What makes learners use portable educational applications on the smartphones in their pockets?

Sahoon Kim
Hankuk University of Foreign Studies
Seoul, Korea

The purpose of this study is to illuminate the factors which influence learners’ acceptance of educational applications on a portable computing technology, the smartphone. The research attempts to examine the factors influencing learners’ acceptance of educational applications of smartphones, and to establish a theory-based model, and verify it. To explore these reas, the researcher used grounded theory methodology. The data were gathered through 12 focus group interviewers in South Korea. The results showed that the influential properties were ‘open minded’, ‘effective learning’, ‘accessing easily’, ‘independence’, ‘willingness’, ‘fun’, ‘challenging’, ‘problem-solving’, ‘usage of peers’, ‘usefulness’, ‘test score’, ‘money’, ‘teachers’ suggestions’, ‘experience of online learning’, and ‘carrying out’. The researcher then found core categories which were applicable to the extended Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). In addition, the researcher found ‘attitudes to learning’ and ‘social influence’ in the acceptance of educational applications on smartphones. After finding the properties of learners’ attitudes to learning, it was found that these properties can be explained by the Self-Directed Learning Readiness (SDLR) (Guglielmino, 1977; Gibbons, 2002).