Digital Competencies and Professional attitudes as Predictors of Universities academics' Digital Technologies Usage: Example of Al-Hussein Bin Talal

Abstract

Information Communication Technologies (ICT) has experienced remarkable development and changes provoked by the spread of digitization and the rise of electronic technologies. Those changes made it urgent to understand academics' perceptions and professional usage of those technologies in higher education. To understand the academics' perception of digital technologies in higher education we have conducted this study in Al-Hussein Bin Talal University (AHU) as an example of academics' digital competencies, professional attitudes, and professional application of digital tools, and possibility of predicting the degree of application of digital tools through the degree of academics' competencies and professional attitudes . This study carried out in Ma'an, a poor-environment area of Southern Governorate in Jordan, with 107 academics who work in AHU as an instructors, has one aim which is to explore how they perceive new digital technologies. Most important result of the study showed that academics competence, attitudes, and digital technologies tools usage are in average level. Moreover the study showed that digital technology tool usage's degree can be predicted through the degrees of the academics' competence and attitudes.. Recommendations were included in this study.