Journal of Science, Technology, Mathematics and Education (JOSTMED), 13(4) December, 2017 193 USE OF MOBILE DEVICES BY LECTURERS OF PHYSICS AND PHYSICS-RELATED COURSES IN UNIVERSITY OF PORT HARCOURT, RIVERS STATE, NIGERIA DR (MRS) OBAFEMI, DEBORAH T. A., & DR (MRS) FOMSI, ESTHER F. Department of Curriculum Studies and Educational Technology, Faculty of Education, University of Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria E-mail: deborah.obafemi@uniport.edu.ng, esther.fomsi@uniport.edu.ng Phone No: 234-805-769-5655 Abstract This study investigated the use of mobile devices by lecturers of physics and physics-related course in the University of Port Harcourt. The design for this study was descriptive survey design. Three research questions guided the study. Purposive random sampling technique was used to select 48 Lecturers from the faculties in which physics and physics-related courses are taught in the University of Port Harcourt. The research instrument was a validated researcher-developed questionnaire titled ‘Mobile Devices in Physics Education Questionnaire’ (MDPEQ) with a reliability coefficient of 0.79 obtained using Cronbach alpha formula. Mean, percentage and ranking were used to analyse the data generated for the study. Findings revealed that lecturers use mobile devices for different purposes such as accessing resources for research and teaching of physics, communication, business transactions, and entertainment. The findings further revealed that lecturers use mobile devices to download physics textbooks, download physics teaching and learning videos, obtain animations, download materials for academic research, obtain graphics, and download simulations for teaching of physics and for video conferencing. They however do not use mobile devices to administer physics assignments. It is therefore recommended that lecturers who are not skilled in the use of mobile devices to access and appropriately use online educational resources should get trained in it. Lecturers should adopt online teaching/educational resources such as simulations, animations to facilitate the teaching of physics and physics-related courses. Lecturers should use mobile devices to administer assignments. Keywords: Mobile devices, Mobile Learning, Lecturers, Physics, Physics-related Courses Introduction Mobile devices are handheld computers that are made for portability and are therefore both compact and lightweight (Techopedia, 2017). Though they are small devices, they perform tasks that are usually performed by larger computers. This is made possible because of new data storage, processing and display technologies. The major similarity between these electronic tools is that they are portable and thus can be carried everywhere. Mobile devices are fast taking over from laptops. With mobile devices, people can have instant access to the Internet and increase productivity. Examples of mobile devices include Cell phones, Portable Media Players (PMPs), Personal Digital Assistants (PDA)/Smartphones, Tablet PC, Ipads, netbooks, and notebooks just to mention few. The way a particular mobile device is used would largely depend on its capabilities: (i) Cell phones provides voice, email, limited access to application software and Internet connectivity. (ii) Personal Media Player (PMP) provides storage of digital music, video, and other digital files. (iii) PDA/Smartphone provides Personal Information Management (PIM) capabilities, access to application software, and access to the Internet.