mobile devices becoming more ubiquitous, and the possibilities they offer for learning becoming more recognized, research shows that mobile devices are not always used to their fullest potential. Previous studies have found that attitudes towards technology can influence whether, and in what way, mobile devices are used. At present, there have been few studies focusing on samples of basic school students and mobile device use. It was our aim, therefore, to test whether the widely used theoretical UTAUT model could also be applied to a sample of basic school students, or whether some changes would be required before it could be used for a study of attitudes towards mobile devices among basic education students. 3521 Estonian basic school students from 6th (n = 2673) and 9th (n = 848) grades participated in the study. From the results 4 attitude factors could be distinguished. These included: Self-efficacy, Social Influence, Anxiety and Performance Enjoyment. The attitudes towards mobile devices in learning explained approximately 43% of the variance of student’s Behavioural Intention to use mobile devices, while Performance Enjoyment played a mediating role on the influence of Self-efficacy. Behavioural Intention explained 2% of the variance in the use of mobile devices for learning. The results suggest that some changes should be considered when researching students’ attitudes towards mobile devices in basic education.