Today the more and more rapid development of the ICT contributes to the increasing abilities of the mobile devices (cell phones, smart phones, PDAs, laptops) and wireless communications, which are the main parts of the mobile learning. On the other hand for the implementation of mobile learning it is necessary to use a corresponding system for the management of such type of education. Mobile learning through the use of wireless mobile technology allows anyone to access information and learning materials from anywhere and at anytime. As a result, learners have control of when they want to learn and from which location they want to learn. The main aim of the study is to assess the mobile learning activities among post graduate students in Viruudhunagar district. Survey method is employed for this study. The investigator has chosen 200 post graduate students for the study. Finally the investigator concludes; (a) There is no significant difference in mobile learning activities among the postgraduate students with respect to their course in terms (b) There is no significant difference in mobile learning activities among the postgraduate students with respect to their Father’s Educational Qualifications. Etc

1. 1
ASSESSMENT OF MOBILE LEARNING ACTIVITIES
AMONG POST GRADUATE STUDENTS
K.Thiyagu,
Assistant Professor,
Tamilnadu. India.
thiyagusuri@gmail.com,
thiyagusuriya81@gmail.com
ABSTRACT
Today the more and more rapid development of the ICT contributes to the
increasing abilities of the mobile devices (cell phones, smart phones, PDAs, laptops)
and wireless communications, which are the main parts of the mobile learning. On the
other hand for the implementation of mobile learning it is necessary to use a
corresponding system for the management of such type of education. Mobile learning
through the use of wireless mobile technology allows anyone to access information and
learning materials from anywhere and at anytime. As a result, learners have control of
when they want to learn and from which location they want to learn. The main aim of
the study is to assess the mobile learning activities among post graduate students in
Viruudhunagar district. Survey method is employed for this study. The investigator
has chosen 200 post graduate students for the study. Finally the investigator concludes;
(a) There is no significant difference in mobile learning activities among the
postgraduate students with respect to their course in terms (b) There is no significant
difference in mobile learning activities among the postgraduate students with respect to
their Father’s Educational Qualifications. Etc.,
Key words: assessment, mobile learning, activities, PG students

2. 2
INTRODUCTION
Mobile phones are a part of the daily culture of almost every student and
teacher. They introduce new types of communication styles that remove spatial and
temporal complexities. Handheld devices can improve classroom dynamics owing to
their computation and communication capabilities, which augment face-to-face
interactions and can support collaborative learning scenarios. M-learning is a natural
extension to conventional e-learning practice through which mobile technology allows
a greater degree of access to learning resources. Currently, most e-learning experiences
are based on learners accessing resources through fixed nodes such as desktop PCs, to
which access is generally restricted by either location, time of day or both. Mobile
learning is defined as “the provision of education and training on mobile devices:
Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), palmtops and handhelds and on smart phones and
mobile phones.” Actually now a days most of them having negative attitude towards
using mobile phone. But in a mobile devices having a lot of facilities to improve of our
knowledge and skills. So the investigator can select the topic “Assessment of Mobile
Learning Activities among Post Graduate Students in Virudhunagar District”
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
1. To find out whether there is any significant difference in the mean scores of
mobile learning activities among the postgraduate students with respect to their
gender, course of study, year of studying, residence of home and locality of the
institution.
2. To find out where there is any significant difference in the mean scores of
mobile learning activities among the postgraduate students with respect to their
Father’s educational qualification.
HYPOTHESES OF THE STUDY
The hypotheses of the present study a formulated as follows:
1. There is no significant difference in the mean scores of mobile learning
activities among the postgraduate students with respect to their gender, course
of study, year of studying, residence of home and locality of the institution.
2. There is no significant difference in the mean scores of mobile learning
activities among the postgraduate students with respect to their Father’s
educational qualification.

3. 3
METHOD ADOPTED IN THE PRESENT STUDY
In the present study, the investigator has employed the ‘survey method’.
Survey method is a method for collecting and analyzing data, obtained from large
number of respondents representing a specific population collected through highly
structured and detailed questionnaire or other techniques. This method is useful for
developmental studies where the current problems are described, as at present.
SELECTION AND CONSTRUCTION OF THE TOOL
As there is no suitable tool available for the present study, the investigator has
constructed and validated a scale to measure M-Learning Activities of post graduate
students’. In order to achieve the objectives of the study, the investigators used a self-
prepared questionnaire (MLA –KT = Mobile Learning Activities – K.Thiyagu). The
investigator referred various books and journals to have clarity of concept and in
addition to their information’s he consulted some subject experts about the content for
the development of the tool. Finally the investigator has decided and selected only
seven importance dimensions related m-learning activities, the dimensions are as
follows: Messaging, Contacts, Organizer, Settings, Gallery, Mobile Internet and
Mobile Applications.
Under the seven dimensions, there were 90 items in the m-learning activities.
Some items were boring complex and the investigator wanted to simplify the language
and content. So the investigator has given the items to the experts. Through their
guidance and advices, the investigator has modified certain items and finalized the
scale, based on the experts’ opinions. The final draft of the tool consisted of 75 items.
Each skill is arranged in to form of a rating scale and the respondents are expected to
circle their level of confidence along a scale of 1-5 for each of the Mobile Phone
activities. The Mobile Phone Activities Questionnaire was arranged in two parts, part-
A dealing with General Mobile learning activities and part-B dealing with the
application of Mobile phone for teaching and Learning. The detail dimensions of the
mobile learning activities scale are as follows:

4. 4
Table – 1
Description of dimension of mobile learning activities scale
Part S.No Dimensions Number of Questions
Part A
1 Messaging 6 Questions
2 Contacts 7 Questions
3 Organizer 7 Questions
4 Settings 10 Questions
5 Gallery 7 Questions
6 Mobile internet 7 Questions
Part B 7 Mobile Applications 20 Questions
RELIABILITY AND VALIDITY OF THE TOOL
To find out the reliability of the tool, test and retest method was used. The
reliability of the test has been calculated by using Pearson’s product-moment
correlation coefficient formula. The value obtained was 0.87. In this investigation the
tool was submitted to the panel of experts. They scrutinized the developed tool and
their suggestions were incorporated. Thus the validity of the tool is established by using
content validity.
POPULATION AND SAMPLE OF THE STUDY
In this study, all the students studying in Post Graduate at various colleges
irrespective of the nature of management and other criteria but located in Virudhunagar
District, Tamil Nadu have been taken as the population for the study. A good sample
must be representative of the entire population for this study, 230 samples has been
collected using random sampling technique.
STATISTICAL TECHNIQUES USED
Statistical techniques serve the fundamental purpose of the descriptive and
inferential analysis. (Aggarwal, 1986) The following statistical techniques were used
in the present study,
 Mean (M),
 Standard Deviations (S.D),
 ‘t’ test and
 ANOVA.

5. 5
HYPOTHESES TESTING
Null Hypothesis – 1:
There is no significant difference in the mean scores of mobile learning
activities among the postgraduate students with respect to their gender, course of study,
year of studying, residence of home and locality of the institution.
Table- 2
Difference between the mean scores of PG Students in their
Mobile learning activities with respect to gender.
Dimensions
Category
‘t’
value
Remarks
at 5%
level
Male
(N = 82)
Female
(N = 148)
Mean SD Mean SD
Messaging 22.90 5.29 18.27 5.06 6.54 S
Contacts 3 2 . 2 0 4 . 9 9 2 9 . 9 3 6 . 2 3 2.80 S
Organizer 3 0 . 1 0 6 . 2 3 2 6 . 6 1 7 . 0 3.77 S
Settings 4 3 . 8 2 7 . 6 3 3 8 . 6 6 8 . 8 2 4.46 S
Gallery 3 1 . 1 2 5 . 9 1 2 8 . 4 4 7 . 1 1 2.90 S
Mobile internet 2 1 . 6 8 9 . 9 8 1 5 . 9 0 8 . 8 4 4.53 S
Mobile application 5 3 . 5 2 2 1 . 9 2 4 9 . 0 9 2 3 . 4 4 1.41 NS
Total 2 3 5 . 3 8 4 4 . 1 6 2 0 6 . 5 9 5 0 . 7 3 4.31 S
(At 5% level of significance, the table value of ‘t’ is 1.96)
Table - 3
Difference between the mean scores of PG Students in their
Mobile learning activities with respect to their course of study.
Dimensions
Category
‘t’
value
Remarks
at 5%
level
MA
(N = 45)
M.SC
(N = 185)
Mean SD Mean SD
Messaging 19.82 6.62 19.95 5.34 0.13 NS
Contacts 2 9 . 8 7 7 . 8 4 3 0 . 9 6 5 . 4 3 1.10 NS
Organizer 2 7 . 0 7 7 . 1 8 2 8 . 0 5 6 . 8 8 0.86 NS
Settings 3 9 . 9 6 1 0 . 6 7 4 0 . 6 3 8 . 2 6 0.46 NS
Gallery 2 9 . 5 1 7 . 1 4 2 9 . 3 7 6 . 7 5 0.12 NS
Mobile internet 1 9 . 5 6 1 0 . 1 8 1 7 . 5 8 9 . 5 1 1.23 NS
Mobile application 4 8 . 2 4 2 1 . 9 0 4 8 . 8 3 2 2 . 8 9 1.20 NS
Total 2 2 4 . 0 2 5 8 . 7 8 2 1 5 . 1 1 4 8 . 0 6 1.07 NS
(At 5% level of significance, the table value of ‘t’ is 1.96)

6. 6
Table - 4
Difference between the mean scores of P.G. students in their mobile learning
activities with respect to year of studying.
Dimensions
Category
‘t’
value
Remarks
at 5%
level
First
(N = 132)
Second
(N = 98)
Mean SD Mean SD
Messaging 19.13 5.49 20.99 5.59 2.52 S
Contacts 3 0 . 0 9 6 . 2 9 3 1 . 6 3 5 . 4 1 1.94 N S
Organizer 2 6 . 8 7 6 . 9 7 2 9 . 1 9 6 . 6 8 2.54 S
Settings 3 9 . 6 4 8 . 3 1 4 1 . 6 5 9 . 2 6 1.72 N S
Gallery 2 8 . 8 0 6 . 5 6 3 0 . 2 0 7 . 1 0 1.54 N S
Mobile internet 1 6 . 2 0 9 . 0 5 2 0 . 3 5 9 . 9 7 3.29 S
Mobile application 4 8 . 5 8 2 5 . 5 5 5 3 . 4 8 1 8 . 7 2 1.60 N S
Total 2 0 8 . 9 5 4 9 . 7 0 2 2 7 . 5 0 4 9 . 4 2 2.81 S
(At 5% level of significance, the table value of ‘t’ is 1.96)
Table - 5
Difference between the mean scores of P.G. students in their mobile learning
activities with respect to residence of the home
Dimensions
Category
‘t’
value
Remarks
at 5%
level
Rural
(N = 139)
Urban
(N = 91)
Mean SD Mean SD
Messaging 19.63 5.08 20.37 6.30 0.99 NS
Contacts 3 0 . 8 3 5 . 4 3 3 0 . 6 2 6 . 7 4 0.27 NS
Organizer 2 7 . 9 4 6 . 6 6 2 7 . 7 5 7 . 3 7 0.20 NS
Settings 4 0 . 6 6 8 . 6 1 4 0 . 2 5 9 . 0 3 0.35 NS
Gallery 2 9 . 1 2 6 . 6 3 2 9 . 8 2 7 . 1 0 0.76 NS
Mobile internet 1 8 . 0 3 9 . 5 5 1 7 . 8 7 9 . 8 6 0.12 NS
Mobile application 4 8 . 2 9 2 1 . 4 8 5 4 . 3 0 2 4 . 7 2 1.95 NS
Total 2 1 4 . 1 5 4 8 . 8 5 2 2 0 . 9 8 5 2 . 5 0 1.01 NS
(At 5% level of significance, the table value of ‘t’ is 1.96)

7. 7
Table - 6
Difference between the mean scores of P.G. students in their mobile learning
activities with respect to their locality of the institution
Dimensions
Category
‘t’
value
Remarks
at 5%
level
Rural
(N = 83)
Urban
(N = 137)
Mean SD Mean SD
Messaging 19.15 4.92 20.45 5.97 1.73 NS
Contacts 3 0 . 3 3 5 . 7 4 3 1 . 0 3 6 . 1 3 0.86 NS
Organizer 2 7 . 8 0 6 . 9 3 2 7 . 9 1 6 . 9 6 0.12 NS
Settings 4 0 . 2 0 8 . 7 6 4 0 . 7 0 8 . 7 9 0.42 NS
Gallery 2 8 . 5 8 6 . 4 7 2 9 . 9 6 7 . 0 1 1.50 NS
Mobile internet 1 7 . 5 4 9 . 6 4 1 8 . 2 6 9 . 6 8 0.55 NS
Mobile application 4 5 . 6 8 2 1 . 1 6 4 4 . 0 3 2 1 . 5 8 0.73 NS
Total 2 0 8 . 8 0 4 9 . 5 5 2 0 9 . 3 2 5 0 . 2 9 1.04 NS
(At 5% level of significance, the table value of ‘t’ is 1.96)
Null Hypothesis - 2
There is no significant difference in the mean scores of mobile learning
activities among the postgraduate students with respect to their Father’s educational
qualification.
Table - 7
Difference among father’s education qualification and
mobile learning activities of P.G. Students
Dimensions
Sources of
Variation
Sum of
squares
Df
Mean
square
variance
Calculated
‘F’ value
Remarks
at 5%
level
Messaging
Between 98.83 2 49.42
1.57 NS
Within 7069.76 227 31.14
Contacts
Between 124.38 2 62.19
1.76 NS
Within 8039.00 227 35.41
Organizer
Between 178.24 2 89.12
1.87 NS
Within 10829.31 227 47.71
Settings
Between 155.91 2 77.96
1.02 NS
Within 17421.59 227 76.75
Gallery
Between 77.48 2 38.74
0.83 NS
Within 10561.72 227 46.53
Mobile internet
Between 500.90 2 250.45
2.74 NS
Within 20779.82 227 91.54
Mobile application
Between 2680.44 2 1340
2.60 NS
Within 116298.65 227 514.60
Total Between 11678.86 2 5839.43 2.36 NS
Within 561228.12 227 2472.37

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(At 5% level of significance for 2,227 df, the table value of ‘F’ is 2.99)
SUMMARY OF MAJOR FINDINGS
1. There is significant difference in mobile learning activities among the
postgraduate students with respect to their gender in terms of messaging, contacts,
organizer, settings, gallery, mobile internet and total, but no significant difference
is found in mobile learning activities among the postgraduate students with
respect to their gender in terms of mobile applications.
2. There is no significant difference in mobile learning activities among the
postgraduate students with respect to their course in terms of messaging, contacts,
organizer, settings, gallery, mobile internet, mobile application and total.
3. There is significant difference in mobile learning activities among the
postgraduate students with respect to their year of studying in terms of messaging,
organizer, mobile internet and total, but no significant difference is found in
mobile learning activities among the postgraduate students with respect to their
year of studying in terms of contacts, settings, gallery and mobile application.
4. There is significant difference in mobile learning activities among the
postgraduate students with respect to their locality of residence in terms of
messaging, contacts, organizer, settings, gallery, mobile internet, mobile
application and total.
5. There is no significant difference in mobile learning activities among the
postgraduate students with respect to their locality of institution in terms of
messaging, contacts, organizer, settings, gallery, mobile internet, mobile
application and total.
6. There is no significant difference in mobile learning activities among the
postgraduate students with respect to their Father’s Educational Qualifications in
terms of messaging, contacts, organizer, settings, gallery, mobile internet, mobile
application and total.

9. 9
INTERPRETATIONS
According to the ‘t’ test results
Gender
The ‘t’ test result shows that, male are better than the female post graduate
students in their mobile learning activities by messaging, contact, organizer, settings,
Gallery, mobile internet and total mobile learning activities. This may be due their
curiosity to know the innovative and new things and their environments and also their
keen watch about the update & day-to-day information of new fashion than the female
post graduate students. Male trainees have some confident to face the new things in
life. But female is not like that.
Course of study
The ‘t’ test result shows that, there is no significant difference between arts and
science post graduate students in their mobile learning activities. This may be due the
fact that, basically technology is neither a science nor arts. Both arts and science
students got some work on experience in using computer in their school life. Both arts
and Science students would have the opportunity to get the awareness of technological
instruments. They have ample opportunity to interact with the society through
technology. This develops in them reliable and systematic that looks in their life.
Year of studying
The ‘t’ test result shows that, second year students are better than the first year
post graduate students in their mobile learning activities by messaging, organizer,
mobile internet and total mobile learning activity. This may be due the fact, that second
year have some opportunity to learn technological instrument with their syllabus.
Second year can have a more contact then the first year students. Second year post
graduate students are going to submit their thesis, so they can communicate with their
friends and guides through mobile phone.
Residence
The ‘t’ test revels that there is no significant difference between rural and urban
area post graduate students’ in their mobile learning activities. It may be due the fact,
that mobile, internet facility and other technological facility are available in rural and
urban areas. Rural trainees also got the awareness of technological instruments in
his/her area. It may be due to their free environment to access the new environments
easily and utilize its resources for their learning purposes.

10. 10
Locality of the college
The ‘t’ test revels that there is no significant difference between rural and urban
area post graduate college students in their mobile learning activities. It may be due the
fact, that all the post Graduate Arts and Science College having well equipped
computer laboratory and other infrastructure. All PG students having one computer
paper for their syllabus. So there is an opportunity to learn the entire technological
instruments like mobile, laptop etc.
According to ‘F’ test results
Father’s Education Qualification
There is no significant difference in the mean scores of mobile learning
activities among the postgraduate students with respect to their Father’s educational
qualification. This may be due to fact that mostly fathers are engaged in various
household and office works. Even though their educated they could not spend much
time with their wards. And this may be due to the fact that usually father takes less
care about the students’ progress in studies. Also it is a fact that fathers find it difficult
to spend sufficient time with their children. This may be due to fact that mostly fathers
are bought cell phone and gave it to their children. And children spent more time in
home with mobile phones. So they got some awareness of mobile learning.
EDUCATIONAL IMPLICATIONS OF THE STUDY
Learning is mobile in terms of space, i.e. it happens at the workplace, at home,
and at places of leisure. It is mobile between different areas of life, i.e. it may be related
to work demands, self-improvement, or leisure. And it is mobile in terms of time, i.e. it
happens at different time periods, on working days or on weekends. M-learning is
learning supported by mobile devices and intelligent user interfaces. Compared to the
prior generation a few years ago, storage capacity and screen size of mobile devices as
well as transfer speed of wireless connections have significantly increased. Equipped
with mobile devices, learners can conduct learning activities at anytime anywhere. m-
learning is learning that is not constrained to a physical space or specific time and
learning that is supported by communication with embedded computing elements in the
environment on every move of the learner.
Our shared belief is that in the future mobile phones will be a powerful learning
tool integrated in the learning process. Meanwhile, mobile phones are used to
communicate, take pictures and video clips, send e-mails, texts and graphics, browse

11. 11
the Web, play games and download programs. Students learn English or study math
and to access university lectures on mobile phones. In learning settings, they can be
used as communication, content input/output, computing devices, and educational
mobile Web Service providers.
CONCLUSION
The emergence of new technological environment may revolutionize the
teaching learning process. The role of the teacher will be different from the traditional
classroom teaching. The teacher could be a manager, monitor, role model, counselor,
facilitator and a social worker. Teaching methodology will shift from teacher-centered
education to learner-centered education. Teacher’s dominance will be replaced by the
knowledge dominance. So students now learn through computer teacher, television
teacher and internet teacher. In future, another teacher who applies these technologies
in the classrooms will replace a teacher who does not apply these technologies. The
investigation end its findings will help educational experts, thinkers, teachers and all
those who are interested in the field of education to focus their attention on the present
problems. This findings and results are not the end of the problem, but just a beginning
of the search for innovation. By applying these results, the quality of teaching learning
process will improve.
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13. 13
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
`
K.THIYAGU (b.1981) was born at Kailasapuram, BHEL Township, Tiruchirappalli
District. He obtained first and second certificates (High school & Higher secondary) from Boiler
Plant Boys Higher Secondary School, BHEL Township, Trichy. He obtained B.Sc., and M.Sc.,
(Mathematics) from St.Joseph’s College, Trichy, affiliated to Bharathidasan University, B.Ed.,
from Manonmaniam Sundaranar University, Tirunelveli, M.Ed., from Department of Educational
Technology, Bharathidasan University, M.Phil.,(Education) from Alagappa University,
Karaikudi, M.Phil., (Math) from Periyar University, Salem.
He has 5 years of teaching experience in various organizations. Now he is working as
Assistant Professor from Dr.Sivanthi Aditanar College of Education, Tiruchendur. He
contributed two books earlier in the area of ICT in Education. He also contributed some
research papers and articles in the area of models of teaching, ICT, Higher Education &
teacher education published in important journals in India like “i-manager” “Edutracks”
“University News” “Journal of Educational Research” “The Indian Educational Researcher” and
“New Horizons in Education”.
.