Examination of technology acceptance for mobile learning environment according to age and education level: An application for public transportation sector

The increase in the number of smart tablets and phones has attracted attention since 2005. When current statistics are examined, there are more than two billion smartphone users worldwide. When the applications in the world are examined, it is seen that mobile devices are widely used in in-service training of adults and it seems that the budget allocated for mobile learning applications increases day by day. In this study, "Stress Management Awareness" training designed for public transport drivers was given in the mobile learning environment and participants' mobile learning acceptance levels and whether the acceptance levels differ according to their demographic characteristics were investigated. According to the research problems, the research model was determined as a single group posttest model. The research data were collected by the researcher, Kuder-Richardson 20-point stress management knowledge test with 0.70, Cronbach's alpha coefficient of 0, 97, Mobile Technology Acceptance Scale. The research was conducted with 108 Public Transport Drivers working in İETT in Istanbul in 2016-2017. In the study, "Stress Management Awareness Training" was given to Public Transportation drivers working in Kâğıthane garage in İstanbul through Smart Phones and the behaviors of accepting this training according to the Technology Acceptance Levels of the drivers were examined according to various variables. In the business sector, the introduction of in-service trainings via mobile devices is increasingly common practice but new. In particular, the use of Smart Phones is a rare application in the training of personnel who have a large number of employees and who are working in a very dispersed area and whose training levels are not very high. For this reason, this study will be a case study with the findings obtained and the process of designing, implementing and evaluating a mobile learning environment intended for the similar personnel in the business world. According to the results of the research, in the environment where Smartphones were used as a mobile learning environment, the level of acceptance of drivers as a learning environment was found to be high with an average of 3,88 out of 5. Findings showed that there was no statistically significant difference in the level of acceptance of technology for mobile learning system in terms of ease of use, perceived utility, attitude toward use and intention sub-dimension statistically significant according to age compared to educational level in four sub-dimensions. In addition, when the data were analyzed in terms of achievements at the end of the training, there was no statistically significant difference in terms of age and education level. Analysis of the relationship between drivers' Acceptance Levels of Technology and the results of education endpoints revealed that there was a strong positive correlation between the average scores of public transportation drivers as learning environment of mobile technology and the end of term knowledge test scores.