A Scale Development Study for Socio-Technical Pedagogical Usability of Mobile Applications

Abstract

This study aims to develop a measurement tool to determine the socio-technical pedagogical usability of mobile applications that can be used in an educational context. The study group consists of a total of 1012 students who are studying at a higher education institution in Turkey in the fall semester of the 2021-2022 academic year. A draft scale of 24 items was prepared by the researcher following a literature review. After taking expert opinions within the scope of content validity studies, it was reduced to 20 items. While performing the data analysis, firstly exploratory factor analysis was applied on the first data set (N=604). Confirmatory factor analysis was performed on the second data set (N=408). Within the scope of validity and reliability studies of the scale, content and construct validity were examined and internal consistency coefficient, item-total correlation analysis, composite reliability, and average variance extracted analyses were performed. As a result of the exploratory factor analysis, the final scale consisting of 17 items and three dimensions was obtained. The total variance explained was 74.75 % and the Cronbach's Alpha reliability coefficient for the whole scale was .946. The model fit indices obtained as a result of CFA were found as: χ²/df=2.870<3, NFI=.951, CFI=.968, TLI=.961, GFI=.915, AGFI=.885, RMSEA=.068, which verified the resulting structure. In line with the data obtained, it was concluded that the socio-technical pedagogical usability scale is a valid and reliable measurement tool with three factors and 17 items. Thanks to the developed scale, the socio-technical pedagogical usability of mobile applications and software that can be used in education processes can be revealed.