PAPER STUDENTS' ATTITUDES IN COLLEGES OF EDUCATION AT THE JORDANIAN UNIVERSITIES TOWARDS MOBILE PHONE USAGE IN UNIVERSITY EDUCATION Students' Attitudes in Colleges of Education at the Jordanian Universities towards Mobile Phone Usage in University Education http://dx.doi.org/10.3991/ijim.v7i2.2286 Jebreen A.Hussain 1 , Khalid Al-Qudah 2 , Reem Al Matari 1 1 Hashemite University, Zarqa', Jordan 2 Al al-Bayt University, Mafraq, Jordan; Abstract—The aim of this study was to investigate the students' attitudes in the colleges of education at the Jorda- nian universities toward the use of mobile phones in educa- tion, according to the University which is attended by the student, gender, and academic level of the student. The study sample consisted of (363) students selected randomly from the colleges of education at the Jordanian universities: The Hashemite University, Yarmouk University and Uni- versity of Jordan for the academic year 2010-2011. The instrument was a questionnaire developed by the research- ers. The results showed that the percentage of students who indicated positive attitudes towards mobile phone use in university education is high. The results also showed that there were significant differences in the attitudes of students of the colleges of education in Jordanian universities to- wards mobile phone use attributed to the variable of the university and in favor of the Hashemite University. The results showed no significant differences in students' atti- tudes toward mobile phone use in university education attributed to gender. Findings also revealed that their presence of statistically significant differences in students' attitudes toward mobile phone use in university education attributed to the variable of academic level in favor of MA students. Index Terms—Students’ attitude, mobile phone usage, education I. INTRODUCTION Contemporary communities face many challenges and their impact on the nature and the style of life and the various organizations. The most prominent challenges are represented in the progress of information technology and modern communication which contributed to radical change in the nature of life and the form of the educational institutions. (Kafafi, 2007). The educators tried to adapt to these changes in the teaching and learning process in terms of objectives, methods and experiences, and in terms of learning re- sources and educational and assessment competencies. In the light of these developments, the educators dedicated time and efforts to use the latest technology to improve the vision of the future of education and established a model of the technological applications to promote the educational attitudes to achieve effective learning which fosters creativity and inculcate the moral values and the positive trends, and to keep pace with the technological innovations and develop the educational process (Al Omari, 2008, Ascough, 2002). This change in the teaching and learning strategies led to the emergence of a new philosophy in education which was given similar names such as e-learning and distance learning in terms of dealing with the computer, the inter- net and the information systems. (Khan, 1997 and Volery, 2000). A few years ago and specifically in the beginning of the twenty first century a new term in the educational field was used in English " Mobile learning" In Arabic it is called mobile learning. Mobile learning is defined as the learning achieved by using small mobile electronic de- vices such as smart phones, personal digital assistants “PDAs" and other similar portable devices. (Mcconatha and Praul, 2008). Mobile learning is considered a new form of distance learning which began to develop since the eighties of the twentieth century from learning by correspondence to the use of the latest media technology in education (Al – Fahad, 2009). E-learning has provided distance learning with new learning methods based computers and computer network technology. Wireless and network technology can provide important learners opportunities for individual whose areas infrastructure needed for e-learning for all who wish to learn. (Ham- mamy, 2006). The idea of the mobile phone was inspired by the idea of radio .The researchers found that it was possible to develop a new technology to send and receive data through frequencies that can be used several times by compressing data and send them through very short time units to make several phone calls simultaneously. This technology is based on a basic unit called cell, which is in its turn is considered a part of the mobile network system. There are two types of networks: • Wireless Personal Area Network (WPAN) consisted of wireless connections between several networks within short distances (several meters) by using the computer in most cases. • The Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) -is de- signed for the local network in companies, homes, and public places. All devices within the range of WLAN can communicate with each other. (Salem, 2006). Some people believe that wireless technology is the same mobile wireless technology. (Cook, Pacher & Bradlen, 2008) except that wireless technology is different from the mobile technology. (Malady and Agrawal, 2000) think that mobile wireless technology consists of two iJIM – Volume 7, Issue 2, April 2013 19