An exploration of factors that predict higher education faculty members’ intentions to utilize emerging technologies

Abstract

Higher education faculty members incorporate technologies into their teaching and learning practices in higher education for the benefit of their learners. Hence, general technologies, such as presentation software, online classrooms, and learning management systems are ubiquitous in higher education teaching practices. However, emerging technologies (i.e., augmented reality, virtual reality, robotics, tangible user interfaces, wearable technologies, and mixed reality) are not currently in wide use in higher education. As emerging technologies can broaden access to content and increase accessibility for all learners, investigating faculty members’ intention to incorporate these technologies was explored in this study. Faculty participants from higher education institutions (N = 174) completed a 33-item survey, based on the theoretical framework of the decomposed theory of planned behavior. A path analysis of factors that influence faculty members’ intention to integrate emerging technologies in teaching and learning were conducted. Results indicated that attitude, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control are indicators of intention to use emerging technologies in teaching and learning.