Perceptions of information and communication technology among undergraduate management students in Barbados

Glenda Gay, Sonia Mahon, Dwayne Devonish, Philmore Alleyne and Peter G. Alleyne The University of the West Indies, Barbados

ABST A!T This exploratory study examined attitudes and usage of ICT among undergraduate management students in Barbados. Of the sample of 166 students, the majority indicated they had access to a computer, and had access and regularly used the Internet. In addition, more females than males had access to a computer off campus. O er !"# used the course$based %ebCT, &hereas only '"# used the Campus (ipeline. The study sho&ed that students &ere generally fa ourable to&ards ICT. )ales &ere more inclined to incorporate ICT in &eb$based instruction compared to other teaching acti ities. Older students &ere more interested in using ICT only as a supplement to teaching acti ities. The findings suggest high usage of and positi e attitudes to&ard ICT among tertiary le el students. *ni ersity administrators need to address the gender and age differences regarding ICT usage as &ell as de elop strategies to maintain positi e student attitudes and high usage of ICT. Keywords: Information and communication technology; WebCT; Internet; management students.

I"T #DU!TI#" Information and Communication Technology +ICT, encompasses the effecti e use of e-uipment and programs to access, retrie e, con ert, store, organi.e, manipulate and present data and information +/ay and Blades, 0""1,. 2$learning, &hich is described as the use of ICT to enhance or support learning and teaching in education, has become increasingly important in tertiary education +O2C3, 0""1,. ICT s4ills are currently of great interest to go ernments, businesses and indi iduals ali4e. Through the use of automation, ICT has become integrated in the management of 4no&ledge and its accompanying ICT tools. Industry and commerce also depend on 4no&ledge management, &hich has forced businesses to become ICT sa y +CO), 0""',. )ore importantly, it is expected that ICT &ould be fully integrated into the academic curriculum in order to prepare students for the &orld of &or4.

Ba$%&ro'nd The *ni ersity of the %est Indies +*%I, is the major tertiary le el institution in the %est Indies and has three campuses in Barbados +Ca e 5ill Campus,, 6amaica +)ona Campus, and Trinidad and Tobago +7t. 8ugustine Campus,. 8ll three campuses ha e embraced ICT in their -uest to enhance teaching and research to students and staff. This exploratory study loo4ed at ICT at only one of the campuses, Ca e 5ill Campus. 7tudents at *%I, Ca e 5ill Campus, ha e access, at minimal cost, to a ariety of electronic information resources. These include9 1. 0. '. the 3istance 2ducation Centre +32C,, &hich &as intended to explore the potential for using telecommunications technology across the three campuses, on$line registration of courses, and access to course material ia &eb$based tools such as %ebCT and Campus (ipeline.

%eb Course Tools +%ebCT, is an online irtual learning tool used by many educational institutions for the deli ery of e$learning to students. This tool has numerous benefits for students and lecturers including effecti e communication of course material, email exchanges, online discussion and general course management. Campus (ipeline is another online system that caters to students, faculty and administration by pro iding centralised %eb access to information and ser ices. 7ome of the benefits of Campus (ipeline include reducing time on administrati e tas4s, distribution of information to students an faculty and extend communication beyond the classroom.

#b(e$tives of the st'dy This study sought to explore the attitudes and usage of ICT among undergraduate management students at the Ca e 5ill Campus of the *ni ersity of the %est Indies in Barbados. The present study addressed four main research -uestions9 1. 0. %hat are the attitudes of undergraduate students to ICT: To &hat extent do students use ICT:

'. ;.

5o& does gender and age impact on the use of and attitudes to ICT: %hat are the main reasons behind students< ICT usage:

ationale for the st'dy This study is important as it measures the attitudes and usage of ICT in a small de eloping country. The /o ernment of Barbados has in ested millions of dollars in encouraging ICT in primary and secondary schools ia a project called 2du$tech, &ith one of its percei ed benefits being the increased proficiency in ICT among students entering the tertiary le el = the le el to &hich secondary students should proceed. Thus, this study should sho& &hether 2dutech has achie ed its main objecti e of promoting the &idespread use of ICT in schools. It is hoped that this paper &ill inform go ernment and educators on ho& to shape their educational policy regarding student use of ICT and its supporting resources. 2ducators &ill also be informed as to &hether they need strategies to encourage students to fully embrace ICT in their learning. )ore importantly, this study &ill contribute to the scant body of literature on the usage of ICT among tertiary le el students in Barbados, and by extension the Caribbean.

Str'$t're of the )a)er The paper is structured as follo&s. The first section presents a selecti e re ie& of the literature on the nature and importance of ICT. The second section presents the methodology and data collection procedures of the study. >ext, the findings and discussion are presented as it relates to the main research -uestions. The final section concludes the present study.

S*+*!TI,* +IT* ATU *

*,I*W

The increased use of computers and the le el of Internet access by businesses and indi iduals ali4e is an important measure of technological de elopment. /o ernments also measure this de elopment in areas such as education and health. This de elopment has been hea ily influenced by the introduction of formal and informal ICT training, &hether conducted in the &or4place, through an institution, or by self$ training. Training therefore is of paramount importance as current and future employees are expected to be ade-uately s4illed in ICT. Online learning, using ICT and e$learning, ha e become the norm across tertiary educational institutions &here students ha e been identified as sta4eholders in the de elopment and implementation of e$online learning +?ing et al., 0""1@ (etro a and 7inclair, 0""1@ ?ee and >guyen, 0""1,. To support online learning, administrati e and faculty offices at uni ersities utili.e substantial proportions of their budgets to pro ide this technology for their students in the learning process. *ni ersities ha e sought methods of de eloping ICT s4ills and 4no&ledge in their graduates in an effort to prepare them for employment. These methods include possession of basic ICT certification as an entry re-uirement, specific ICT foundation courses, or integrating ICT s4ills into the curriculum, &hich is accredited as part of the degree a&ard +322, 0""1,. *ni ersities and other tertiary education institutions ha e indicated that e$learning has a generally positi e effect on the -uality of teaching and learning, although fe& ha e been able to offer detailed e idence +/oldman et al., 1!!!@ (etro a and 7inclair, 0""1@ O2C3, 0""1,. )any student satisfaction sur eys +3orup, 0"";@ 7hashaani, 1!!A, ha e been conducted on the use of e$learning tools. Bor example, 3orup +0"";, found that most students reported that they had a strong preference for ICT resources to supplement teaching and that they &ould prefer to use a computer during their studies. 5o&e er, it is still unclear &hether students use these resources enough. It should be determined &hether refraining from its use is simply through ignorance or some other underlying concern, and ho& it can be addressed. %ithout in estigation, it is difficult for uni ersities to 4no& if they are meeting the needs of students effecti ely +O2C3, 0""1,. /oldman et al. +1!!!, has argued that computer usage has numerous benefits as it primarily assists student learning. Cha e. +1!!A, argued that Internet and computer usage can also impact positi ely on critical thin4ing, problem sol ing, prompt feedbac4 and collaborati e instruction. The *ni ersity of the %est Indies +*%I,, &hose role is the deli ery of high$-uality, rele ant tertiary$le el education to meet the human resource de elopment needs primarily of the Caribbean basin, finds itself ha ing to respond to a number of challenges in this )illennium 2ra. 8s the business of education becomes increasingly competiti e, and more for$profit sta4eholders enter the mar4etplace, the *%I, li4e any pri ate sector business, must find &ays to respond effecti ely to the ne& threats. This challenge, coupled by the need to deli er to rapidly increasing numbers of students, many of &hom opt for the part$time rather than full$time mode of study, has led the *%I to respond by implementing a number of ICTs. 8nother challenge facing tertiary education institutions concerns the rapid de elopment of ICTs. Bor example, 7eely Bro&n and 3uguid +0"""9 01", argued that9 these technologies offer new ways of producing, distributing and consuming academic material. As with so many other institutions, new technologies have caused universities to rethink not simply isolated features but their entire mission and how they go about it. In addition, this challenge is joined by the Barbadian go ernment<s mandate to harness the ICTs as a tool that could be utili.ed to further transform the Barbadian society and economy. Conse-uently, there is a the need to capitali.e on thrusts that &ould harness the ne& ICTs< po&er to support de elopment and economic gro&th in both the public and pri ate sectors +>ation, 0""1,

8s (etro a and 7inclair +0""196!, proposed9 organi ational formats developed to accommodate the new educational paradigm need to be managed carefully in order to avoid early disillusionment and the subse!uent failure of students to reali e the full education potential of online and e"learning. Bor *%I to ha e a competiti e ad antage in the global mar4etplace, e$learning and use of ICTs must be managed effecti ely as a business. Therefore, the infrastructure and management of human resources must be ready for the challenge. This includes the ability of administrati e and teaching staff to be capable of designing, creating, deli ering and managing e$learning. *ltimately, much of this responsibility falls upon the teaching staff &ho ha e to deli er the course materials. 7imilar to other international uni ersities, &hich are re$shaping for e$learning, *%I must also ensure that students are properly prepared for this transition into the blended learning en ironment +Concannon et al., 0""1,. Binally, financial costs and ade-uate budgets must be a ailable to support this infrastructure. 2mpirical studies concerning ICT, its importance and usage among students can be noted. Bor example, 3orup +0"";,, in a study of undergraduate medical students in 3enmar4, found that most students had access to computers at home as &ell as used email and the Internet regularly. In addition, 3orup +0"";, found that males had more access to computers at home, and held more fa ourable attitudes to&ards the use of computers in their medical studies compared to females. 8 small proportion of students reported that they &ould prefer not to use computers in their studies. )ales &ere also significantly more inclined to replace traditional teaching acti ities &ith better ICT resources. Binally, there &ere fa ourable attitudes to&ard the use of ICT as a supplement, as opposed to using ICT or distance education as a replacement to traditional teaching acti ities. 7chumacher and )orahan$)artin +0""1, argued that females ha e less o erall experience &ith computers, and are more li4ely than males to ha e negati e attitudes to&ards computers. These authors found that there &ere significant differences bet&een males and females in computer experience and attitudes to&ards computers. It &as found that males &ere more li4ely to ta4e high school courses re-uiring computer use, and reported higher s4ills in applications such as programming, games and graphics. )ales &ere percei ed to be more experienced and reported higher s4ills le el &ith the use of the Internet, except for email, than females. )oreo er, Cay +1!!0, also disco ered that females had less fa ourable attitudes to&ard computer and Internet usage. 7hashaani +1!!A, also made a similar disco ery &here higher le els of interest in Internet usage existed among men than females. In terms of age, Craut et al +1!!D, found that Internet usage &as higher among older persons, compared &ith younger persons. 5o&e er, Eamayah and 6antan +0""', found that age &as negati ely related to Internet and computer usage &here younger students &ere more li4ely to use these facilities. O erall, pre ious findings regarding age differences in Internet and computer usage tended to be mixed. Cuban +0""1, found that uni ersity students in 8merica usually utili.ed computers for &ord processing, searching the Internet, and for using email, &hile teachers used computers for research purposes rather than for teaching in the classroom. Bri.ler +1!!1, argued that computers may ne er replace teachers, and that computers could ma4e excellent and fairly inexpensi e supplementary materials a ailable to impro e classroom teaching.

M*T-#D Sam)le, Instr'ment and Pro$ed'res The sample &as chosen from the undergraduate management students in the 3epartment of )anagement 7tudies at the Ca e 5ill Campus of the *ni ersity of the %est Indies in Barbados. Three hundred undergraduate management students &ere targeted for the study, using a self$ administered -uestionnaire. The -uestionnaire sought to measure students< attitudes, experience and reasons for the use of ICT on and off campus. It &as adapted and modified from 3orup<s +0"";, study of medical students in 3enmar4. The first part of the -uestionnaire sought demographic information such as age, gender and enrolment status. Table 1 sho&s the demographic profile of the respondents in the sample. One hundred and sixty$six useable responses &ere obtained, resulting in a 11.'# response rate. Of the students &ho returned the -uestionnaires, the majority &ere female +AA#,, persons 01 years and under +61#, and full$time students +1'#,.

Table 1: #emographic $rofile for the %ample

> Bre-uency /ender )ale Bemale 8ge 01 years and under O er 01 years 1"0 6; '! 10A

# (ercentage

0' AA

61 '!

2nrolment 7tatus Bull time (art time DD AD 1' ;A

The second part of the -uestionnaire elicited information on students< attitudes to computer use, &hich &ere dichotomously scored +FyesF and FnoF,. These -uestions &ere9 1. 0. '. ;. 1. 6. I li4e to use a computer for typing assignments, calculations or reports. I &ish I &ould not ha e to use a computer as part of my studies. I &ould li4e to use the computer as a supplement to other teaching acti ities. I &ould li4e to use the computer instead of other teaching acti ities. I &ould li4e to use email to as4 -uestions to my teachers if possible. I &ould li4e to use the computer for distance education from home.

The third section of the -uestionnaire focused on students< usage of computers and other ICT resources. The responses &ere also dichotomously scored +FyesF and FnoF,. The -uestions &ere9 1. 0. '. ;. 1. 6. 3o you ha e access to a computer off$campus: 3o you ha e Internet access at home: 3o you ha e an off$campus email address: 3o you use %ebCT for any of your courses: 3o you use Campus (ipeline: 3o you 4no& the campus home page:

In the fourth part of the -uestionnaire, students &ere as4ed to indicate the extent to &hich they used the Internet and email, on a fi e$point scale ranging from 1 +>e er, to 1 +3aily,. The final item on the -uestionnaire as4ed students to identify their primary reasons for using the Internet. This item had an open$ended format to allo& students to respond freely.

Data Analysis 3ue to the descripti e nature of research -uestions 1 and 0, fre-uencies and percentages &ere computed. Bor research -uestion ', (earson<s Chi s-uare analyses &ere conducted to examine the effects of gender and age on attitudes to ICT and ICT usage. Eesearch -uestion ; &as addressed -ualitati ely by summarising the 4ey themes relating to students< reasons for ICT usage.

.I"DI"GS A"D DIS!USSI#" Attit'des to Information Te$hnolo&y Table 0 sho&s that the majority of the sample expressed fa ourable attitudes to the use of ICT &ithin the academic en ironment. (articularly, students &ere more inclined to use computers for9 typing assignments +!0#,, part of their studies +!1#,, supplementing other teaching acti ities +A0#,, emailing -uestions to teachers +!"#,, and distance education from home +6D#,. 5o&e er, students &ere resistant to the use of computers as full replacement of the regular, traditional teaching experience. This finding suggests students< strong preference for both forms of the academic experience +i.e., interaction &ith the teacher and interaction &ith information technology,, &hich is consistent &ith 3orup<s +0"";, findings. Burthermore, Bri.ler +1!!1, asserts that although computers can ne er substitute teachers, computers can Fpro ide excellent and fairly inexpensi e supplementary materials to enhance classroom instructionF +Bataineh and Baniabdelrahman, 0""19'1,.

%ith respect to gender, no significant gender differences &ere found on fi e of the six attitudinal ICT statements, indicating that both males and females generally had a preference for the use of information technology +7ee Table ',. 5o&e er, males +11#,, to a significant degree, generally preferred to use computers as replacements to other traditional teaching acti ities, compared to females +''#, +Chi$s-uare G 6.1", p H ."1,. This finding &as also congruent &ith that of 3orup +0"";,. )oreo er, pre ious research has documented that male students ha e more positi e perceptions about computers and information technology than female students +7chumacher and )orahan$)artin, 0""1@ 7hashaani, 1!!A@ Ioung, 0""",. Concerning comparisons using age, no significant differences &ere found on fi e of the six items +p J ."1,. 5o&e er, a significant age difference &as found for using the computer as a supplement to other teaching acti ities. Older students +o er 01 years, +D1#, preferred using the computer as a supplement to teaching, compared to younger students +01 years and under, +6A#, +Chi$s-uare G ;.1D, p H ."1, +7ee table ',. This finding is consistent &ith Craut et al.<s +1!!D, findings and implies that older students may ha e a some&hat more positi e perception of computers.

Table 2: &verall Attitudes to Information Technology

# Ies I li4e to use a computer for typing assignments, calculations or reports. !0

# >o

I &ish I &ould not ha e to use a computer as part of my studies.

!1

I &ould li4e to use the computer as a supplement to other teaching A0 acti ities

0D

I &ould li4e to use the computer instead of other teaching acti ities '!

61

I &ould li4e to use email to as4 -uestions to my teachers if possible !"

1"

I &ould li4e to use the computer for distance education from home

6D

''

Table 3: Attitudes to Information Technology by 'ender and Age

/2>32E () I li4e to use a computer for typing assignments, calculations or reports. 1.'!

8/2 ()

.6;

I &ish I &ould not ha e to use a computer as part of my studies.

."0

."";

I &ould li4e to use the computer as a supplement to other teaching acti ities

.!6

;.1DK

I &ould li4e to use the computer instead of other teaching acti ities

6.1"K

.0A

I &ould li4e to use email to as4 -uestions to my teachers if possible

.";

.;A

I &ould li4e to use the computer for distance education from home

1."0

0.6!

*otes9 Chi$ s-uare statistics &ere computed &ith gender and age as the independent ariables for separate analyses. KpH"."1.

!om)'ter and Internet Usa&e Table ; sho&s that majority of students in the sample had access to a computer off campus +!;#,, D!# reported they had access to the Internet at home, and !6# had an off$campus email address. Concerning the on$campus facilities, o er !"# indicated that they used %ebCT and &ere a&are of the campus online homepage. 5o&e er, only a third of the sample +'"#, indicated that they use the Campus (ipeline system. This finding suggests that most students &ere acti ely ta4ing ad antage of the a ailable computer and information technology facilities and resources at their institution. 8gain, these findings &ere consistent &ith 3orup +0"";,. )oreo er, Eaymayah and 6antan +0""', and )achmias, )ioduser and 7hemla +0""", all argued that computers and Internet usage ha e per aded the &orld of education in hope of ma4ing student learning easier and more enjoyable. Concerning the Campus (ipeline, the lo& usage of this resource may be attributed to the fact that students are not re-uired to use this facility and that other resources, such as %ebCT, ha e gained popularity among lecturers and course administrators due to flexibility and con enience. In relation to gender, no significant gender differences &ere found &ith the exception of the access to a computer off$campus@ females +!6#,, to larger degree than males +DA#,, reported that they had access to a computer off$campus +Chi s-uare G ;.'A, p H ."1, +7ee table 1,. This finding conflicts &ith 3orup +0"";,, &ho found that males &ere more li4ely to ha e access to computers off campus, compared to females. This finding is also inconsistent &ith that of )achmias et al. +0""", and Eamayah and 6antan +0""', &ho found that computer and Internet usage &as higher among males than females. This study<s finding implies a gro&ing interest in ICT among females, compared to that of the past. %ith respect to age, no significant differences &ere found.

Table 4: &verall Computer and Internet +sage

# Ies

# >o

3o you ha e access to a computer off$campus:

!;

3o you ha e Internet access at home:

D!

11

3o you ha e an off$campus email address:

!6

3o you use %ebCT for any of your courses:

!D

3o you use Campus (ipeline:

'"

A"

3o you 4no& the campus home page:

!0

*otes, LChi$ s-uare statistic &as computed &ith gender as the independent ariable. KpH"."1.

Table 5: Computer and Internet +sage by 'ender and Age

/ender L()

8ge L()

3o you ha e access to a computer off$campus:

;.'AK

1.11

3o you ha e Internet access at home:

.";

0."D

3o you ha e an off$campus email address:

.1;

1.06

3o you use %ebCT for any of your courses:

1.0'

.'0

3o you use Campus (ipeline:

."D

.""1

3o you 4no& the campus home page:

1.DA

.';

.re/'en$y of and

easons for Internet Usa&e

In relation to fre-uency of Internet usage at home, majority +6;#, of students sur eyed indicated that they use the Internet regularly. In addition, a larger proportion +A1#, indicated that they regularly use email. This finding correlated &ell &ith that of 3orup +0"";,. This finding is consistent &ith that of )achmias et al. +0""", and Eamayah, 6antan and 8afa-i +0""', &ho also disco ered high Internet and email usage among students. The finding presents a fa ourable picture that ICT is becoming increasingly important to students and that the use of Internet and email is no& a commonplace practice among management students. 8 -uestion &as posed concerning the primary reasons for Internet use. The most common responses, cited by students, included research, school assignments, emails and chatting. This finding implies the gro&ing importance of the Internet for school$related acti ities and that students are seemingly ta4ing ad antage of this resource. O erall, these findings are consistent &ith that of /oldman et al. +1!!!,, &ho argued that computer and Internet usage can assist student learning. In addition, Cha e. +1!!A, has suggested that computer usage +including the Internet, assists critical thin4ing, problem sol ing, prompt feedbac4 and collaborati e instruction. (articularly, )achmias et al. +0""", found that the most fre-uently cited reasons for using the Internet &ere email exchanges and chatting, consistent &ith the current finding. Eamayah et al. +0""', ha e argued that the extent to &hich students use the computer and the Internet depends on the percei ed usefulness of this resource in terms of effecti e communication and access to information to complete projects and assignments efficiently.

!#"!+USI#" This study found that management students &ere generally fa ourable to ICT in an academic setting. In addition, males &ere more fa ourable to&ards the use of computers as replacements to other teaching acti ities. Older students &ere more fa ourable to computer use as a supplement to other teaching acti ities, compared to younger students. 7tudents had access to computers and the Internet off campus. There also seems to be &idespread usage of arious forms of information technology such as Internet, %ebCT and email. >o significant gender differences &ere found &ith the exception of the access to a computer off$campus@ females to a larger degree than males +DA#,, reported that they had access to a computer off$campus. %ith respect to age, no significant differences found. The main reasons for the use of the Internet offered included research and email.

Based on the abo e findings, it is recommended that academicians and course administrators pay more attention to gender and age differences regarding the use of ICT resources as a major component in classroom teaching. This should ser e to attract greater support for ICT and e$learning among all categories of students. 7econdly, it is recommended that uni ersity administrators maintained the high le els of ICT usage among students through continuous education and promotion of the benefits attached to ICT resources. This &ould in ol e the use of seminars and training programmes as &ell as encouraging lecturers and course administrators to embrace e$learning and its resources. These findings are important in that they can ser e to inform educators about the usage of information and communication technology in an academic en ironment. This is important in that the students &ill need to use ICT in the &or4place and prior preparation is a necessity. )oreo er, the international community has embraced information technology in business, and these findings augur &ell for business in Barbados and the &ider Caribbean. 8 limitation of the study &as the relati ely small sample si.e, &hich may limit the generalisability of these findings to the population under study. Buture research should examine ICT usage among students in different disciplines campus &ide. In addition, future research could consider underta4ing large$scale studies of attitudes to ICT and its usage outside the academic setting, targeting business professionals and other practitioners.

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