THE CULTURAL DIMENSIONS OF THE ADOPTION OF "IPODS" IN HIGHER EDUCATION

Contemporary claims for the adoption of mobile information and communication technologies as learning & teaching devices are often based on two main theoretical perspectives: the socioconstructivist model of the teaching& learning process and the continuity pattern in education. These two theoretical approaches to education have constructed what may be considered a cultural model of education. This cultural model of education is largely shared by members of the scientific community. It also has nurtured common educational practices and seems to be shared by people involved in the educational process: practitioners, administrators, teachers and students. The question remains: is this culture of education shared by all the actors involved in the learning process? The relevance of this issue is crucial given it is exactly in the name of a socioconstructivist cultural model and in the name of a continuity pattern in education, that mobile learning & teaching devices are often adopted or strongly recommended in schools and universities. Assuming that different and often conflicting operating cultures may converge in an educational setting, we empirically investigated the cultural dimensions of the adoption of "iPods" as a learning/teaching tool. Reporting and analyzing some results of the study, this paper argues that the culture of education underlying the adoption of "iPods" is not necessarily part of the students' cultural model of academic education. By investigating this cultural gap, our research strongly underlines that successful adoption of mobile instructional devices does not depend only on technological opportunities or in teachers' skills in changing their educational practices. Rather, it depends also on the integration of the technologies into the specific cultural frames by which students live their academic life. Type: Journal Paper