A Comparison on Mobile Learning Preferences of High School Teachers with Different Academic Backgrounds

In this study, mobile learning preferences of high school teachers who teach language and science courses are compared by employing a survey consisting of the "ease of use," "continuity," "relevance," "adaptive content," "multiple sources," "timely guidance," "student negotiation" and "inquiry learning" dimensions. A total of 42 language teachers (e.g. Chinese, English, and Japanese) and 41 science teachers (e.g. Physic, chemistry, biology, and earth science) who had participated a survey. According to the independent t-test result, it was found that the preference of "adaptive content" of the language teachers was significantly higher than the science teachers. On the other hand, the preference of "student negotiation" and "inquiry learning" of the science teachers were significant higher than the language teachers. That is, the language teachers showed more need for adaptive content during their teaching, while the science teachers paid more attention to student interactions and inquiry learning. This suggests that, for different courses and the teachers with different backgrounds, the focuses of developing mobile learning environments need to be adapted.