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Table 4 Smartphone usage by the faculty members (for Academic activities)

From: A qualitative exploration of teachers’ perspective on smartphones usage in higher education in developing countries

Category

Activity

No. of Respondents

Percentage of Respondents

Example of Quotations

Sharing Course Material

Sharing course notes (Word/PDF files)

13

60%

Respondent # 18: “I rely a lot on my Smartphone in sharing course related material with my students. I regularly share my lecture notes, PowerPoint slides and important announcements with my students. I also share YouTube videos to help them understand the difficult concepts covered in the class.”

 

Sharing PowerPoint Presentations

15

68%

 

Sending Assignments

12

55%

 

Grading Assignments

2

9%

 

Sharing audio/video content

6

27%

Assessing University Learning Management System (LMS)

 

12

53%

Respondent # 16: “Our university is using Blackboard LMS and I am its skillful user. I share all the, assignments, grades and announcements with my students though LMS which I generally access using my Smartphone.”

Communication with Students

Sending and receiving SMS/MMS

22

100%

Respondent # 9: “Every semester I create a WhatsApp group for each of the course I teach. I have found it extremely convenient and efficient medium for communicating with my students.”

 

Whatsapp Communications

18

80%

Respondent # 18: “I generally encourage my students to communicate using email. I can check and respond to their emails conveniently from anywhere using my Smartphone.”

 

Sending and receiving e-mails

22

100%

 
 

Creating groups for discussion

6

27%

 

Information Search for Teaching

Browsing Internet

22

100%

Respondent # 1: “I am teaching courses to MS/PhD students for which I have to search a lot of reference material. My Smartphone provide me internet connection on the go and I can consult dictionary for new and technical terms.”

 

Using Dictionary

22

100%

Reminders

Using Calendar for keeping track of important events

12

55%

Respondent # 20: “..a lot is happening each semester: quizzes, assignments, mid-terms, projects, etc. Smartphone is a handy device to keep track of all the important events.”