Perceptions and Experience in Mobile Learning via SMS: A Case Study of Distance Education Students in a Malaysian Public University

Abstract

SMS can be utilized as a new opportunity that can be applied to improve current educational practices and processes in a variety of fields, including distance education. This study is an in-depth qualitative inquiry into distance education students’ perception and experience in mobile learning via SMS. A set of interview questions was used as the survey method to gather primary data from five students enrolling in the School of Distance Education, Universiti Sains Malaysia. The findings revealed that SMS learning generally was perceived positively by the respondents. They agreed that SMS learning is convenient, useful as reminder and relevant to their studies. Apart from few issues raised, respondents agreed that their SMS learning experiences were great, helpful and they generally satisfied with the system.  As implications, the study shed lights on the potential of SMS learning as an effective and innovative paradigm in pedagogy particularly in distance education environment.