With the increasing adoption of information technology by advanced educational institutions, there have been a number of reports on attempts to use the communication features of mobile telephones for the purposes of university teaching. This paper aims to clarify the characteristics of learners’ awareness of the potential for use of mobile telephones in university classes. Research was conducted to reveal how learners perceived the potential for attendance management, class support, and e−learning, all of which utilize the communications functions of mobile telephones, in conjunction with their current status of ownership and use of personal computers and mobile telephones together. A detailed analysis revealed that learners’ perceptions of mobile telephones as a communication tool centered on text mail. Although the role of mobile telephones as a tool for introducing information technology to university classes was clarified, learners do not anticipate much use for mobile telephones in e−learning, such as by distributing movies to learners and providing them with Web access.
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