ICT skills evaluation of faculty members in Kuwait; Preliminary findings

Abstract

This research aimed to examine the current information and communication technology (ICT) skills of faculty members at the College of Basic Education, Kuwait, to find out their ICT skills level and obtain an understanding of their training needs. A survey of 187 faculty members revealed findings on Internet access, ICT teaching courses, level of ICT skills, English language proficiency, ICT use, availability of ICT resources and ICT skills. This study recommends that faculty members update their ICT skills and assign students to use ICT, while their employer should provide suitable Internet infrastructure and professional development courses based on a training plan. Research has generated an ICT-skilled faculty member list that employers would use to check faculty members' skills before employing them. Other institutions can make use of this research as a guide to evaluating their faculty members' ICT skills.

The Degree of Achieving ISTE Standards among Pre-Service Teachers at “the Public Authority for Applied Education and Training” (PAAET) in Kuwait from Their Point of Views

“…The integration of technology in teacher education programs has been investigated over the past few decades in order to apply and formulate best practices for integration of technology in the preparation of pre-service teachers. In Kuwait, the vast majority of the research that related to the use of technology in education focused on students' and instructors' perceptions of, use of, and attitudes toward the use of technology in education (Almisad, 2015;Buarki, 2016;Meerza, & Beauchamp, 2017). The current study focused on the extent of achieving the ISTE standards among student teachers at Kuwaiti higher educational system and the factors that would influence the extent of achieving these standards.…”

“…In Kuwait, the great majority of current research into the use of ICT in education has focused on examining the extent of the students and instructors' use of ICT in their educational practice (Alharbi, 2014;Alanzi, 2016), examining students and instructors' perceptions of and attitudes toward the use of ICT for educational purposes (Almisad, 2015;Al-Hunaiyyan, Alhajri, & Al-Sharhan, 2016;Al-Sharef, Anderson, & Strivens, 2016;Meerza & Beauchamp, 2017), identifying the factors that would affect students and instructors' use and perceptions of ICT in their education (Almisad, 2015;Al-Hunaiyyan, Alhajri, & Al-Sharhan, 2016), and investigating students and instructors' skills in using ICT (Buarki, 2016). The general findings of these research studies showed that the students and their instructors had the fundamental or technical knowledge and skills to successfully integrate ICT in their educational practice.…”

Academic domains as political battlegrounds

“…This is in addition to, as agreed by 85% of the authors, the benefit of representing members, forming relationships between them, and validating or providing recognition for one's efforts (Buarki, 2015). A further reason, echoing the theory of regionalism (Fawcett and Hurrell, 1995), is a realisation on the part of their leaders that regionbased entities (societies or associations) often cannot gain sufficient recognition and influence at the international level (65% of the authors agree).…”

Empowering academics to be adaptive with eLearning technologies: An exploratory case study

“…These include, but are not limited to, Web 2.0 technologies (e.g., blogs, podcasts, wikis, social media, and polling applications), learning, curriculum, student and academic integrity administration systems, eBooks, gamification, videos, ePortfolios, and electronic marking. In addition, academics are required to use a broad range of generic information and communications technology (ICT) in carrying out their daily work (Bukari, 2016). Web 3.0 and the Internet of Things suggest that the technological disruption will continue.…”

“…Academics are required to adapt positively to changes resulting from technology, yet professional development approaches have typically focussed on mastery and how to use individual applications and platforms (Bukari, 2016;Sharpe & Oliver, 2007). Some training involves relevant pedagogies, but much is delivered by those skilled in ICT rather than those with knowledge of educational practice, academic identity, leadership, and change management.…”