THE INFORMATION AGED: EXAMINATION OF UNIVERSITY STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS PERSONAL DIGITAL ASSISTANTS (PDAS) USAGE IN TERMS OF GENDER, AGE AND SCHOOL VARIABLES

ABSTRACT

Recently, there has been a rabid development of new technology devices that were proved to have significant effects on education, one of which is known as Personal Digital Assistant (PDA). PDAs offer new possibilities for providing better learning experiences and more learning opportunities in the sector of higher education. A quantitative design was utilised to examine university students’ attitudes towards the use of PDAs. A cross-sectional survey was conducted to obtain data from participants. The sample was comprised of 250 participants. Gender, age and school major were selected as student’s demographic variables for the study. The data were analysed by calculating frequencies, percentages and byvia conducting t-test and One-Way ANOVA. The results of this study revealed that firstly, the university students’ attitudes towards PDA usage are positive, secondly, attitudes were significantly different in accordance with students’ gender, it was found that males’ attitude scores are significantly higher than that of the females, and thirdly, no significant differences were found in students’ attitudes towards the PDA in terms of age and school variables. Besides, the findings indicated that university students were overall satisfied with their earlier experience of using PDAs for learning purposes.