Mobile Phone Usage by University of Brightons International College - Essay Example

INVESTIGATING MOBILE PHONE USAGE BY OF BRIGHTON’S INTERNATIONAL COLLEGE (Author’s name) (Institutional affiliation) Q1. Do students of University Brighton’s international College use mobile phones? Yes No Q2. Do majority use smart phones type of mobile? Yes No Q3. Do you use it to make calls? Yes No Q4. Do you use it frequently? Yes No Q5. Do you like using the internet? Yes No Q6. Do you do it frequently? Yes No Q7. Do you use it to download music and video contents from the internet? Yes No Q8. Do you download frequently? Yes No Q9. Do you use messaging applications? Yes No Q10.Do you use them frequently? Yes No Q11. Do you like making VoIP calls? Yes No Q12. Do you use them frequently? Yes No Q13. Do you like online chatting? Yes No Q14. Do you chat frequently? Yes No Q15. Do you like reading academic materials over the internet? Yes No Q16. Do you do it frequently? Yes No Q17. Do you like to play games using mobile phones? Yes No Q18. Do you use mobile security applications like antivirus? Yes No Q19. Do you think it is important to use mobile phones in the college? Yes No Q20. do you like mobile phones with user friendly interface? Yes No REPORT Introduction Mobile phone usage in learning institutions forms a very vital part of life in the campus. However, there are certain kinds of mobile phones that appear to be more appealing to the users than others. One such mobile device is smartphone. The use of smartphone has grown over the years to the extent outwitting other mobiles like symbian and displacing them in the market. This has hence resulted to rise in consumption rate of smartphone in all quarters of the society from homes to learning institutions and workplaces. The University of Brighton’s International College students are not left behind either. The increase in use of smart phones in this institution has grown to the height that is commercially important especially to the mobile manufacturing companies. This was the major reason behind conducting a research on the use of mobile phones in this institution. Purpose of the Research There were several driving factors towards conducting this kind of research. An escalating use of mobile phones had raised legitimate concerns that were both positive and negative in different ways. Some could be derailing education while others were equally profitable. In the aspect of profitability the use of mobile phones in this institution could be exploited businesswise. This includes; to know if students use mobile phones in the University of Brighton’s International College and the type of mobile phones they use, to know their rate of use of the mobile devices, to determine the impact of the use of mobile phone in this institution, to help know how viable the business of selling mobile phones could be, to gather vital information that could be useful in improving the quality of education in the institution, to determine how various mobile applications are useful to consumers, specifically students and how their usage could lead the growth of mobile business. Research Methodology Several data elicitation methods were put into place with the primary source of data gathering being face to face interview and questionnaire filling in. Nevertheless, every aspect of data gathering methodology was vital in the final report. The following were the methods used in finding out what exactly was going on in the institution. Interviews Interview has been one of the major data gathering methodology of all time since it involves one on interaction with the correspondent. This therefore leads to gathering of first hand information that could reflect the true state of the mind of sincere correspondents. In this study thirty students from in The University of Brighton’s International College were interviewed to give their sincere opinion on several issues concerning the use of mobile phones in the institution with emphasize on the use of smart phones. The key areas of data elicitation were the use of mobile phones in the institution, rate of usage, the impact of the said usage, and recommendations on the usage to the university authorities. These thirty students gave their thoughts and opinions on the subject matter by answering different questions as structured in the questionnaire to give a feedback that is used to write the final report. This interview was conducted over a period of one month. Each student was interviewed separately and on a different day. Sampling Though not commonly used nowadays, sampling was vital in my research as I had to choose only thirty students from a pool of students. It would have been difficult, tiresome and costly to interview everybody from the institution. However sampling made it easy to come up with a list of thirty students who would finally act as the mouthpiece of other students across the institution. First I conducted an open forum where all students were welcome, from which they settled on thirty students who would act as their representatives. The representatives were supplied with the questionnaire that required them to go to their respective members and elicit the information described in the questionnaires. They were then required to each have a special day of meeting in which they were to be interviewed so that their opinion and those of the students they represent were taken into perspective. These students were then interviewed in the month of February so that the finals thoughts of every student would be brought into the picture. Research findings During the research several issues emerged concerning the use of mobile phones by students in The University of Brighton’s International College. According to the above the information gathered and analyzed in the excel, all students admitted to the use of mobile phones in the institution with majority saying they are using smart phones and almost a third of the students using other types of mobile devices. Use of mobile internet was also agreed unanimously by the students with majority using it frequently. Making voice over Internet Protocol was met with equally differing attitudes as half of the students population admitted that they used it while the other half seem not to be using it. Majority of the students were found to enjoying playing mobile phones games and reading academic materials online. Use of mobile phone was also agreed upon by all students to be very import to their daily activities and well being in the college. Majority of the students were also found to love smart phones with good Graphical User Interface and Voice User Interface. Mobile security was also considered a major part of smart phone like for students of the University of Brighton’s International College as more than three-quarters of the population said to be using it. Recommendations to Smartphones Manufacturers With regard to the above findings, I would like to bring to attention of smartphone manufacturers that students like using smart phones this is because they incorporate several applications that are user friendly and also useful to the students in their daily undertakings ranging from internet usage, communication to accessing academic materials. Therefore, in future developments, emphasis should be made in production of smartphones with more appealing user interface, internet enabled and good messaging applications. Applications that support VoIP should also be put into consideration. Work cited Allen, S., Graupera, V., & Lundrigan, L. 2010. Pro smartphone cross-platform development iPhone, BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, and Android development and distribution. New York, N.Y.: Apress :. Aubert, M., & Gusev, A. 2008. Quick recipes on Symbian OS mastering C++ smartphone development. Chichester, England: John Wiley.  Allen, S., Graupera, V., & Lundrigan, L. 2010. Pro smartphone cross-platform development iPhone, BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, and Android development and distribution. New York, N.Y.: Apress :.  Himelfarb, S., & Guilford, C. 2010. Can you help me now? mobile phones and peacebuilding in Afghanistan. Washington, DC: U.S. Institute of Peace.  Kiesbye, S. 2011. Cell phones and driving. 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