Using Technology in Higher Education in King Khalid University

Few studies have investigated how university students in the United States or in other countries use smartphone technologies to support their learning. Much of the current research has investigated the general use mobile devices such as smartphones rather than identifying the specific applications used by university students to support their learning. In addition, there is a lack of research investigating the influence of institution, gender and culture on university students use of smartphones to supporting their learning. The purpose of this study was to investigate how university students from Saudi Arabia used smartphones for learning in the undergraduate teacher education courses. A total 320 undergraduate students from King Kahlid University, Saudi Arabia were surveyed to assess their use of smartphone applications to support their learning. Results from the 43 item smartphone survey found that Saudi students reported their overall use of smartphones as Never or Rarely during class and outside of class. The most frequent uses of smartphones reported by Saudi students during and outside of class were for communicating with others by texting and accessing course information. Saudi students also reported that they never or rarely observed others using their smartphones to dishonestly to complete assignments or during quizzes and exams. Results from this study indicate that smartphone applications are under utilized as a learning tool in higher education. As university students continue to have greater access to mobile devices, university faculty should consider ways to develop courses that are accessible by smartphones and other mobile devices to increase student learning opportunities.