Study benefits of smartphones: Perceptions of female Emirati pre-service teacher undergraduates

Smartphones are becoming ubiquitous and can be very useful study tools. We explored female Emirati undergraduates’ perceptions of smartphone use in the classroom. Furthermore, we investigated the age at which participants received their first smartphones, the number of smartphones to which they had access at the time of the study, and the influence of these aspects on the use of smartphones as a learning tool. An online survey of 189 participants revealed that the age of receiving their first smartphone, combined with the number of smartphones they owned or had access to at the time of the study, did not correlate with their perceptions of the usefulness of smartphones as a learning tool in a statistically significant manner. However, participants in their first year of study had fewer positive perceptions about the use of smartphones in the classroom than participants in subsequent study years. We surmise that this might be attributable, in part, to the further experiences older students have had or classes they have taken or to student teaching experiences in which they might have firsthand observed the benefits of phone use in the classroom as a learning tool.