Key Factors in the Success of Self - Directed Learning of Military Personnel - Taking Smartphone as an Example

Yen-Hsi Lo, Yen-Fen Lo, Po-Yun Chiang, Jung Hsiao

With the change of times and the competition of the society, on-the-job training is already one of many things that modern people will practice for self-enrichment, competitiveness enhancement, and better future career opportunities. Recently, the working environment for military officers has been changing based on the government’s policies toward the aspect of increasing working quality and reducing manpower. Meanwhile, with the explosive improvement in communication devices, the military is gradually allowing officers to use smartphones. With access to technologies, military officers are more likely to utilize smartphones for trainings aiming to stay connected with the society. Therefore, this research aims to study the success factor of the usage of smartphones as the on-the-job training devices for military officers. Based on the research motive, this study uses AHP to analyze the success factor between the utilization of smartphones for on-the-job trainings of military officers and their employment competence after retirement. There are two research purposes: to study the self-directed learning phenomenon of military officers and the key factors of utilizing smartphones for self-directed learning of military officers.

The analysis of this study is based on the content of the literature, and the results show a number of key factors. There are four key factors in the second layer: "network functionality", "site architecture preferences", “mobile usage for self-learning", and "learning needs." The third level consists of 4-5 key factors extended from the second layer. The initial questionnaire was designed under the guidance of experts; a total of 25 questionnaires were obtained, including 4 invalid and 21 effective copies. In addition, hierarchical analysis method was used to discuss the weighted relationship between the military personnel and the key factors of the self-directed learning on smartphones.

The study found that "learning" is the largest weight, which resulted from the situation that military life circle and working environment is very different from the public. If the military officers can acquire knowledge from the self-directed learning on smartphones to stay connected with the society, it would be more encouraging to the officers as they would have the ability to enhance their competence and plan their future career.

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