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Top1. Introduction
Information and communication technologies (ICTs) have brought several benefits in the educational setting for both students and instructors (Alharbi and Lally, 2017). Digital learning (d-learning) has witnessed an exceptional growth specifically in the higher education sector in Saudi Arabia in the recent times (Aljaber, 2018). The implementation of d-learning has had an enormous influence on the way various digital tools are being adopted in many public universities across Saudi Arabia. Even though many public universities have adopted the digital learning solutions, only fewer instructors were using these tools (Aldiab et al., 2019). Recent research conducted in one of the largest universities in the country, found that more than 82% of the instructors were not using the digital learning solutions at any point of time in the past (Al Meajel and Sharadgah, 2018). The study conducted in one other public university in Saudi Arabia found that most instructors either hardly used the digital solutions or never used it. Even those who used it largely did it for uploading the course syllabus, sharing grades or sending emails to the students (Tawalbeh, 2018). Although with a view to improve the quality of teaching and learning the Ministry of Education (MoE) suspended all distance learning education in 2017, they cancelled all offline teaching in the wake of COVID-19 breakout and ordered all the higher education institutions to continue with the distance learning through digital tools in March 2020 (Alammary et al., 2021; Albjali, 2018). To maintain the quality of education even through the distance learning mode, the MoE offered various supports to the public universities such as getting them subscription for the d-learning tools and training workshops. At the same time, the public universities in Saudi Arabia also offered the wholehearted support to their instructors to ensure the quality of education is not compromised due to the sudden imposed transition to the distance learning mode (King Abdulaziz University Report, 2020; Umm Al-Qura University Report, 2020).
As this transition from the traditional mode of teaching to the distance learning was so sudden many instructors in relatively newly established Saudi public universities who were not exposed to using the digital learning tools understandably found the adoption of d-learning tools very stressful (Alammary et al., 2021). Given the lack of exposure and lack of adequate resources among the instructors in the relatively recently established public universities, this research explores the factors influencing the adoption of d-learning tools by the instructors for teaching students in the distance learning mode. Although various research studies have explored the d-learning adoption in general and in the context of Saudi Arabia in particular, none of the studies have yet explored it for the public universities lacking exposure and experience in implementing such technologies due to their inexperience and lack of interest and motivation for teaching staff to use it for properly disseminating the education dedicatedly through emerging tools to impart quality education to their students. Deriving from the above discussion, this paper answers the following research questions:
RQ1: What factors influence the adoption of d-learning tools in the recently established public universities in Saudi Arabia?
RQ2: What key roles staff information technology (IT)-training and institutional support have played in the adoption of these emerging technologies?