Social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter are an inevitable part of our daily lives. These social media platforms are effective tools for disseminating news, photos, and other types of information. In addition to the positives of the convenience of these platforms, they are often used for propagating malicious data or information. This misinformation may misguide users and even have dangerous impact on society’s culture, economics, and healthcare. The propagation of this enormous amount of misinformation is difficult to counter. Hence, the spread of misinformation related to the COVID-19 pandemic, and its treatment and vaccination may lead to severe challenges for each country’s frontline workers. Therefore, it is essential to build an effective machine-learning (ML) misinformation-detection model for identifying the misinformation regarding COVID-19. In this paper, we propose three effective misinformation detection models. The proposed models are long short-term memory (LSTM) networks, which is a special type of RNN; a multichannel convolutional neural network (MC-CNN); and k-nearest neighbors (KNN). Simulations were conducted to evaluate the performance of the proposed models in terms of various evaluation metrics. The proposed models obtained superior results to those from the literature.

Aim/Purpose: This study collects empirical evidence to investigate the extent to which high school teachers adopted the tablet computer in their instruction within the context of the Tablet Project in Kuwait and explores what drove their adoption behavior. Background: The role of information technology in education is prominent and takes different forms depending on the purpose of information technology adoption and the adopted information technology systems. To utilize emerging technology in education in Kuwait, the government launched an initiative to integrate the tablet computer into high school education during the 2015–2016 academic year. Three years later, some evidence doubting the project’s value had had been circulated, which motivated undertaking a thorough investigation to assess the project’s effectiveness, particularly from the teachers’ perspectives and its influential factors. Methodology: We adapted an expanded Technology Acceptance Model to assess the extent of high school teachers’ use of the system in their teaching practice and to examine the effects of teaching efficacy, perceived ease of use, and perceived usefulness on that use behavior. To test the research hypotheses, a data set was collected from 206 teachers and analyzed using the partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) method. Contribution: Our empirically derived results confirm the scanty information that was in circulation at the time of this study and that claimed that the Tablet Project was not progressing sufficiently or achieving its objectives. These results could guide future efforts aimed at effectively integrating information technology into high school education in Kuwait and at enhancing the ongoing online education necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic. They also advise that effective integration of information technology into teaching and learning mandates a comprehensive redesign and digitization of the targeted educational system. Findings: Although teachers report minimal use of the system in teaching, teaching efficacy emerges as the strongest determinant of that use behavior, followed by perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness. The fitted model also has satisfactory explanatory power as it explains 43% of the variance in use behavior. Recommendations for Practitioners: The results of this study suggest that, in the public schools of Kuwait, teaching efficacy is a more important determinant of the use behavior of information technology in teaching than perceived ease of use or perceived usefulness. In addition, it is difficult to adopt information technology into teaching where there is inadequate awareness of the role of technology in e-learning, a lack of content modules fit for information technology-assisted teaching, poor Internet connections, a lack of technical support, and a lack of adequate professional and technical training. Recommendation for Researchers: This study offers significant empirical results from the Arabian milieu on the utility of the Technology Acceptance Model in elucidating public high school teachers’ adoption of the tablet computer in teaching practice. Our results also enhance the growing global body of knowledge on the integration of hedonic systems as well as their individual and contextual determinants in education, in general, and in teaching practice, in particular. Furthermore, teaching efficacy is an important determinant of teachers’ adoption of information technology in teaching. Impact on Society: Information technology augments traditional, face-to-face teaching and learning in societies by incorporating rich, online learning experiences and creating a motivating and efficient learning environment. Yet, the value of information technology-enabled education depends significantly on the successful integration of the systems into the educational process, and the results of this study could serve as a foundation for policies and plans aimed at successfully integrating information technology into the educational systems in Kuwait and similar societies. Future Research: The results and limitations of this study suggest several future research topics. Future research should explore the extent of students’ adoption of the tablet computer in learning activities and its important determinants to gain a better understanding of the Kuwaiti Tablet Project initiative. In addition, future research should employ other research methods (e.g., qualitative analysis), use samples from private schools’ teachers, and incorporate and test other possible determinants of teachers’ adoption of information technology in teaching to verify the validity and generalizability of the reported results.

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Aim/Purpose: This study was designed to examine the extent to which high school teachers intend to continue using the tablet PC in their teaching within the context of the Tablet Project initiative in Kuwait. It explores what drives their adoption intention. Background: Blended learning offers teachers the potential to adopt IT to augment their instructions and refocus their content, target group, context, and ethical facets; explore new modes of education and consider effective methods to educate students; and experience more flexibility in both course design and delivery method. To reap the potential benefits of integrating IT in education, the Ministry of Education in Kuwait introduced the “Tablet Project” in public high schools during the 2015–2016 academic year; three years later, it was unclear whether the teachers would continue using the tablet PCs in their teaching. Methodology: The research model adapts constructs from the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) and the Technological, Pedagogical, and Content Knowledge (TPACK) models. It includes facilitating conditions (FC), social influence (SI), and teaching efficacy (TE) as predictors of teachers’ behavioral intentions (BI) to continue using the tablet PC in future teaching. The model also proposes a moderating effect of gender, age, and tablet PC experience on BI. To test the research hypotheses, a data set was collected from 206 teachers and analyzed using the partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) method. Contribution: This study provides empirical evidence on important predictors of continuous IT adoption in teaching activities and identifies lessons that could guide initiatives aimed to embed IT in the pre-college education system in Kuwait as well as other similar systems. It contributes results to advance theories and models aimed to explain and predict sustainable IT adoption in education systems across cultures. Findings: While TE arises as a non-significant predictor of BI, SI emerges as the strongest predictor of BI. FC is the second significant predictor of BI, although its direct effect on BI is non-significant. Gender, age, and tablet PC experience have non-significant moderating effects on BI. These results provide significant statistical support for the predictive power of the model, as it explains approximately 50% of the variance in BI. Recommendations for Practitioners: Since this research is directly connected to the reality of IT adoption in teaching in the Kuwaiti high school system, the findings should be of value for the Kuwaiti educational system and future teachers’ professional development initiatives. They should inform future actions and strategies aimed at successfully integrating IT in pre-college education in Kuwait and other similar countries. Recommendation for Researchers: The findings add to the ongoing research effort aimed to develop a better understanding of the intention to continue using IT in instruction and its influential factors across cultures (e.g., Arabian culture), especially since most earlier TPACK studies were carried out in Asian countries and the US. Our findings also confirm the value of UTAUT constructs (i.e., SI and FC) in explaining and predicting the intention to continue using IT by high school teachers, as the research model explains approximately 50% of the variance in the teachers’ BI. Impact on Society: This research offers empirical evidence that adds much-needed nuance to the discourse on teachers’ IT adoption intention and behavior and informs policies and strategies in support of initiatives aimed to integrate IT into education. The provision of a technical and organizational ecosystem that is conducive to sustainable IT integration in the Kuwaiti education system must be part of a more comprehensive initiative to digitize the entire education system. Education policy makers should embrace a digital mindset to adopt IT and transform the teaching, learning, and managerial processes in the system. Future Research: Future research could replicate this study and compare the results, employ other research methods (e.g., focus-group discussions and observations) to investigate teachers’ IT adoption in various educational contexts, adapt research models that include other predictors, and investigate and produce results on students’ perspectives regarding their initial and continuous adoption of the tablet PC within the Tablet Project context.

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