Digital transformation dates back to the 1970s and is the use of the latest digital technology to enable improvements and changes in all aspects of society, including boosting customer experiences and implementing new business models (Stolterman et al, 2004; Fitzgerald et al, 2014). With the development of IT skills, digital transformation has become so relevant in the modern world where digitisation has been one of the top priorities in various sectors, to ensure relevance and success (Bond et al, 2018; Jackson, 2019; Anshari et al., 2021). Digital technology has always been a helping hand in higher education programming (Jackson, 2019). However, digital transformation in higher education institutions are apparent and the technology is disruptive in its purpose, thus allowing higher education institutions to prioritise and make use of the digital technologies that are made available to them to their full potential (Jackson, 2019; Benavides, 2020; Anshari et al., 2017).
Although, digital transformation has existed for decades and it has been inherent in higher education institutions even before the global outbreak of COVID-19, with the outbreak, it has further sped up the process which has led to the changes in traditional teaching and assessment methods to the “new normal” to fit COVID-19 guidelines and mitigate the risk of catching the virus (Garcia-Morales, 2021). Thus, anything that was once done in-person pre-COVID-19 became virtual, be it through emails or videoconferencing. However, because the COVID-19 pandemic came abruptly, most institutions had very minimal time to prepare themselves for a full digital transformation (Daniel, 2020; Anshari et al., 2016). This meant that the universities
who hadn’t implemented many online learning facilities prior to the pandemic had to quickly come up with strategies on how they will be able to conduct their classes, provide the resources to the instructors and students, and come up with plans on how to conduct their assessments.