A pilot TAM-based study on student acceptance of the PIC-to-Arduino transition

Nur Izzati Zainal; Nurul Farhana Jumaat.

Many higher education institutions have adopted Arduino-based platforms for Embedded Systems (ES) education due to their rapid prototyping capabilities. However, it remains unclear whether this adoption is driven primarily by pedagogical ease or perceived alignment with engineering practice. This study investigates student acceptance of Arduino during a transition from PIC microcontrollers by extending the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) with Perceived Industry Relevance (PIR). A total of 29 diploma-level engineering students with prior PIC experience participated in a four-hour workshop using the Wokwi simulation environment. Data were analysed using non-parametric methods, and 12 cases were excluded due to Insufficient Effort Responding (IER), resulting in an analytical sample of n = 17. Spearman correlation analysis indicates that Perceived Ease of Use (PEOU) shows the strongest association with Attitude Toward Use (AT). Perceived Usefulness (PU) demonstrates significant positive associations with PEOU, PIR, AT, and Behavioral Intention (BI), while PIR does not show significant associations with AT or BI. These findings suggest that, within this sample, student acceptance of Arduino is more closely associated with PEOU and PU than with PIR. This pilot study contributes to ongoing research on technology acceptance in ES education during transitions from low-level to higher-level development environments. The findings highlight the potential importance of usability factors in shaping student acceptance, while also indicating that PIR may play a more limited role in AT and BI formation at early stages of exposure.

KEYWORDS: Embedded systems education; Technology Acceptance Model; Arduino; microcontroller transition; perceived industry relevance; student acceptance



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