Mobile Use in the Classroom is a Mixed Bag, and Lecturers Need to Provide Students With Guidelines

In the era of modern life, the use of mobile devices in the classroom helps to enhance the overall performance of students, however, it has some harmful effects on academic performance. Therefore, this study attempts to identify the association between mobile phone use and the academic performance of the students of Jahangirnagar University, Bangladesh. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) is used for identifying the relationship among variables. Results revealed that about 80% (269) of the students use mobile phones during class, among them, 65.05% (175) use mobile phones for browsing social sites and texting purposes and 24.54% (66) use them to send and receive phone calls. Moreover, students’ academic results are significantly ( p < .001) associated with whether students use their mobile phones in the classroom. The results of SEM depict that positive features including recording lectures, support to study, remainder to-do lists, etc., and other features of the mobile phone have played a role positively in improving academic performance, however, different types of distractions have an adverse effect on the academic performance of students. This study explored the relationship between students’ academic performance and mobile applications that help to provide guidelines for students about mobile in the classroom.