| Summary: | 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.
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