International Journal of Academic Library and Information Science
 

International Journal of Academic Library and Information Science

Vol. 6(3), pp. 63–71, May, 2018. 

ISSN: 2360-7858

DOI: 10.14662/IJALIS2018.025

Full Length Research

Personal Digital Assistants (PDA) are fast becoming acceptable and useful in all sectors of human endeavor; students are seriously integrating the use of PDAs in their academic activities. The use of PDAs by students can be influenced by their perception on the ease of using PDAs and the perceived usefulness of PDAs for their academic activities. The study investigates perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness of PDAs on use for academic activities by undergraduates in University of Ibadan. Descriptive survey design was adopted for this study. Population consist 3,905 undergraduate students of the Faculties of Arts and Sciences in University of Ibadan, Nigeria. The purposive sampling technique was used for this study; three departments with the highest number of undergraduates were purposively selected for the sample to be a representative of the total population. The selected departments were Chemistry, Mathematics and Computer in the Faculty of Sciences and Communication and Language Art (CLA), English and Philosophy in the Faculty of Arts. A sampling fraction of 18% was used to draw a sample size of 272 undergraduates used in the study. Findings revealed that Blackberry phones 46(16.9%) and Android phones 36(13.2%) were major PDAs used by undergraduates. Using PDAs for Class work ranked the highest in the academic activities undergraduates used their PDAs for, majority of undergraduates believed that PDA can easily be used for learning. PDA was adjudged a useful learning tool 46 (16.9%) by undergraduates and that using PDA will enhance the downloading of electronic resources needed for academic activities 45(16.5%) by students. Also, PDAs assist undergraduates to share information faster among them. The study recommended that the school administration should develop a policy that will mandate undergraduates to own a PDA (tablet or laptop computer) before they can be duly registered for the academic session in order to encourage the use of PDAs. Adequate awareness and user education should be provided by library staff, especially those in charge of emerging technologies to promote the use of PDAs for academic activities by undergraduates.

Keywords: Personal Digital Assistants (PDA), Undergraduates for Academic Activities, University Of Ibadan

Cite This Article As: Awujoola OA, Fadeyi VO (2018). Perceived Ease-Of-Use and Usefulness of Personal Digital Assistants use by Undergraduates for Academic Activities in University Of Ibadan, Nigeria. Inter. J. Acad. Lib. Info. Sci. 6(3): 63-71

 FULL TEXT(PDF)