Exploring Electronic Communication Modes Between Iraqi Faculty and Students of Pharmacy Schools Using the Technology Acceptance Model

Abstract

Objective. To explore for the first time the extent to which Iraqi pharmacy students and faculty use Facebook and university email for academic communications, and to examine factors influencing utilization within the framework of the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM).Methods. An electronic survey was administered to convenience samples of students and faculty of six Iraqi public schools and colleges of pharmacy in 2015. Results. Responses included 489 student and 128 faculty usable surveys. Both students and faculty use Facebook more than university email for academic communications. Less than a third of the faculty used university email. Students used Facebook for academic purposes twice as much as faculty. Conclusion. Absence of university email in Iraqi schools and colleges of pharmacy makes Facebook essential for faculty-student communications. The majority (71.1% to 82%) of respondents perceived that Facebook was easy to use. Three TAM variables (intention to use, attitude toward use and perceived usefulness) had significant positive associations with actual use of both Facebook messaging and university email.

Evaluating the use of informational technologies by students of healthcare colleges for academic purposes over a five-year period

“…The implementation of various technologies in education has been in use by academic institutions and specifically integrated at the college level. In Iraqi universities and until recently, attempts at implementing different ICTs and E-learning were scarce and discrete (Al-Azawei et al, 2016;Al-Jumaili et al, 2017;Elameer & Idrus, 2011;Khmiss & Aaber, 2010). Additionally, most pilot attempts at introducing various technologies in pedagogy and the studies stemming from these attempts were directed to computer science colleges (Al-Azawei et al, 2017;Khmiss & Aaber, 2010;Radif, 2016).…”

“…This was a cross-sectional descriptive study in eight public universities and two private university colleges in seven different Iraqi governorates: Baghdad, Basrah, Al-Najaf, Qadisiyah, Duhok, Erbil and Sulaimani. We conducted a survey using the instruments developed from the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) (Al-Jumaili et al, 2017;Davis et al, 1989). The TAM has five predictive domains (perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, facilitating conditions, attitude toward use, behavioral intention to use) which can influence the outcome variable (actual use of technology) (Davis et al, 1989;Teo, 2011) (Fig.…”

“…The survey included questions about the five independent variables and the outcome variable for each of the five included technologies. Some measures were adapted from previous studies (Akbulut, 2009;Al-Jumaili et al, 2017;Kazley et al, 2013;Waycott et al, 2010;Zare-ee, 2011) and others were newly developed. The surveys were administered to convenience samples of students at the colleges of pharmacy, medicine, and dentistry in the participating universities.…”

Sudden Transition of Pharmacy Education from Traditional to Distance Learning in the Era of COVID-19: Action Steps of a Leading Pharmacy School in Iraq

“…Currently, UOB COPharm has a total of 91 faculty members, 1,128 undergraduate students and 113 first year postgraduate students across the three postgraduate programs (High Diploma, MSc, PhD). Before COVID-19 pandemic, all pharmacy programs in Iraq including UOB COPharm were face-to-face in-class programs across all classes and does not include any online courses (1) .…”

“…Even though official university emails were made available to faculty since 2018, only 20 out of 91 total faculty members have activated their emails and were using them before COVID-19 era. Official university emails were basically available for all students and faculty, however, students and faculty electronic communications were done mainly through social media platforms (1) . Additionally, ECM when implemented by the instructor, would be with students' personal emails even if the instructors were using his/her official university email.…”