TITLE:
Issues Affecting the Adoption and Usage of Mobile Instant Messaging in Semi-Rural Public Schools of South Africa for Learning
AUTHORS:
Nkhangweni Lawrence Mashau
KEYWORDS:
Adoption, DOI, Learning, Mathematics, Mobile Instant Messaging
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Access Library Journal,
Vol.3 No.11,
November
9,
2016
ABSTRACT: Mobile instant messaging technologies have become popular among the youth, they predominantly use it to socialise, communicate and share information anywhere and anytime and it provides the platform which learners can use for learning from specialists across the world. This study was conducted in semi-rural schools in the Vhembe District in Limpopo Province of South Africa. Diffusion of innovation theory was used to determine factors that could promote the adoption of mobile instant messaging for learning mathematics in semi-rural public schools. IBM SPSS Statistics 20 for analysis was used to analyze data. However, learners in most semi-rural public schools in South Africa appear not to be aware of mobile instant messaging for learning and are not adopting and using it despite its availability and convenience. It was also found that most learners and educators never used mobile instant messaging for learning, because they had never heard of it. Lack of awareness of mobile instant messaging was found as one of the factors hindering learners to adopt mobile instant messaging for learning in South African semi-rural public schools.