Factors Influencing Undergraduates Attitudes towards ICT: An Empirical Study in Kheis

ABSTRACT

The increasing use of information and communication technology (ICT) in higher education has been explored largely in relation to undergraduate’s attitude towards the usage of ICT in the universities. However, the success of ICT in any learning institution including Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) depends on the attitudes of undergraduates towards using ICT in their daily learning. Therefore, this paper aimed to investigate the critical factors that impact undergraduates use of ICT in learning at Kuwait universities. The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) was applied to reach the aim of the study.

A sample of 717 undergraduates was selected from a public and a private university in Kuwait. The critical factors examined in this study are the type of university, language of learning and ICT support. Mixed methods such as quantitative and qualitative methods were conducted for the data collection.

The quantitative results suggested that the Usefulness of ICT and Ease of use of ICT factors are the key dimensions of undergraduates’ attitudes towards ICT. Another result showed that the examined factors have had a direct impact on undergraduates’ attitudes. Moreover, the qualitative results suggested the factor of peer learning had a strong impact on undergraduates’ attitudes towards the use of ICT.