Abstract:

In order to evaluate the use of mobile devices (laptops) and desktops and the potential of mobile devices in collaborative environments vs desktops, it was performed an experiment involving one hundred and twelve students in a higher education context. The research main goal is to validate which of the students, involved in this study, are in the initial and the majority market of adopters, for the laptops and desktops users. After this classification for the desktop and laptop users it was verified which of them are more in the flow experience. This study is based on the categories proposed Roger (1995) for the adoption of innovation, and in the flow experience concept, introduced by Csikszentmihalyi (1975). The main purpose of this study is to establish whether the laptops or desktops users in the initial and the majority market of adapters are in the flow experience when using a set of the available Google applications. In the context of this study, information has been gathered through a survey, applying the five dimensions of the flow state and also confronted with related questions regarding the competencies of students when using the project tools. The sample used consisted on one hundred and twelve students. At the end of the study, after analyzing the gathered information, it was possible to conclude that students have experienced the flow state and it had a positive effect on their learning experiences both by students using laptops and those, using desktops. For both desktop and laptop users who belong to the initial market, these have a value slightly lower for the flow experience than the users who belong to the majority market. With this we can say that the users that belong to the majority market learn more when using Google Groups than the users that belong to the initial market.