5G Technology Readiness in Education among Malay Bumiputera Students in Shah Alam

Abstract

Technology evolved quickly over the decades through research and innovation. This latest technology is called 5G. Besides, the mobile technology has grown swiftly where the usage mobile technology tools such as smartphones, tablets computer, and laptops were increasing especially among students. Most of the students own mobile devices for educational purposes; during their learning process where to send/receive emails, download lecture notes, stream online videos. Consequently, mobile learning (M- Learning) takes place in providing new ways of learning. Apart from that, Augmented Reality (AR) also has becoming one of the technology tools used in education since it can access it anywhere this is because of the existence of mobile technology. Many studies show these technologies improved the students learning process and motivates them to learn more either inside or outside the classroom. However, there are some challenges to make full use of these technologies because of the current network technologies. For example, the challenges in mobile technology are Internet connection slow, network unreliability, and insufficient bandwidth. Meanwhile, for AR technology facing some challenges on providing real-time response and high latency. Therefore, with the help and support from new 5G technology may reduce and enhance the mentioned challenges. Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission stated that 5G implementation can improve the quality of life by providing better healthcare, transportation, smarter cities, and education all of which will enable Malaysians to be more productive for a longer period as life expectancy increases. Thus, it is imperative to investigate the readiness of Malay Bumiputera students before implementing 5G technology in education since the population of them in Shah Alam is huge. Hence, in this study an appropriate model was applied to identify the 5G technology readiness in education among 422 student UiTM Shah Alarm with four hypotheses by using Technology Readiness Index (TRI) model to carry out a regression analysis. The results of this study indicate that Optimism factor has a positive significant effect on the 5G technology, but Innovativeness, Discomfort and Insecurity factors has no significant effect. Thus, to improve the design of 5G technology readiness model for further improvement. Lastly, this study finds that implementing 5G leads to better learning performance and helps university to be prepared by leveraging on the 5G as it will be commercially used by 2021.