Abstract
This chapter aims to shed light on university teachers' adoption and use of information communication technologies (ICT) at a university in its awareness/exploration stage of blended learning adoption. The goal was to identify how teachers' attitudes to innovation adoption influences the adoption of ICT for teaching/learning. An online survey showed substantial differences between first adopters and followers regarding the perceived importance of factors affecting ICT adoption (“financial support/stipend” and “the availability of online training for teachers”), and perceived usefulness of learning management system activities (quizzes, discussion boards, and assignments). Identifying first adopters and followers can assist universities in the awareness/exploration stage in recognizing the ways in which first adopters differ from followers and consequently help both groups to facilitate a strategic and optimal ICT adoption and implementation of blended learning.
TopBackground
ICT Adoption Among Teachers
ICT have been regularly used in higher education teaching and learning for quite some time and blending face-to face and computer-mediated teaching approaches is fast becoming the norm (Brown, 2016; Graham, 2018). There are substantial differences in the use of terms and definitions to name and describe blended teaching practices (Garrison & Kanuka, 2004; Oliver & Trigwell, 2005; Sharpe, Benfield, Roberts, & Francis, 2006) among different universities and individual researchers. In this chapter we will use Graham’s (2006) definition, where blended learning denotes a combination of traditional face-to-face and online instruction.
Studies have identified numerous factors that affect the adoption of ICT among university teachers. Brown’s (2016) systematic review of literature about university teachers' adoption of blended learning identified several external and internal factors that play important roles. Among the external factors, past studies, for example, highlighted the importance of technology (e.g., availability and reliability of technological infrastructure and its ease of use), academic workload (e.g., additional time for planning and designing blended learning), the institutional environment (e.g., institutional policies and readiness to support blended learning), and students (e.g., student feedback, improved student learning). The internal factors comprised teachers' attitudes and beliefs about teaching and learning, their past experiences and attitudes towards technology, as well as their own digital literacy.
Using Graham’s et al. (2013) Blended Learning Institutional Adoption Framework, Porter and Graham (2016) found that substantial differences exist in university teachers' ICT adoption behaviors that reflect their attitudes towards innovation adoption. These in turn determine the extent to which institutional strategy, structure and support decisions facilitate or hinder ICT adoption among university teachers. Thus, for example, online professional development is valued by teachers from the innovators and early adopters groups, while the early majority require evidence of the value of ICT adoption in teaching and learning. On the other hand, ICT adoption among teachers from the late majority and laggard groups is facilitated most with technical support and one-on-one training. Finally, Porter, Graham, Bodily and Sandberg (2016) further specified how institutional strategy, structure and support decisions could meet the needs of these groups of teachers to enhance their use of blended teaching and learning practices.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Blended Learning: Combination of traditional face-to-face and online instruction.
Blended Learning Adoption Stages: A three-stage framework representing the stages of blended learning adoption at universities (developed by Graham, Woodfield, & Harrison. 2013 ).
Bandwagon Effect: A phenomenon where people do something because other people are doing it.
Learning Management System (LMS): A software application used for the delivery of (online) educational courses and other forms of trainings. Other important LMS functionalities are administration of courses, users, and their roles; plugins, etc.; tracking; reporting, etc.
Awareness/Exploration Stage of Blended Learning Adoption: The first stage in the blended learning adoption process by the universities, which is characterized by lack of institutional strategy and adequate technical/pedagogical support for teachers-adopters.
Categories of Innovation Adopters: Everett Rogers classified the population according to their innovation adoption attitude in five adopter categories: innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority, and laggards.
Diffusion of Innovations: The theory, developed by Everett Rogers, that explains the dynamics of the adoption of new ideas and technology, thus, also ICT.