Smartphone Usage in Higher Learning Institutions in Tanzania: A Case of Institute of Accountancy Arusha

This study investigates the Smartphone usage among students in Higher Learning Institutions in Tanzania. The paper presents the results of survey conducted at the Institute of Accountancy Arusha on the usage of Smartphone for general purposes and for the academic purposes. A sample of 185 students were selected randomly from various programs - in different levels of study. The results show that 89 % of all respondents own Smartphones. These results revealed that most of students spend their time with Smartphones in social media for chatting with friends, adding comments and uploading pictures on facebook, taking pictures, and listening to music. The study also examines how often the HLI students apply their Smartphones for learning purposes. The results show that students use their Smartphones for reading course timetable, reading announcements, downloading course materials and reading lecture notes. This study, however, has revealed that there are other important services which are not well utilized for learning purposes, such as watching Instruction movies example YouTube, recording and making movies of lectures and own works. Furthermore, the results show that students are aware of the benefits of using Smartphones for learning purpose, however, the problem is to balance the time for socializing and for studying using their Smartphones.