Perspectives of Students on Acceptance of Tablets and Self-directed Learning with Technology

Abstract

Recent mobile learning technologies offer the opportunity for students to take charge ofthe learning process both inside and outside the classroom. One of these tools is the tabletPC (hereafter ‘tablet’). In parallel with increased access to e-content, the role of tablets inlearning has recently begun to be examined. This study aims to reveal the relationshipbetween the level of acceptance of tablets (TAM) and the level of selfdirectedlearning with technology (SDLT) of students and to differentiate these in terms ofgender. A mixed method research design is used in this study. In addition, the qualitativepart of the study aims to determine the reasons students have for using or not using tabletsfor supporting learning. The study group consisted of 414 high school students, involved inthe pilot application group of the FATIH project in Turkey. According to the study, asignificant positive relationship was determined between four of the variables of tabletacceptance and the SDLT level. While the degree of acceptance of tablets was differentaccording to gender, the SDLT level was not.