Structural Equation Modeling of Cognitive Determinants of Technology Integration Literacy in Ghanaian Higher Education

Abstract

Technological innovations are altering the lives of the poor, rich, nation‘s economics, and education globally. Hence, Ghana‘s commitment to formulate the ICT for Accelerated Development (ICT4AD) Policy in 2003 to achieve the transformative vision of competing favorably in the knowledge economy in addition to the introduction of ICT- related subjects in the Ghanaian schools to develop the human resources for indigenous knowledge development is laudable. However, instructional technologists feared that the Ghanaian ICT curriculum from basic to tertiary level might be too generic and lacking curriculum-specific integration literacy, thereby likely to widen the digital divide. To support Ghana‘s vision for ICT integration into higher education lessons, the current study sought to predict university graduates‘ integration literacy from cognitive constructs using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) approach. The measurements and structural model fit indices were tested with SmartPLS Version 3. The results showed that students‘‘goal-setting and need for achievement significantly predicted over 15% (R2 = .155) of ICT integrate skills. However, self-efficacy was not an important predictor (t = 1.74, p > .05) for students ICT integration literacy in the Ghanaian setting. We concluded that whilst graduates‘goal-setting and need for achievement traits motivate them to acquire technology skills in the Ghanaian public universities, certainly, 85% of latent variables such as pedagogy, lecturers‘ computer integration competencies, and access remain unaccounted for per our structural model. The study recommends that career counsellors could design cognitive interventions to improve students‘ self-efficacy traits and educational administrators should encourage formative assessment by ICT instructors in their schools to enhance skills developments.