Examining Students’ Behavioral Intention to Adopt ICTs at Tertiary Level.

Abstract

The advancements of Information and Communication technology (ICT) have initiated numerous changes in the instructional design methodology, which has required educators as well as the ICTs service providers to overcome numerous challenges. In order to facilitate instructional facilities, various ICTs enabled products and services such as Digital Board, Moodle, Google Class Room, Moodle, Smart Printing Technology, Virtual Desktop, Education ERP, and E-Resources have already been introduced and implemented by several universities in Bangladesh. However, from the user perspective it is quite evident to examine users’ continuous intention to use ICTs. Therefore, this study sought to ascertain the possible determinants that sway students’ behavioral intention to adopt ICTs at tertiary level education in Bangladesh in order to formulate effective radical strategies to ease the transition from the use of traditional teaching methodologies to Education Technologies. Using UTAUT model as a based theory, this study analyzed one hundred samples drawn randomly from three departments of a private university, and processed through a standard structural equation modeling simulator. All respondents were provided with a structured and self-administrated questionnaire, and advised to quantify their responses on a 7-point Likert scale ranging from Strongly Disagree(SD) to Strongly Agree(SA). Questionnaire items were primarily adopted from prior studies, pertinent to IT/IS diffusion, adoption, and acceptance. Results of the study found that the adoption and usage of ICTs at tertiary level were significantly influenced by variables; Performance Expectancy (PE), Effort Expectancy (EE), Social Influence (SI), and Facilitating Condition (FC) which is quite consistent with prior studies in this field. The study suggests couple of implications to the academic institutions of Bangladesh, and one of the most notable is to create sufficient awareness among the users by keeping them informed about the benefits of ICTs, as well as to improve infrastructure related to ICTs usage.