Assessing the Impact of Mobile Information Communications Technology on Student Attitudes and Perceptions in an Urban Higher Education Environment

摘要

Mobile platforms present an excellent opportunity to bridge the digital divide that has an impact on so many students. At Morgan State University, we proudly boast of our leadership as a "Gateway to Opportunity" for many underrepresented students. This paper will address our efforts to: correct and build positive attitudes toward mobile Information Communications Technology (ICT), understand computer usage habits, and experiment with what methods are most effective in using mobile ICT to improve academic performance. Our approach was to insert mobile platforms with differing form factors into a learning environment and investigate their impact on student perception and performance. Outcomes, strategies, and assessment instruments were developed within a generic modular framework to measure the effectiveness of our approach. The preliminary results presented in this paper will show how technology form factor, access, length of time of ownership, and student classification has a positive impact on our student's attitudes and perceptions as well as their academic performances.