Smartphone usage pattern for science teachers: The case of Zimbabwe

International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) | Volume V, Issue IX, September 2021 | ISSN 2454–6186

Smartphone usage pattern for science teachers: The case of Zimbabwe

Manyeredzi Terrence
Bindura University, Zimbabwe

Abstract: Smartphones are new generation educational tools usable by science teachers for both socialization and communication, and academic use. Concern is however on how such devices are used by the teachers who are central to curriculum implementation. The study was therefore carried out to establish the characteristics of science teachers’ interactions with their devices (usage patterns) in Zimbabwe. The User Gratification Theory guided the descriptive survey design from a quantitative research approach that was employed in collecting and analyzing data, collected through the Kobo Toolbox online survey application. The findings show that smartphone use is more popular for socialization and communication than for academic purposes and the usage patterns vary with age. Late career science teachers use smartphones mainly for socialization and communication while accessing social media and leisure material are very popular with the early career science teachers. Smartphones are also popular as ‘pocket libraries’ for early career science teachers while reading news is popular with the late career science teachers.

Key words: Usage pattern, smartphone, pocket library, curriculum implementation

I. INTRODUCTION

Mobile devices are a new generation of educational tools that can afford users the convenience, creativity and instant access to a wealth of resources with a great potential of transforming learning (Dias & Victor, 2017). The world over, smartphones are the most popular mobile devices that have incredulously become an indispensable part of communication in the 21st century and people spend considerable time interacting with their devices (Bicen and Kocakoyun 2013; Hintze et al. 2014). Concern is, however on characteristics of users’ interactions with their devices (usage patterns), particularly by teachers who Alsubaie (2016) identified as central to any curriculum development effort.
Smartphone use and hence usage patterns within a school environment can be broadly categorized into two namely: socialization and communication, and academic purposes. Available literature shows that research on smartphone usage patterns is concentrated on learners whose main smartphone use falls under the socialization and communication category. Mwambakulu and Chikumba (2020) carried out a study on learners’ smartphones usage patterns. They found that social networking dominated the pattern and that smartphone use was motivated by internet access, social media and communication, all accessible on the smartphone. A similar study by Sharma et al. (2019) yielded the same results that social networking dominates learners’ smartphone usage pattern. On the other hand, literature on science teachers’ smartphone use is limited and is concentrated on academic use only. Researchers such as Iqbal and Bhatti (2020) concentrated their studies on smartphone usage patterns for

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