Institutional and individual barriers of e-learning adoption in higher education in Oman, academics' perspectives

Error on Title Page. Date of Award is 2017.In the past two decades, rapid advances in information and communications technology (ICT) have encouraged some educators to opt for technological learning environments to support teaching and learning. As a result E-learning has grown to be an essential element of vast Higher education institutions around the world with large investments to improve the quality of teaching and learning. In spite of all these investments on E-learning facilities, academics face challenges that discourage them from changing to this mode of delivery.The goal of this study was to explore and examine academics perceptions on the factors that inhibit the adoption of E-learning in Higher education in Oman. The key focus of the study is on the examination of how the institutional and individual barriers affect the adoption of E-learning by academics. Thirty academics from three teaching faculties at Sultan Qaboos University (SQU) participated in this study. Through teachers' semi-structured interviews and LMS use statistics, this study signifies the factors that hinder academics use of E-learning.The findings from this study reveal (a) that academics have positive perceptions of the use of E-learning in teaching and learning, (b) that academics perceive that lack of specialized training, lack of solid IT infrastructure, lack of accessible E-learning support, and lack of E-learning strategy are the main institutional barriers to academics' E-learning adoption, and (c) that academics believe that lack of awareness of E-learning effectiveness, lack of knowledge of integrating E-learning in teaching, and resistance to change were the main individual academics' barriers to E-learning adoption. Furthermore academics with more E-learning support structures have more positive attitudes and adoption level of E-learning. The findings from this study deepen our understanding of E-learning adoption in the higher education context in Oman through examining the issues associated with institutional barriers and their effect on individual barriers of academics' adoption of E-learning technologies.In the past two decades, rapid advances in information and communications technology (ICT) have encouraged some educators to opt for technological learning environments to support teaching and learning. As a result E-learning has grown to be an essential element of vast Higher education institutions around the world with large investments to improve the quality of teaching and learning. In spite of all these investments on E-learning facilities, academics face challenges that discourage them from changing to this mode of delivery.The goal of this study was to explore and examine academics perceptions on the factors that inhibit the adoption of E-learning in Higher education in Oman. The key focus of the study is on the examination of how the institutional and individual barriers affect the adoption of E-learning by academics. Thirty academics from three teaching faculties at Sultan Qaboos University (SQU) participated in this study. Through teachers' semi-structured interviews and LMS use statistics, this study signifies the factors that hinder academics use of E-learning.The findings from this study reveal (a) that academics have positive perceptions of the use of E-learning in teaching and learning, (b) that academics perceive that lack of specialized training, lack of solid IT infrastructure, lack of accessible E-learning support, and lack of E-learning strategy are the main institutional barriers to academics' E-learning adoption, and (c) that academics believe that lack of awareness of E-learning effectiveness, lack of knowledge of integrating E-learning in teaching, and resistance to change were the main individual academics' barriers to E-learning adoption. Furthermore academics with more E-learning support structures have more positive attitudes and adoption level of E-learning. The findings from this study deepen our understanding of E-learning adoption in the higher education context in Oman through examining the issues associated with institutional barriers and their effect on individual barriers of academics' adoption of E-learning technologies