College Students’ Acceptance of Tablet Pcs: an Application of the Utaut Model

Instructional technology can enhance the learning process for post secondary students. Colleges and universities have adopted computing initiatives that require every student to acquire their own portable computing device. Yet for such initiatives to improve students’ learning and teaching effectiveness, such technology-based initiatives must be accepted by students and faculty alike. In that regard, Venkatesh, Morris, Davis, and Davis, (2003) present the “Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT)” as a unifying model for technology acceptance and show it as outperforming other models. However, few studies to date utilize and evaluate the UTAUT model, particularly in an educational setting. The objective of the study is to evaluate students’ acceptance of Tablet PC (TPC) as a means to forecast, explain, and improve usage pattern of TPC in education. The research contributes to the management of information technology (IT) based initiatives in education and to UTAUT’s theoretical validity and empirical applicability.