The Status Quo of Using Information and Communication Technologies in Teaching by Staff of College of Education and Arts at the Northern Border University

Abstract

The study aimed to identify the information and communication technologies used by the staff of the college of arts and education at the Northern Borders University (NBU) and to know how often they are utilized in teaching. The study also aimed to investigate the obstacles faced by the staff in using these technologies and whether there is a statistically significant difference in their views attributed to the variables of gender, and years of experience. The study followed the descriptive approach, and a convenient questionnaire is used to collect the necessary data. The study sample consisted of a total number of 97 staff members: 52 males and 45 females. The results showed that there is a clear contrast in the use of these technologies, which is on the whole relatively moderate, and that the largest proportion of faculty members uses the internet, e-mail, and office programs in teaching and preparing lectures. The findings also indicate that there are many obstacles to the use of information and communication technologies in teaching based on the staff viewpoints. Most important of which is the student's inability to deal with these technologies, and the lack of much needed software. In total, the obstacles are clearly stressed in their views. As far as these obstacles are concerned, the study proved that there are no statistically significant differences in their views attributed to the gender variable; however, there are significant differences in their views attributed to the variable of years of experience in this connection. The difference is in favor of those who have 6 - 10 years of experience.