title: Requirements for the Acceptance of Mobile Learning Technology for Smart Devices at Higher Education Institutions in Saudi Arabia from an End User's Perspective
Creators: name: Badwelan, Alaa O
Publisher: name: Griffith University
Year: 2020
Subjects: subject: Mobile Learning
subject: Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

description: Mobile learning (M-learning) via smart devices represents one of the most important E-learning environments at institutions of higher education. It provides access to education on smart devices through a wide range of mobile networks, and provides the opportunity to learn regardless of time and place. This is in contrast to E-learning services that depend on a specific location for the learning process. The aim of this research is to determine what the requirements are for increasing the acceptance of M-learning in general, and to determine the requirements of students at higher education institutions, in particular, for accepting learning via smart devices. There are shortages to be addressed in educational opportunities and quality for Saudi communities that require a high level of privacy and separation of genders in education (Garg, 2013; Sarrab et al., 2014). According to the Ministry of Education (MOE) Policy in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), gender segregation in education reflects the country’s religious and traditional values as well as the national policy in general (MOE, 2013, No. 155). Thus, several opportunities would help the target audience to more readily accept learning applications in the Saudi Arabian community. As well, the communities can expand their knowledge while still maintaining the government policy associated with religious values and the separation of gender in all levels of education; males and females can exchange and share their information easily through the electronic framework without breaking religious restrictions in the Saudi society. The KSA is in the process of digital transformation. Most government agencies operate within the new Vision 2030, which requires them to accept and deal with this transformation easily and effectively. One of these agencies is the MOE. Therefore, the research focus for this study is on aspects of learning and the distribution of knowledge among students themselves, within the digital environment, and not between students and their teachers in the class. This study adopts and modifies the theoretical framework of the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT), as per many of the previous studies that have been conducted in this field. It adds to the UTAUT a new construct, called application quality requirements, which is composed of requirements for system quality, information quality, and interface quality. Many research studies about approaches to the acceptance of E-learning were conducted in Saudi Arabia between 2013 and 2015. Many of these previous studies have focused on the factors influencing M-learning accepting in KSA; however, there is a shortage of the main practical requirements that can be influenced by particular societies or traditional requirements that are related to the KSA community background. By using the UTAUT model, we address the gaps in the current research by identifying the practical requirements of our target audience that help us to determine the best practices in M-learning. Therefore, our research question is: “From an end user’s perspective, how do the unique requirements of KSA society with respect to M‐learning environments increase the acceptance of such innovations in higher education?” The number of distance-learning students at Saudi universities has gradually increased over the past five years. The recently established Saudi Electronic University has an ambitious plan to reach 100,000 students over the next five years. Its stakeholders face a major challenge in the distance-learning field, especially with regard to learning via smart devices; they are therefore interested in the positive performance of M-learning at existing Saudi universities. In addition, the rise of smartphones in Saudi society dramatically demonstrates how it has made a fundamental choice in favor of smart devices. According to a 2015 eMarketer report, Saudi Arabia has the third highest percentage of smartphone users with regard to the total population of smartphone use. Thus, it is useful to pay particular attention to the requirements of students at universities and other academic institutions in order to understand and design an acceptable framework for creating learning materials delivered via smart devices.