Use and acceptance of education technologies by academics in a school of nursing in the Western Cape, South Africa

• Main Author: Ologun, Rita Oluwanifesimi
• Other Authors: Chipps, Jennifer
• Language: en
• Published: University of the Western Cape 2018
• Subjects: Educational technology; Nursing education; Tertiary education; Western Cape; South Africa; Technology acceptance model (TAM)
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/11394/6091

Magister Curationis - Mcur === AIMS: This study aims to investigate the use and acceptance of educational technologies by academics in a nursing school in the Western Cape, South Africa (determination of educational technology use, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use and influencing factors). The findings of the study may be used to facilitate planning for and implementation of increase use of educational technologies to enhance teaching and learning. METHODS: The research design was a quantitative descriptive survey using a self-administered questionnaire. Due to small population size, all 58 academics (28 lecturers- qualified personnel to teach students conduct research and involved in administration of modules and levels) and 30 clinical facilitators- registered nurses with clinical expertise who assists students in the clinical placements were included in the study. The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) provided the framework for the study. The study adapted an existing questionnaire developed by Kripanont in 2007. Validity and reliability of the instrument were established and pre-testing was done to validate the questions. Data was entered into SPSS version 23 and analysed using both descriptive and inferential statistics techniques. RESULTS: The findings suggested that though academics use educational technology but usage was found to be low and the academics were selective in the type of technology that they use which is influenced by need, availability, duties and academic positions of such academic. This will help facilitating planning for implementation of increased use of educational technology to enhance teaching and learning. Lecturers use educational technology for teaching and learning, while its use among the clinical facilitators is still minimal. The most commonly and frequently used devices were desktops and laptops. Low usage of smartphones for educational purpose among academics was reported. Email was the most common application used by academics for teaching and learning, followed by WhatsApp. The e-learning platform was poorly used; however, the lecturers still used it more compared with the clinical facilitators. Low usage was reported on other educational technologies included in the study. Most of the respondents reported a moderate to high experience with educational technology. More than two-thirds of the respondents used educational technology for enhancing their knowledge on current evidence of nursing, preparing for classes, preparing teaching materials, student contact and supervision and for facilitating/teaching in class. Time and institutional factors were mentioned to be important factors to consider when engaging with any educational technology. Finally, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use and academic position were predictors of use of educational technology.