Information and communication technologies (ICT) along with the internet have fueled advancements and growth in banking, transportation, economics, and most of all in education in the 21st century. The 21st century citizens are provided with new opportunities that have been created with the advancement of ICT. Hence, individuals need a wide range of abilities, competencies, and skills to adapt to the technological era. This paper provides a literature review of the growing importance of ICT, its wide array of usage, and its influence on various facets of people's daily lives. In addition, the emerging concept of digital literacy through ICT developments, contribution of digital literacy towards the achievement of sustainable development goals, contribution of ICT towards the development of various sectors particularly the education sector, and the work done in this area of digital literacy are summarised. The paper concludes with three new models of digital literacy: four gear model, model for flexible learning, and a model showing the impact of ICT on the learning process.
Significant growth and successful integration of mobile devices to the education landscape have garnered the introduction of mobile learning (mLearning) as a new technology-enabled educational tool. Mobile learning has become a new higher educational paradigm which makes learning more flexible and accessible. However, student readiness and their perceptions about educational use of tablet devices are still a concern particularly in the developing countries like the Pacific island countries (PICs). This article investigates these two important attributes of tablet devices in a first year blended course from a higher education institute in the Pacific with a sample of 43 students. The results revealed that the participants perceived that tablet devices were effective and innovative learning tools. The participants supported the idea of using tablet devices and were ready to incorporate them for learning provided there was training in place. This article finally outlines recommendations for the education sectors in the Pacific.
The rise of online modes of content delivery, termed e-learning, has increased student convenience and provided geographically remote students with more options for tertiary education. However, its efficacy relies upon student access to suitable technology and the internet, and the quality of the online course material. With the COVID-19 outbreak, education providers worldwide were forced to turn to e-learning to retain their student base and allow them to continue learning through the pandemic. However, in geographically remote, developing nations, many students may not have access to suitable technology or internet connections. Hence it is important to understand the potential of e-learning to maintain equitable access to education in such situations. This study found the majority (88%) of commencing students at the University of the South Pacific owned at least one ICT device and had access to the internet. Similarly, most students had adequate to strong ICT skills and a positive attitude toward e-learning. These attitudes among the student cohort, in conjunction with the previous experience of The University of the South Pacific in distance education, are likely to have contributed to its relatively successful transition from face-to-face to online learning as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
This research paper examines the acceptance of technology for learning by senior secondary school students and university newcomers. The objectives of the study are to measure the computer competency, computer self-efficacy of selected student cohorts on the acceptance of technology for learning. The study uses the extended Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) with two additional attributes, computer competencies and computer self-efficacies to examine students' behavior towards learning with technology. Two sets of data were collected; one was from Year 12 and Year 13 students from 33 secondary schools in Fiji, and the other from newcomers of a regional university in the South Pacific. The cohorts were surveyed with a unipolar Likert scale 1-5 questionnaire. The results were analysed using the "Statistical Package for the Social Sciences" -SPSS software and the proposed extended TAM model was analysed using the Smart Partial least squares (SmartPLS) software. The results from the regression analysis confirmed that the two attributes had a significant positive impact on the acceptance of the technology, that is, computer competency and computer selfefficacy were significant predictors of students' intention to continue using technology for learning. Therefore, a new model incorporating the two perfect scorers is designed and presented in this paper. The high values for Cronbach's alpha also show that the results were reliable and valid. Finally, the study shows that computer competencies and computer self-efficacies are essential contributors to the continuous use of technology for learning.
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