Use of electronic mobile devices in teaching and learning in higher education in Kenya: An emerging pedagogy Anne A. Aseey1, Julius Mwakondo Mwabora2 1Senior Lecturer, Department of Educational Studies, University of Nairobi, 2nd International Conferene of the African Virtual University

1. USE OF ELECTRONIC MOBILE DEVICES IN TEACHING
AND LEARNING IN HIGHER EDUCATION IN KENYA:
AN EMERGING PEDAGOGY
Anne A. Aseey1, Julius Mwakondo Mwabora2
1Senior Lecturer, Department of Educational
Studies, University of Nairobi, P. O. Box 30197
00100, Nairobi, Kenya.
Tel. +2547212020685,Email:
aaseey@uonbi.ac.ke(corresponding author)
2 Professor of Solid State Physics and Chairman,
Department of Physics, University of Nairobi, P. O. Box
30197-00100, Nairobi, Kenya Tel.+254
722709507,Email:mwabora@uonbi.ac.ke

2. Introduction
Worldwide, the process of teaching and learning
has been an avenue for early adopters and
adapters of innovations in technology. Carroll
&Fiona(2011)noted that, as more and more new
technologies are emerging in our everyday lives,
they are not only influencing us in what they can
do for us ,or even what they can enable us to do,
but they are also affecting our lives and activities
we perform substantially.

3. The mobile devices which comes in all shapes and
designs and are capable of performing various
roles in our lives have also affected our education
system. Mobile learning has been used by
researchers to refer to all forms of computer
technology like laptops, tablets, cell phones which
in education, can be embedded in the teaching
/learning process.
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the use
of electronic mobile devices among undergraduate
and postgraduate students at the University of
Nairobi, Kenya

4. UNESCO (2009) stated that, a growing number of
projects have shown that mobile technologies
provide an excellent medium for extending
educational opportunities to learners who may not
have access to high-quality schooling.
In the classroom, mobile learning is offering a
personalized approach to learning and teaching in
dwindling economies.

5. In Africa, use of technology in education is a key
component and major concern to many governments
and education stakeholders. Countries like Kenya, has
had a high penetration of mobile devices with the
mobile phones penetration reaching 67% majority
being smart phones. In America, Smartphone adoption
among teens has increased substantially and mobile
access to the internet is pervasive. One in four teens
are “cell-mostly” internet users, who say they mostly
go online using their phone and not using some other
device such as a desktop or laptop computer.
Ferster 2014 acknowledged that,
“Teaching machines can be only as effective as the
pedagogical methods they employ…and how they
stay focused on the learner”.

6. Methodology
Using a survey method, the study mainly targeted
ongoing postgraduate and undergraduate students
at various levels of their study. It focused on the
student’s use of electronic mobile devices for
academic and social purposes.
A total of 197 students both male and female aged
between 18-50 years were involved in the study.
They were asked several questions using closed
and open ended questionnaires relating to
;ownership of mobile devices, how they use them
for academic and social purposes, challenges they
face in using the devices,

7. whether the devices can improve their learning, the
type, internet access among other variables. The open
and close ended survey questions were coded using a
thematic analysis based on the variable being
investigated and also, responses were all tabulated
using frequency counts. The questionnaire return rate
realized was 99.8%.
Theoretical Background
The study is grounded on expectation-disconfirmation
theory (EDT), Bhattacherjee, Perols, and Sanford
(2008) proposed the information technology (IT)
continuance model to explain individuals’ intention to
continue using information and communication
technology.

8. In EDT, intention to continue using a product is
influenced by prior satisfaction. Users, degree of
satisfaction or dissatisfaction are the consequence
of the following four processes. First, users have
certain expectations about the product. Second,
users have exposure to the product (i.e., they try,
consume, or use the product), and thus compare
the experience of using the product with their
initial expectation.

9. Third, users determine whether the product is
better or worse than expected by confirming or
disconfirming the use of the product. Users
expectations are confirmed when the product
meets the expected standard or disconfirmed
when the product fails to meet expected
standards. Fourth, users make a satisfaction or
dissatisfaction judgment based on discrepancies
between the expected product attributes and the
experience of the product

10. RESULTS
Mobile use in higher education
Table 1.Elecronic devices and their use
among the respondents
One of the major findings of the study was
the multiple roles of the electronic mobile
devices among respondents. This gives
technology a cutting age in higher education.

11. Courses Popular mobile devices for academic
purposes
Common use of mobile devices Popular social network sites for
social and academic purposes
Diploma in Human Resource
Management
Mobile phone/Smartphone
Tablet/Laptop
Browsing, texting, taking pictures,
Social network ,course work and
research project work, job search
Facebook
Twitter
WhatsApp
Bachelor of Computer Science Smartphone
Tablet/Laptop/IPod
browsing, texting , social network,
class presentation, course work
research, computer and video games,
web development, blogging and
podcast, web mashups
Instagram, linkeldn,
Twitter
WhatsApp, Youtube, tumbir, google
scholar

12. Bachelor of Physical Sciences(micro
pressing technology, physics,
Astronomy and Astrophysics
&Geology)
Smartphone
Tablet/Laptop/Ipad
browsing, texting , social network,
class presentation, course work
research, computer and videogames,
blogging and podcast, web mashups
Facebook
Twitter.instagram
WhatsApp, Youtube
Master of Arts(Project Planning and
Management)
Mobile /Smartphone/ipad/
tablet and laptop
browsing, texting, social network,
class presentation, talking pictures,
course work and research project
work, job search
Facebook,Hi5
Twitter
WhatsApp, Youtube
Master of Science(Actuarial Science
and Physical Sciences)
Mobile /Smartphone and laptop browsing, texting, social network,
class presentation, course work and
research project work, access
electronic materials, job search
Facebook
Twitter, instagram, google
Scholar, WhatsApp, Youtube

13. The other major was that, all the respondents had
mobile phones with over 80% having Smartphones
which could connect to the internet directly hence
enabling them to perform various activities online
and offline. This justifies the faster penetration of
mobile phones in Africa with Kenya being one of
the highest consumers as reported in PEW
Research Centre 2012 that texting is most common
among cell phone owners in Indonesia (96%),
Kenya (89%), and Lebanon (87%), with eight-in-ten
or more in Poland, Mexico, Japan and China.

14. The respondents (89%), agreed that they
have social networks sites (SNS) accounts
which they use for both social and academic
purposes. For social purposes, a part from
motivating and engaging the learners, the
sites also helps them to be socially aware of
their environments, the family and other
current issues as learners and community of
citizens.

15. According to Abdulraheem(2013),educational
practitioners and theorists are exploring how social
media can be harnessed to describe and
implement new paradigms for communication,
learning and education while Mcarthy(2010) stated
that, effectively, engaging students requires not
only understanding their attitudes towards
academic life, but also understanding their social
life. In this study, 99% of the respondents agreed
that they have email addresses which the check
either daily, weekly or on a fortnight basis. The
respondents also agreed that they communicate to
their lecturers online once in a while but not
frequently as to their peers.

16. 90% of the respondents agreed that electronic
mobile devices are shaping higher education sector
in Kenya as it exposes and enables them to link to
other networks through back links and others for
academic purposes. For example, the blogs,
chatrooms and discussion platforms which were
popular among the science based respondents are
a good way of learners being exposed to various
facets of learning which sharpens their skills,
knowledge acquisition, retention and synthesis.

17. Access to internet which allows them access
relevant information, meet friends and peers
online acquire knowledge and interact nationally
and internationally anytime and anywhere them
was popular among the respondents.
Challenges in using mobile devices
cost in use, purchase and adoption of electronic
mobile device was a challenge to many of the
respondents.

18. • The structure of the timetable in most courses
does not give students ample time to use their
electronic mobile devices while in class unless
they are doing presentation.
• 88%of the respondents indicated that there is
information overload on the social network sites
that they visit hence interference with what they
intend to do academically.

19. • The respondents also indicated that there is a
conflict of interest between academic and social
sites. 60% of the respondents agreed that, at
times they end up logging in to social network
sites instead of academic sites.
• Online hackers and cyber security issues were
also some of the challenges the respondents
noted.
• Balancing of time for academic and social life was
a challenge as 50% of the respondents noted
that SNS can compromise academic time.

20. Discussion
Electronic Mobile devices ranging from
Smartphones to, ipads, laptop and others are
gaining popularity in all sectors of the economy
education included. With this rising demand and
popularity, the education sector is set to gain by
using these technologies especially with the
emergence of Web 2.0 technologies and social
media (Dron & Anderson, 2009; Conole, 2010;
Weller, 2010; Kop 2011).

21. The study indicated that, some of the lecturers still
do not interact freely and consistently with their
students on mobile devices or online. This is in line
with a study by Corpola et al.,(2002) that noted
that, for lecturers who participated online in newly
introduced course in one of the universities in the
US in early years, they could be regarded as
persuaded ‘volunteers’ at best and as ‘coerced
conscripts’. This is major challenge to effective use
of technology in education and especially mobile
devices.

22. Conclusion
The focus of this study was on the use of electronic
mobile devices for learning and teaching purposes.
First, the study looked at the variety of mobile
device the students use for academic purposes in
an academic year since the study was done in one
year period. Second, by using the expectation-
disconfirmation theory (EDT) of Bhattacherjee,
Perols and Sanford(2008),

23. The study aimed at gaining insight into university
students’ continuous use of mobile devices and
discontinued use if it does not serve the purpose it
is intended for.
The study contributes to the body of knowledge in
current researches examining the benefits and
challenges in using Technologies in the teaching
learning process in higher education.
In summary, the general findings revealed that,
when university students possess any mobile
device , they use it for both social and academic
purposes which according to various researches
have proved workable.

24. For future researchers, it would be recommendable
to capture tutors/lecturers use of mobile devices in
the teaching and learning process and the
experiences and challenges they face.
And also, to gain more insight into why students
differ in their adoption and adaptation of various
mobile devices, future studies should investigate
which student variables influence students
‘selection of a particular mobile device for
academic usage.

25. References
Abdelraheem,Ahmeded Yousif .University students’ use of social network
sites and their relation with some variables.WEI International Conference
Proceedings. January 14-14, 2013, Antalya, Turkey
Bhattacherjee, A., Perols, J., & Sanford, C. (2008). Information technology
continuance: A theoretic extension and empirical test. Journal of Computer
Information Systems, 49(1), 17_26.
Carrol Fiona and Rita Ropt (2011).A learning ,Research and Development
Framework to Design for a ‘ Holistic’ Learning Experience E-learning and
Digital Media, Volume 8 Number 4 2011
www.wwwords.co.uk/ELEA.retrieved 23/12/2013
ttp://dx.doi.org/10.2304/elea.2011.8.315Coppola N.W., Hiltz, S, R. &
Rotter,N, G.(2002) Becoming a Virtual professor: Pedagogical ROLES AND
Asynchronous Learning Networks. Journal of Management Information
Systems/Spring 2002, Vol.18.No.4, pp169-189
Dron,J.& Anderson,T.(2009).Lost in Social Space; Information retrieval
issues in Web 1.5,Journal of
DigitalInformation,10(2).http://journals.tdl.org/Jodi/article/view/159/151.
Retrived 27th May 2010
THANK YOU