IMPACT OF HANDHELD DEVICES ON ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS IN NIGERIA (EDUCATION PROJECT TOPICS AND MATERIALS)
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
A handheld can simply be defined as any portable device that can be carried and held in one’s hand. A handheld can also be said to be any computing or electronic device that is compact and portable enough to be held and used in one or both hands. A handheld may contain cellular communication, but this category can also include other computing devices.
Mobile learning, the use of portable electronic devices to access and share information, is a trend in higher education that cannot be under estimated in achieving academic excellence, and is redefining the manner in which teaching and learning takes place and how instruction is delivered by teachers (Geist, 2011; Miller, 2012). Mobile learning presents students and professionals with the unique opportunity to access information instantaneously regardless of location and time (Rossing, Miller, Cecil, & Stamper, 2012). This means that learning can occur anywhere at any time through the use of these hand held devices. Hand held Devices commonly used are smart phones; scientific and non scientific calculators or tablet computers. More specifically, the iPad and note pads is currently at the forefront of tablet use accounting for 97% of all tablet based web traffic in 2011 (Arnet, 2012). Although the implementation of hand held device use is well documented in secondary and tertiary education ,there is limited research supporting the use of these tools in higher education (Kessler, 2012). However, literature related to hand held device use at the tertiary level of education is proving to be positive and influential on student learning and academic performance. Current research has validated the potential of these hand held devices as they have been found to facilitate engagement and participation in discussion when used in the classroom teaching and learning (Rossing et. al, 2012). Moreover, students report that use of Hand held devices allows them to adapt course content to fit their learning style and pace (Rossing et. al, 2012). Hand held devices have also been found to be efficacious in the consumption of information with one of its most notable capabilities being its utility as an e-reader. Students are choosing to buy e-books that they can easily download on their tablets, while professors are choosing to upload excerpts from texts as pdf files and sharing them with students (Geist, 2011). Publishers are seeking ways to stay viable in this new market and looking to exploit the capabilities of tablet-pcs by creating visual interfaces and multimedia built in to their e-books to make learning more interactive (“iPad in Education”, n.d.)This is particularly important as a study by Rossing et. al (2012) found that the visual and tactile learning opportunities presented by these devices made the learning experience more “hands-on”. Similarly, studies have found that tablet-pcs have applications that serve as study aides and productivity tools for students.
