M-Learning Systems usage: a perspective from students of higher educational institutions in Sri Lanka

Abstract

Mobile devices have become attractive learning devices for education. The digitalization of the higher education system in Sri Lanka by 2020 is part of the government’s effort to modernize and enhance the country’s overall education system particularly in view of the COVID-19 pandemic. Theoretically, this study contributes to the M-Learning model in higher education institutions via the integration of literature on technology adoption (TAM and UTAUT) with the variables of Perceived Usefulness, Perceived Ease of Use, Attitude, Effort Expectancy, Social Influence, and Facilitating Condition. The attitude towards M-Learning amongst higher education students was gauged via an online questionnaire survey. The convenience sample comprised 344 students from the Advanced Technological Institutes (ATI) in Batticaloa District, Sri Lanka. Descriptive statistics, a measurement, and structural model, and hypotheses testing were used to analyze the derived data. The findings indicate that mobile learning is significantly affected by perceived ease of use, social influence, effort expectancy, and facilitating condition, but negatively affected by attitude and perceived usefulness. The exhaustive literature review revealed that there are very few M-Learning studies related to digital learning in the context of higher education in the Batticaloa district.