Mobile learning (M-learning) has become an important instructional technology component in higher education. The goal of this research is to determine how Malaysian university students use M-learning in higher education. The technology acceptance model (TAM) concept was used to construct a theoretical model of M-learning acceptability. In theory, five independent criteria were discovered as contributing to the actual usage of M-learning for educational sustainability by influencing students’ attitudes towards M-learning and their intention to use it. A questionnaire survey based on the technology acceptance model (TAM) was used as the primary data collection technique, with 200 students from UTHM University of Malaysia participating. The data were analyzed using SPSS and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM-Amos). The results of the students’ attitudes towards using M-learning and their behavioral intentions to use M-learning show a beneficial impact on the actual use of M-learning as well as the long-term sustainability of M-learning in higher education. In addition, both male and female students were satisfied with perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, perceived enjoyment, attitude towards use, task-technology fit, behavioral intention to use, perceived resources and actual use of mobile learning for educational sustainability. This study contributes to the validation of the extended TAM for M-learning by demonstrating that the predicted model predicts students’ attitudes towards using M-learning and their behavioral intentions in Malaysian higher education.

Exploring the Factors Affecting Mobile Learning for Sustainability in Higher Education

The present study aims to interpret management student’s motivation to adopt m-learning and assesses the determinates impacting the behavioral intent of m-learning adoption. A comprehensive research archetype is proposed by integrating two prominent theoretical models, namely UTAUT and UGT. The research model is tested using multi-analytic structural equation modeling (SEM) and advanced neural network (ANN) approach. The quantitative data was gathered and measured from 220 management students. The study outcomes reported that affective need, performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence and facilitating conditions positively impacted the student’s intent to use m-learning, whereas cognitive need was found to be insignificant in predicting and explicating the m-learning adoption. The results of sensitivity analysis revealed that effort expectancy showed the highest normalized importance (100%) followed by performance expectancy (97.2%) in explicating the m-learning adoption. The research archetype was able to elucidate 66% of variance in student’s intent towards m-learning adoption. In addition to that, Cohen’s f-square statistic resulted in effect size as 0.771 indicating that the study findings were relevant and substantial with the empirical data collected. Conclusively, the theoretic and managerial implications are described for the proposed model.

M-Learning Adoption of Management Students': A Case of India.

Book reading is an important factor contributing to children’s cognitive development and education for sustainable development. However, in a developing country like Vietnam, statistics have reported a low figure in book reading: only 1.2 books a year. This research study used a dataset of 1676 observations of junior high school students from Northern Vietnam to explore students’ reading behavior and its association with demographic factors, and the family’s reading culture. Data analysis suggests the older the student gets, the less inclined they are to read, and being female and having hobbies of low sensory stimulation are linked to higher preference for reading. Regarding scholarly culture at home, students who read more varied types of books and spend more time on books are correlated with higher reading interest. Reading habits are also positively reinforced by the capacity to access books and parental book reading.

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The relationship between birth order, sex, home scholarly culture and youths' reading practices in promoting lifelong learning for sustainable development in Vietnam

Vietnamese higher education has been subjected to constant pressures and major changes in the last few decades so as to meet the country’s needs for socio-economic development and to better prepare graduates for employment and personal growth. There has been greater recognition for the role of mid-level academic managers as key contributors to effective institutional performance and success. However, an understanding of what constitutes a competent mid-level academic manager, who are heads of faculties, departments, academic offices and specialized centers, for the context of Vietnam is limited. This study employs an exploratory and mixed-method approach to identify the core competencies required for mid-level academic managers at Vietnamese higher education institutions. Findings from focus group discussions and a survey conclude five professional domains for effective mid-level academic management and sustainable development yet, in the meantime, reveal the gap between institutional expectations and the actual competencies of academic heads as perceived by academic heads themselves, their supervisors and their team members.

Exploring Key Competencies of Mid-Level Academic Managers in Higher Education in Vietnam

Competence structure that pre-service teachers need to develop to become a future teachers has been defined since the 1930s. For pre-service mathematics teachers, their competence has its own characteristics. ICT integration in developing competence for pre-service mathematics teachers has been been proved to be effective in many previous studies. In Vietnam, the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) has recommended the use of ICT to enhance teaching-learning activities in schools and universities, therefore, there have been many studies on ICT intergration at different educational levels. However, there are only a few studies on the use ICT integration in developing competence for pre-service mathematics teachers. This paper presents results from a research on the feasibility of ICT integration in developing competence of Vietnamese pre-service mathematics teachers. The research was conducted by surveying on a randomly selected of 297 pre-service mathematics teachers and 40 mathematics lecturers in six universities which provide mathematics training programs. Results show that despite of the availability of technologies, ICT integration in training pre-service teachers is still limited. In addition, ICT integration in teaching activities of mathematics teachers is not really effective because the levels of their ICT skills are very different. Pre-service mathematics teachers have the ability to use ICT equipment, and good accessibility to learning systems, but their use of the learning management systems (LMS) is limited. This study can be a reference for future studies to test the effective of ICT integration in training pre-service teachers when designing activities to develop feasibly and effectively their competence.

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ICT Integration in Developing Competence for Pre- Service Mathematics Teachers: A Case Study from Six Universities in Vietnam

The use of mobile learning, or M-learning, has been increasingly appreciated by educators due to its sustainability potential in different facets such as finance (i.e., affordable cost) and flexibility (i.e., time and pace of learning). However, it may not be effective in all situations. This study explored the feasibility of using M-learning for students’ self-study of mathematics in the context of Vietnamese high schools. Using 542 student and 40 teacher responses to two surveys, the study showed that the use of M-learning might not be feasible for students’ self-study of mathematics due to difficulties related to accessing mathematics websites, the quality of mathematics website content, students’ low level of self-learning ability and learning disengagement. This study suggests that the use of M-learning may contribute to the sustainability of education; adopting it should be based on a critical examination of contextual factors, especially students’ self-learning ability and engagement. M-learning can be promising and beneficial to students due to its capability to equip students to prepare for the fast-changing and technological-driven world. Educators have increasingly appreciated the use of M-learning, because it becomes more affordable and flexible. Nonetheless, there is still a question about near-future adoptions of M-learning due to unavailability of and inaccessibility to quality contents from trusted maths websites. The propensity of student engagements in M-learning is also an important issue for future research.

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Hai Trinh Thanh

Papers

Mobile learning for high-school mathematics as a path to better sustainability in a fast-changing society: an exploratory study from Vietnam