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Prospects and Challenges of Mobile Learning Implementation: Kuwait HE Case Study

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Mobile learning is a new learning landscape that offers opportunity for collaborative, personal, informal, and students' centered learning environment. In implementing any learning system such as mobile learning environment, it is important to understand challenges that affect its implementations in aculture. Additionally, learners' and instructors' expectations are deemed necessary for consideration. However, there is a lack of studies on this aspect, particularly in the context of Kuwait HE institutions. This research presents opportunities and prospects of m-learning, and discusses challenges and implications facing its implementation. The authors of this paper conducted a study in Kuwait HE to examine both students' and instructors' perceptions and attitudes toward this trend of learning, to evaluate its effectiveness, and to investigate cultural and social challenges that affect the implementation of m-learning in Kuwait HE. A questionnaire was administered to 499 students and 110 Instructors from different higher educational institutions in Kuwait. The results reveal that students and instructors have positive perceptions of m-learning, and believe that m-learning enhances the teaching and the learning process. The study reports some social and cultural issues that may act as barriers to m-learning implementation.
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International Arab Journal of e-Technology, Vol. 4, No. 3, January 2017 143
Prospects and Challenges of Mobile Learning
Implementation: Kuwait HE Case Study
Ahmed Al-Hunaiyyan1, Rana Alhajri2,Salah Al-Sharhan3
1, 2 Computer Science Dept. Public Authority of AppliedEducation and Training (PAAET), Kuwait
3 Computer Science Dept. Gulf University for Science, and Technology (GUST), Kuwait
Abstract: Mobile learning is a new learning landscape that offers opportunity for collaborative, personal, informal,
and students’ centered learning environment. In implementing any learning system such as mobile learning
environment, it is important to understand challenges that affect its implementations in aculture. Additionally,
learners’ and instructors’ expectations are deemed necessary for consideration. However, there is a lack of studies
on this aspect, particularly in the context of Kuwait HE institutions. This research presents opportunities and
prospects of m-learning, and discusses challenges and implications facing its implementation. The authors of this
paper conducted a study in Kuwait HE to examine both students’ and instructors’ perceptions and attitudes toward
this trend of learning, to evaluate its effectiveness, and to investigate cultural and social challenges that affect the
implementation of m-learning in Kuwait HE. A questionnaire was administered to 499 students and 110 Instructors
from different higher educational institutions in Kuwait. The results reveal that students and instructors have
positive perceptions of m-learning, and believe that m-learning enhances the teaching and the learning process. The
study reports some social and cultural issues that may act as barriers to m-learning implementation.
Keywords: Mobile learning; human computer interaction;e-learning; higher education; implementation
challenges; perceptions
Received August 29, 2016; Accepted November 29, 2016
1. Introduction
Mobile learning has been defined by different
researchers. Traxler (2007) defines m-learning, as an
educational interaction between learners and the
learning materials, which can be accessed from any
location, using mobile technology [31]. Kinash et al.
(2012) describe m-learning as using mobile devices for
educational setting [22]. Mobile technology provides
us with a challenge that is to find out how to construct
environments that can support different kind of
learning settings and activities [4,5]. M-learning is also
providing us with opportunity that is to change the
existing learning strategies to give students much
higher flexible approach to managing their learning
experiences. Ozdamli and Cavus (2011) listed some
characteristic of mobile learning such as: ubiquitous,
portable, blended, private, interactive, collaborative,
and instant [28]. The rest of this paper is organized as
follows: Section 2 introducesa literature review.
Section 3 provides challenges of m-learning that affect
the implementation of this technology and the
educational process. A case study about m-learning in
Kuwaiti higher education is introduced in section 4.
Section 5 concludes the study.
2. Literature Review
Very recent study conducted by Dashti and Aldashti,
(2015) investigated English major students’ attitudes
and perceptions towards the use of mobile learning at
the College of Basic Education in Kuwait [16]. Their
results indicated that the majority (80.3%) of students
like the use of mobile devices in the learning
environment and believe that it enhances their
knowledge of language in terms of vocabulary and
grammar. Furthermore, Almutairy et al. (2015)
presented the findings of a survey study exploring the
possibility of integrating m-learning into Saudi
Arabian HE institutions [8]. The study showed that m-
learning provides unique opportunities, whichhas
positive outcomes in terms of increasing study skills
and knowledge acquisition. In addition,Alfarani,
(2015) conducted a study to understand the influence
on the adoption of mobile learning in Saudiwomen
teachers in higher education [2]. She found that
although participants (educators) perceived m-learning
to have the potential to enhance communication with
students, they identified technological, institutional,
pedagogical, and individual obstacles to the use of m-
learning which had negative influence on mobile
learning acceptance. The findings also revealed that
resistance to change and perceived social culture are
significant determinants of the current use of and the
intention to use m-learning.
144 International Arab Journal of e-Technology, Vol. 4, No. 3,January 2017
Furthermore, an investigation was conducted by Al-
Fahad (2009),in order to understand and measure
female students' attitudes and perceptions towards the
effectiveness of m-learning [1]. Results of the survey
indicate that offering m-learning could improve the
retention of bachelor students, by enhancing their
teaching/learning. Similar study conducted by
Nassuora (2013) to understand student’sacceptance of
m-learning for HE in Saudi Arabiaand to examine the
possibility of acceptance in m-learning [26]. The
researcher used a quantitative approach survey of 80
students. The results from statistical analysis show that
there is a high level of acceptanceon m-learning level
among students.
Regarding cultures, traditions, and religious norms,a
recent paper by AL-Kandari et al. (2016) sought to find
out the influence of culture on Instagram use between
males and females in Kuwait [7].Study results confirm
that males are more likely than females to post their
personal pictures on Instagram, more likely to disclose
their personal information and more likely to have
public accounts unlike females who are more likely to
have private accounts than males.In addition,Baker et
al. (2007) gave an example of Saudi Arabia a country
withcultural traditions relating to gender [13]. Because
of cultural and religious norms there is gender
segregation in the Saudi HE system, which differs
significantly fromthose whowere seen in western
cultures, and which have a significant impact on the
attitudes and norms thatinfluence their behavior.
3. M-learning Challenges
Research indicates that m-learning offers considerable
benefits to build and support creative, collaborative,
and communicative learning environments [6,29]. The
implementation of efficient m-learning project,
however, within educational environment is still a
challenge due to the complex environment that
incorporates management, pedagogical, technological
elements, and socio-cultural issues.
Managements of educational institutions need to
define clear policies, and technical and pedagogical
support, in order to go for wide-scale implementation
of m-learning.Lack of support and institutionalpolicies
were cited as institutional obstacles [19]. One of the
most crucial challenges facing the educational
institutions, when implementing m-learning project, is
managing the change within the institution. Managing
such change will affect processes, activities, and
components, as well as people of the educational
institution [10].
It is challenging toproperlyintegrate technology into
their wider educational activities, and significant
efforts and steps have been made to provide
methodologies and strategies to integrate mobile
devices into teaching and learning
practices[20].Dahlstrom and Bichsel (2014) urge
researchers to look at pedagogical insights that will
help instructors to better embrace mobile technologies
[15]. It is stressed by [17, 24],that to accomplish this,
mobile learning requires a successful integration
between educational content and technology to achieve
educational goals and to provide a successful teaching
and learning environment.
Furthermore, it is important to understand that
mobile devices are equipped with various features such
as: Camera, location, sensors, media player, calculator,
calendar, etc. Understanding these capabilities will
help designers to explore the potential of mobile
learning, which can truly support informal and social
learning models. Goel (2014) stated that it is
challenging for instructional designers to design e-
learning courses effectively for mobile devices, he
pointed out thatm-learning should be viewed
differently, due to mobile characteristics such as the
screen size, screen orientation, mobile storage and
memory, and network bandwidth [18].
On the other hand, user interface design is important
factor for successful application. Thus, designing and
developing an efficient educational interface within a
learning environment is still a challenge for most
developers, facilitators, and educators [3].Technical
difficulties are a significant aspect in the
implementation and integration of m-learning
technologies in education. Qureshi et al. (2012) listed
some of these difficulties which include “installation,
availability of latest technology, fast Internet
connection, and uninterrupted supply of electricity,
maintenance, administration, security and absence of
technical support [31]. In addition, there are technical
challenges related to the infrastructure, mobile device,
application development, technical support, security,
and technical knowledge of instructors, learners, and
other stakeholders, which must be considered during
project implementation.
Evaluation is an essential activity in the lifecycle of
any interactive learning systems design, and
mobilelearning adds additional challenges for
evaluation of both the technology and the learning
outcome. Messinger (2012) stated that there is a lack of
evidence regarding the effective use of mobile learning
in education, which he believes will limit the
widespread adoption of mobile learning and urged to
integrate evaluation strategies into the implementations
of m-learning [25].
There are cultural norms and social concerns while
accepting the deployment of m-learning. Ethical and
practical implications such as: resistance to change
amongst lecturers; concerns about new social practices
affecting lecturers’ personal time; increasing amount of
information to be stored on his device; privacy issues;
data security; and cyber-bullying, were addressed by
[12, 14].The accessibility of mobile devices is another
challenge. If mobile learning is to be implemented
successfully, students and instructors must own a
Prospects and Challenges of Mobile Learning Implementation: Kuwait HE Case Study 145
mobile device [14]. Culturaldifferences are key factors
for both the acceptance of these types of technology
and for their future use [9]. Resistance to change is a
challenge; it is believed that mobile technology
increases the work for the instructors because it adds
additional preparations. Some educatorsresist the idea
of integrating this technologyinto their practice,
because of the constraints it present to them. Studies
report that resistance to change plays an essential role
in accepting technology in education [21].
4. Case Study: M-learning in Kuwaiti HE
The Ministry of Education in Kuwait (MOE) has
launched a national e-learning project in Kuwait based
on Kuwait e-learning strategy that was developed in
2008. The MoE distributed 80,500 one to one mobile
devices (Tablets) on students and instructors in the
academic year 2015/2016 in order to activate mobile
learning. Currently, the teacher readiness program is
executed to prepare the teacher for the new era. This
program is designed by the e-learning team at MoE
and international vendors.
In the Arab world, Al-Shehri (2012) stated that one
major factor which can make mobile learning suitable
and effective choice in the Arab world is the
widespread penetration of mobile devices among Arab
young students [11]. The mobile market in Kuwait
experienced strong growth in mobile penetration to
over 200 percent in 2015 offering strong network
connections [23]. The high mobile phone penetrations
among people in Kuwait as well as availability of good
mobile infrastructure are all important factors that can
enhance the shift to mobile learning. Therefore, this
study was conducted to seek both students’ and
instructors’ perceptions and attitudes toward mobile
learning, evaluate its effectiveness, and investigates
cultural and social challenges that affect the
implementation of m-learning in Kuwait HE.
The study tries to answer the following questions:
What are the students’ and instructors’ perceptions
towards the use of mobile devices for m-learning?
Are there any perceived social or cultural issues that
may affect the acceptance of m-learning?
Will instructors resist the idea of mobile learning?
4.1. Methodology
This study was exploratory in nature. It investigates
higher education students’ and instructors’ perceptions
and attitudes towards mobile learning. For the sake of
satisfying the study’s objectives, two online
questionnaires have been designed, one for students,
and one for instructors (the reason for designing two
questionnaires because of slight variations of the
questions). During the second academic term (Spring
2015/2016), the questionnaires were randomly
distributed to 620undergraduate students (in which
499students completed all the questions in the
questionnaire successfully). The questionnaires were
also randomly distributed to 125instructors (in which
110instructors completed all the questions in the
questionnaire successfully). The analysis of the survey
results is presented based on a valid response of the
questioned answered by students and the instructors
who completed all the questions in the questionnaires,
499 students and 110 instructors.
The scales used in the two questionnaires were
designed to be appropriate to the scope and context of
the study. Each questionnaire is consisted of 2
sections. Section 1 collects demographic data, while
section 2 of the questionnaire consisted 5-PointLikert
type scale as: 1 forStronglyDisagree, 2 for Disagree, 3
for Neutral, 4 for Agree, and 5 for Strongly Agree. In
order to rate the questionnaire items, data were
quantitatively analyzed using SPSS. Percentages,
means, and standard deviations (SD), were used for the
sake of the analysis. A pilot study was conducted in
order to test the adequacy of the questionnaire, to
assess the feasibility of the survey, and to validate the
initial results. Few improvements were made for the
preparation of the main study.
4.2. Results
In this section,we present results of the study including
students’ and instructors’ demographic data and
background information, Tables (1) and (2);Students’
and instructors’ perceptions and attitudes about m-
learning, Tables (3) and (4); A comparison between
students’ and instructors’ opinions and perceptions
Table (5).
4.2.1. Respondents Profiles and
BackgroundInformation
The outputs of the first 6 questionsare tabulated below
showing students’ gender, marital status, age,
educational institution, type of mobile device, and
frequent use of mobile applications. Table (1)
represents the characteristics of the students and Table
(2) represents characteristics of the instructors.
4.2.2 Students’ Perception of M-learning
Section (2) of students’ and instructors’ questionnaires
used to measure students’ and instructors’ perceptions
and attitudes about m-learning. The term Agreement
represents “Strongly agree” plus “Agree” responses,
while Disagreement represents “Strongly disagree”
plus “Disagree responses”. Table (3) reflects students’
responses.
4.2.3 Instructors’ Perceptions of M-learning
Instructors’ responses regarding their perceptions and
opinions about m-learning are shown as in Table (4).
Table 1.Characteristics of the Students (499 respondent).
146 International Arab Journal of e-Technology, Vol. 4, No. 3,January 2017
Characteristics
Number
Percentage %
Q1. Gender
Male
160
32.1%
Female
339
67.9%
Q2. Marital status
Single
356
71.3%
Married
143
28.7%
Q3. Age
16-24 Years
336
67.3%
25-35 Years
116
23.2%
More than 35
47
9.4%
Q4. Educational institution
PAAET
246
49.3%
Kuwait University
38
7.6%
Private University
154
30.9%
Ministry of Education
46
9.2%
Other
15
3.0%
Q5. My mobile device
I Phone
379
76.0%
Galaxy
110
22.0%
Others
8
1.6%
I do not own
2
.4%
Q6. I use mobile applications
Seldom
13
2.6%
Sometimes
123
24.6%
Always
363
72.7%
Table 2. Characteristics of the Instructors (110 respondent)
Characteristics
Number
Q1. Gender
Male
65
Female
45
Q2. Marital status
Single
36
Married
74
Q3. Age
16-24 Years
24
25-35 Years
25
36-55 Years
52
More than 55 Years
9
Q4. Educational institution
PAAET
65
Kuwait University
6
Private University
23
Ministry of Education
15
Other
1
Q5. My mobile device
I Phone
79
Galaxy
27
Others
3
I do not own
1
Q6. I use mobile applications
Seldom
1
sometimes
21
Always
88
Table 3.Students’ Perceptions of Mobile Learning.
No.
Question
Strongly
Agree
Agree
Neutral
Disagree
Strongly
Disagree
Mean
SD
Q 7.
Learning by mobile helps me learn anytime
anywhere
202
183
66
32
16
4.05
1.040
40.48%
36.67%
13.23%
6.41%
3.21%
Q 8.
Learning by mobile increases students’
motivation to learning
127
150
140
64
18
3.61
1.106
25.45%
30.06%
28.06%
12.83%
3.61%
Q 9.
Mobile helps to follow up on grades and
student record
272
166
44
9
8
4.37
.844
54.51%
33.27%
8.82%
1.80%
1.60%
Q 10.
Learning by mobile is a good idea
144
161
117
50
27
3.69
1.148
28.86%
32.26%
23.45%
10.02%
5.41%
Q 11.
M-learning breaks down psychological
barriers between students and instructors
142
175
108
49
25
3.72
1.127
28.46%
35.07%
21.64%
9.82%
5.01%
Q 12.
M-learning helps me to share information
with other students
238
184
55
8
14
4.25
.918
47.70%
36.87%
11.02%
1.60%
2.81%
Q 13.
The use of social media applications help
in educational attainment
119
220
95
48
17
3.75
1.030
23.85%
44.09%
19.04%
9.62%
3.41%
Q 14.
I feel satisfied if it were to impose the use
of m-learning as a new learning tool
103
124
133
84
55
3.27
1.270
20.64%
24.85%
26.65%
16.83%
11.02%
Q 15.
I reject m-learning if it allows male and
female students to contact each other
74
95
161
97
72
3.00
1.248
14.83%
19.04%
32.26%
19.44%
14.43%
Q 16.
Our society will reject m-learning due to
the customs and traditions
49
97
167
114
72
2.87
1.175
9.82%
19.44%
33.47%
22.85%
14.43%
Q 17.
The use of social media will cause social
and family problems
75
136
162
86
40
3.24
1.14
15.03%
27.25%
32.46%
17.23%
8.02%
Prospects and Challenges of Mobile Learning Implementation: Kuwait HE Case Study 147
Table 4. Instructors’ Perceptions of Mobile Learning.
No.
Question
Strongly
Agree
Agree
Neutral
Disagree
Strongly
Disagree
Mean
SD
Q 7.
Learning by mobile helps students learn anytime
anywhere
31
53
14
9
3
3.91
.991
28.2%
48.2%
12.7%
8.2%
2.7%
Q 8.
Mobile helps to follow up on recording my
grades and follow student’s records
62
38
4
6
0.0
4.42
.806
56.4%
34.5%
3.6%
5.5%
0.0%
Q 9.
M-learning breaks down psychological barriers
between students and instructors
29
49
26
4
2
3.90
.898
26.4%
44.5%
23.6%
3.6%
1.8%
Q 10.
M-learning will add additional duties on my
regular work as an instructor
12
23
32
30
13
2.92
1.182
10.9%
20.9%
29.1%
27.3%
11.8%
Q 11.
m-learning helps to solve the problems caused
by the absence of students
30
49
19
8
4
3.85
1.024
27.3%
44.5%
17.3%
7.3%
3.6%
Q 12.
Using mobile in teaching increases academic
achievement for students
25
45
24
13
3
3.69
1.038
22.7%
40.9%
21.8%
11.8%
2.7%
Q 13.
Q13_ Use social media applications help in
educational attainment
23
56
20
7
4
3.79
.968
20.9%
50.9%
18.2%
6.4%
3.6%
Q 14.
I feel satisfied if it were to impose the use of m-
learning as a new teaching tool
24
30
29
15
12
3.35
1.268
21.8%
27.3%
26.4%
13.6%
10.9%
Q 15.
I would like to use mobile in teaching
35
32
29
7
7
3.74
1.163
31.8%
29.1%
26.4%
6.4%
6.4%
Q 16.
Our society will reject m-learning due to the
customs and traditions
13
24
38
23
12
3.03
1.161
11.8%
21.8%
34.5%
20.9%
10.9%
Q 17.
The use of social media will cause social and
family problems
13
30
44
17
6
3.25
1.033
11.8%
27.2%
40%
15.5%
5.5%
4.2.4. Comparing Students with Instructors’
Perceptions
Data presented in Table (5) compares students’ and
instructors’ responses. The table shows the percentage
of students’ and instructors’ perceptions and opinions.
The term Agreement represents “Strongly agree” plus
“Agree” responses, while Disagreement represents
“Strongly disagree” plus “Disagree” responses. It is
interesting to find similarity in the percentages of most
of the questions, as illustrated in Figure (1), which
indicates that they have the same perceptions and
attitudes toward m-learning.
Table 5.Comparing Students’ with Instructors Perceptions.
No.
Question
Students’
Agreement
Instructors’
Agreement
Q1
I own a mobile device (Device
Ownership)
99.60%
99.10%
Q2
Learning by mobile helps
students learning anytime
anywhere.
77.15%
76.40%
Q3
Mobile helps to follow up on
instructors and students’ grades
and records
87.78%
90.00%
Q4
M-learning breaks down
psychological barriers between
students and instructors
63.53%
70.90%
Q5
m-learning helps to solve the
problems caused by the absence
of students
76.55%
71.80%
Q6
Use social media applications
help in educational attainment
67.77%
72.00%
Q7
I will be satisfied if it were to
impose the use of m-learning as a
new teaching tool
45.49%
48.80%
Q8
Our society will reject m-learning
due to the customs and traditions
29.26%
33.60%
Q9
The use of social media will
cause social and family problems
42.28%
39.10%
Figure 1.Comparing Students’ with Instructors Perceptions.
4.3. Discussions
Regarding the first research question, “What are the
students’ and instructors’ perceptions and attitudes
towards the use of mobile devices for m-learning?The
results presented in Table (3), and Table (4) show that
students and instructors have positive opinions about
m-learning. The results strongly suggest that majority
of the students and instructors perceived mobile
learning as appealing learning tool as it allows the
freedom to learn whenever and wherever they want.
The value of mobility in mobile learning is vital and
appreciated by the students and instructors. They
perceived potential of providing various ways of
learning; follow up on students’ records and grades;
and in obtaining resources and multimedia learning
materials on their mobiles. Students and instructors
feel strongly that mobile devices allow them to be
connected and collaborate with each other. The
enjoyment that they perceived in using their mobile
devices is also a key issue in their perception of mobile
0.00%
20.00%
40.00%
60.00%
80.00%
100.00%
120.00%
Question 1
Question 2
Question 3
Question 4
Question 5
Question 6
Question 7
Question 8
Qquestion 9
Students'
Agreement
Instructors'
Agreement
148 International Arab Journal of e-Technology, Vol. 4, No. 3,January 2017
learning. In addition, there is also evidence of positive
perception of using mobile learning as a social device.
By being able to collaborate and connect themselves to
the facilitators, students and other people, students and
instructors felt positively towards mobile learning with
the social features offered through their mobile devices
and social media applications. About 67% of the
students and 72% of instructors believe that social
media applications enhance learning.
In regards to the second research question Are
there any perceived social or cultural issues that may
affect the acceptance of m-learning?It is important to
point that because of Kuwaiti traditions and
conservative culture, there is gender segregation in the
Kuwaiti educational system, therefore, students’
opinions about male students contacting female
students through m-learning collaboration was exactly
divided in half with 33.87% rejected, while 33.87% did
not reject. Regarding the society whether they reject
m-learning because of Kuwaiti culture and traditions,
students who agree are 29.26%, which is less than
students who disagree with 37.28%. On the other
hand,instructorsagreement on that are 33.560% of the
total number, which is slightly higher than those
instructors who disagree (31.80%). In addition, as
social media can be used in collaborative learning,
students who believed that social media programs will
cause family problems are 42.28%, which is higher
than 25.25% of those students who disagree, while
instructors who believed that social media programs
will cause family problems are 39.10% which is higher
than 21.00% of the instructors who disagree.
Although the conservative attitudes of students and
instructors and the society at large regarding the use of
mobile devices equipped with a camera which is
allowing male students to contact female students
which might negatively affects the use of mobile
learning in class, the respondents were divided on this
issue, with half ‘agreeing’ and the other half
‘disagreeing’. About 67% of the students and 72% of
instructors believe that social media applications
enhance learning. However, they indicated that the use
of social media will cause family problems because of
the culture and traditions in Kuwait. A study conducted
by AL-Kandari et al.(2016) supported these
findings[7].The study show that families in Kuwait are
more likely to reject that their daughters to allow other
stranger males to follow them in social media
applications. Having male’s followers may shows a
female who is a playful. Such image is because “The
misbehavior by women is believed to do more damage
to family honor” [27]. Another study by Baker et al.
(2007) indicated that when, there is gender segregation
in the education system, because of cultural and
religious norms which differs significantly fromthose
seen in western cultures, will have a significant impact
on the attitudes and norms thatinfluence their behavior
towards the use of this technology [13].
To answer the third research question,Will
Instructors resist the idea of mobile learning because it
adds more responsibilities?”,although resistance to
change is a negative influence on the acceptance of m-
learning [2], instructors in this study felt happy with
using m-learning in teaching and not showing resistant
to the technology in which (60.17%) of them agree that
m-leaning is a good idea to be used for teaching.
However, (32.79%) of them believed that m-learning
will add additional duties on their work.Although
mobile devices ownership is more than (99%), m-
learning remains in its infancy in Kuwait HE.
However, Research indicates that the use of mobile in
learning is not as widespread as the devices [15].
5. Conclusion
This research presents opportunities and prospects of
m-learning, and discusses challenges and implications
facing its implementation. The motivation in pursuing
this study is the interest to understand students’ and
instructors’ perceptions and attitudes about mobile
learning, and to look at the readiness of both students
and instructors to adopt and use m-learning in Kuwait
HE. Our study shows that students’ and instructors’
attitude to mobile learning is welcoming, and that most
the students and instructors believe that m-learning is
appealing because it allows the freedom to learn
whenever and wherever they want regardless of their
gender, age, or their educational institution
(government or private). Despite the m-learning
welcoming by students and instructors, they thought
that the society might reject m-learning because it has
a conflict with the Kuwaiti traditions and culture,
especially that there is gender segregation in the
Kuwaiti educational system. M-learning remains in its
infancy in Kuwaiti educational systems, and it is hoped
that with adequate information and awareness of the
requirements of m-learning and its challenges,
academic institutions and higher education policy
makers in Kuwait should consider the possibility of
creating mobile learning environments at academic
institutions with consideration of the social, cultural,
religious norms, and traditions.
As for a future work, it is important for m-learning
implementations to understand and overcome the
challenges of m-learning which are discussed in this
paper such as management challenges, pedagogical
challenges, design and development challenges,
technical challenges, evaluation challenges, cultural
and social challenges.The increasing availability of
open educational resources for mobile technology is
making access to learning more affordable for
students. A research on how to design and deliver
learning content to reach the Arab learners, by
adopting pedagogical methodologies, taking into
consideration their cultures and traditions is valuable.
Prospects and Challenges of Mobile Learning Implementation: Kuwait HE Case Study 149
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Ahmed A. Al-Hunaiyyanis a
faculty member of the department of
Computer and Information systems
at PAAET, Kuwait. He earned
his PhD. Degree in the field of
Computer Science, specializing in
Multimedia interface design, from
Hertfordshire University, UK. As of working
experience, he participated in various academic
institutions. His research interest is (HCI), software
Usability, e-learning, and social networking services.
Rana Alhajri is a faculty member in the department of
Computer Science at the Higher Institute at (PAAET)
in Kuwait. She earned her PhD. Degree in the field of
Computer Science, from Brunel University, UK. Her
research interest is Hypermedia and Multimedia
design, HCI, Usability, and social media.
Salah Al-Sharhanis Associate
Professor, Computer Science
Department (2002now). He is also
the Vice President for Academic
Affairs at 'Gulf University for
Science and Technology (GUST),
Kuwait. He earned his Ph.D. in
Systems Design Engineering with an emphasis on
Computational Intelligence from 'Waterloo University'
in 2002. Dr. Al-Sharhan's research interests span
different areas such as the applications of
computational intelligence to network optimization,
data clustering and optimization problems. His
professional scope of focus includes implementing e-
health strategies, national e-learning frameworks,
enterprise architecture and eManagement.
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This paper presents study investigating the extent to which Saudi students understand and are familiar with mobile learning. It investigates students' use of handheld devices and considers the daily activities for which they could be used while also evaluating m-learning in Saudi Arabia-a topic that has not yet received adequate attention from researchers. Initial data was acquired through a questionnaire carried out among 131 Saudi students at UK universities in July 2013. The study confirmed that students' are confident using mobile devices in their daily lives and that they would welcome more opportunities of mobile learning. The findings reinforce the fact that higher education policy makers in Saudi Arabia need to consider the possibility of creating mobile learning environments at academic institutions.
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Many university academics disagree with the rationale that we should pursue mobile learning because 21st century students are apparently demanding it. We argue that the only defensible rationale for making mobile learning part of pedagogy is because it enhances student learning. This presentation shares results from research with 135 students engaged in mobile learning over two semesters. It addresses the question of whether Blackboard Mobile Learn made a perceived difference to their learning. Results revealed that in-class, students used their mobile devices for Blackboard Mobile Learn to the same extent as they used them for searching the web for study, accessing university web pages, email and making Facebook posts, but less than they used them for browsing the web for pleasure and Facebook reading. The majority of students were neutral when asked if they prefer Mobile Learn over PC access to Blackboard. Students were likewise neutral when asked whether they perceived iPads to improve their learning. There was higher frequency agreement that using iPads motivated them to learn. Qualitative feedback from focus groups was mixed, but largely positive. The overall interpretation was that it is a matter of course that students would access their subject site via mobile devices.