Smartphone’s Potential in Higher Education in the days of the Covid-19

Abstract

The pandemic generated by the presence of Covid-19 at the end of 2019, has brought multiple changes in the behavior dynamics of humanity, affecting labor, educational, social aspects, among others, which has affected the quality of life of people. Smartphones have been fundamental in these times, in order to implement them in the different daily tasks. Objective: To identify the potential of the smartphone in university centers through a survey aimed at students from the city of Medellin, in relation to its use in the educational sector. Method: The research process is multidimensional, selecting 357 students; The data was analyzed using multivariate techniques. Results: The smartphone in learning is used by a high percentage of those investigated, although they have a low self-perception of the capacity for academic use, with statistical divergence (p <0.0001) between the sexes; a lower perception in women was detected. Discussion and conclusions: The data provided in this research reflects that the smartphone has a high potential in the educational process in the days of Covid-19; However, to take advantage of the potential of this technology in different academic activities, higher-level educational entities are required to implement institutional strategies aimed at training their students in the academic use of smartphones, to improve their degree of adoption of m -learning in the different universities and allow the training of their professors in favor of the pedagogical use of m-learning and the curricular insertion of the smartphone as a useful tool for learning.