During the COVID-19 lockdown, all the courses at Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University (IAU) were delivered fully online, including field-training courses. Since there was no previous experience in offering field-training courses in a distance format, the current study aims to identify factors that could impact students’ behavioral intention to accept the e-training approach in teaching field training courses at IAU. In order to gather the data, the researchers designed a questionnaire based on the UTAUT model and they ensured the face, content, and construct validity of the questionnaire by sending it to five experts in the relevant field and by using exploratory factor analysis. Also, all the questionnaire’s items were reliable since the Cronbach’s alpha values were above 0.77 for all the items. A total of 397 participants provided valid responses. The result of this study indicated that Effort Expectancy (EE), Facilitating Condition (FC), Performance Expectancy (PE), and Social Influence (SI), respectively were the primary predictors for students’ intention to use e-training. These factors explained 32.1% of the variance in students’ behavioral intentions. As far as students’ gender is concerned, there were significant differences between students’ PE, FC, and SI. Based on these results, policymakers at IAU will have a clear image of the most essential factors that colleges should target to increase students’ acceptance of e-training.

This study identifies the factors that affect faculty members’ intentions to use social media tools in their teaching activities at the Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University (IAU). Based on the Decomposed Theory of Planned Behavior (DTPB) model, which was designed on a quantitative approach, the study indicates that attitude and subjective norms are significant predictors for faculty members’ intentions to integrate social media into their teaching, but the perceived behavior control is not a significant factor. The results also show that there was no significant difference in faculty members’ intention to adopt social media for teaching purposes that could be attributed to their gender, nationality, or academic ranks. However, there was a significant difference in faculty intentions between those who teach in Arts and Education colleges and faculty members who teach in Health colleges. Specifically, faculty in the Arts and Education colleges show more significantly intentions to use social media than those in the Health colleges.

The problem and the aim of the study. Foreign language proficiency is an integral part of the professional competence of an employee of the tourism industry. Various innovative means are used to improve the quality of foreign language training of a future tourism specialist in higher education institutions. However, their use in practice requires taking into account the specifics of tourism activities and directions of development tourism in the world. The purpose of the study is to study the features of formation of foreign language competences of future specialists in the tourism industry based on mobile technologies. Research methods. The analysis of the potential of mobile technologies, the problems of their implementation in the foreign language training of specialists who specialize in organization of tourist services is applied. When developing a system of tasks, the provisions of the professional standard of a specialist in the tourism industry, the strategy for the development of tourism in Russia are taken into account. Mobile applications are developed on the iBuildApp platform. Empirical methods (testing, analysis of the results of working with mobile applications) are used. The study involved 60 students of the Vyatka State University (Russian Federation). Training program specialization: Technology and organization of tour operator and travel agency services (level – bachelor's degree). Φ-Fisher's criterion is used to process the results of the experiment. Results. The students of the experimental group are involved in the design of multilingual mobile applications as part of the systematic work when studying the disciplines "Modern information technologies", "Digital technologies in tourism", "Foreign language". Students plan a route for a tour, work in groups on a project, use mobile solutions in educational, industrial, design-technological practice. Statistically significant differences between the experimental and control groups in terms of the level of foreign language competence were revealed (φcrit=1.64<φemp=2.912). In conclusion findings about the positive (opportunities for collaboration and project activities, cost optimization, innovative experience) and negative (dependence on foreign software solutions, high cost, technical failures of equipment and the Internet in remote areas, etc.) aspects of the impact of m-learning on the quality of foreign language training of tourism specialists are described.

This study identifies the factors that affect faculty members’ intentions to use social media tools in their teaching activities at the Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University (IAU). Based on the Decomposed Theory of Planned Behavior (DTPB) model, which was designed on a quantitative approach, the study indicates that attitude and subjective norms are significant predictors for faculty members’ intentions to integrate social media into their teaching, but the perceived behavior control is not a significant factor. The results also show that there was no significant difference in faculty members’ intention to adopt social media for teaching purposes that could be attributed to their gender, nationality, or academic ranks. However, there was a significant difference in faculty intentions between those who teach in Arts and Education colleges and faculty members who teach in Health colleges. Specifically, faculty in the Arts and Education colleges show more significantly intentions to use social media than those in the Health colleges.