Why Do Students Use Mobile Technology for Social Purposes during Class? Modeling Teacher Credibility, Learner Empowerment, and Online Communication Attitude as Predictors

Abstract

Following research indicating prevalent and deleterious use of social communication technology in college classrooms, this study investigated teacher credibility, learner empowerment, and online communication attitude as predictors of such use. The sample included 379 participants who completed an online survey about a college course. Results identified alleviating loneliness and relational maintenance as two distinct forms of social use, with somewhat divergent predictors for each dimension. Teacher competence inversely predicted both use types, although teacher character exhibited an unexpected positive association with relational maintenance use. Learner empowerment demonstrated a curvilinear association with alleviating loneliness use, and relational maintenance use was predicted by the interaction between learner empowerment and online communication attitude. Thus, although teacher credibility and learner empowerment generally buffer against social use, learner empowerment may foster such use for students who particularly enjoy communicating online.

Keywords:

• Computer-Mediated Communication
• Student Incivility
• Student Technology Use
• Teacher Credibility
• Learner Empowerment