Investigating students’ acceptance of and motivation to use tablet computers for learning in higher education

Mobile learning (M-learning) can play an important role in the development of teaching and learning methods for higher education. Nevertheless, the successful implementation of m-learning in higher education will be dependent on users’ acceptance of this technology. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to investigate students’ attitudes towards using tablet computers in learning through exploring factors that influence students’ motivation to use and their acceptance of tablet use in learning. The study develops a new model which integrates the original technology acceptance model (TAM) with self-determination theory (SDT), and names it Motivation and Acceptance of Learning with Tablet (MALT). The model is developed based on students’ perspectives gathered via 303 online questionnaires. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses as well as structural equation modelling are used to analyse the questionnaire. The key finding of this study is that there are five factors named perceived enablers, perceived image, perceived enjoyment (intrinsic motivation), perceived usefulness (extrinsic motivation) and behavioral intention. Perceived enjoyment is the strongest predictor in the MALT model. There are two moderating variables which are access and teacher support in the MALT model.