Ahmad A. Rabaa'i

An Empirical Investigation on the Adoption of e-Government in Developing Countries: The Case of Jordan

While e-Government has the potential to improve public administration effectiveness as well as efficiency by increasing convenience, performance and accessibility of different government services to citizens, the success of these initiatives is dependent not only on government support, but also on citizens’ willingness to accept and adopt those e-government services. Although there is a great body of literature that discuss e-Government in developed countries, e-government in developing countries, in general, and Arab countries, in particular, has not received equal attention. The objective of this study is to determine the factors that influence the adoption of e-government services in a developing country, namely Jordan. An extended version of Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) is utilized as the theoretical base of this study. Overall, the study proposes that citizens’ perceptions about e-Government services influence their attitude towards adopting e-government initiatives. A survey collected data from 853 online users of Jordan’s e-government services. Using partial least squares (PLS) of structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis technique, the results show that all the four factors, namely: Perceived Credibility, Perceived Usefulness, Perceived Ease of Use and Computer Self Efficacy have significant effect on the adoption of e-government services in Jordan. Moreover, the study findings show that Perceived Ease of Use as the most important factor in predicting Jordanian citizens’ adoption of e-government services. The research limitations, implications for research and practice are discussed.

University Student Perceptions of Technology Use in Mathematics Learning.

Although most universities and educators are relying on implementing various technological tools in the curriculum, acceptance of such tools among students is still not sufficient. The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) has been widely used by researchers to test user’s acceptance of technology in business, education and other domains. This research study is an attempt that tests the integration of TAM and user satisfaction in the educational field. It particularly investigates students’ acceptance to use MyMathLab, a technological tool, in university math classes in the Middle East. Structural equation modelling with various constructs was used. Findings support the theoretical model showing the great influence of user satisfaction on perceived ease of use and subjective norm on behavioural intention. The findings of this study also demonstrate that selfefficacy, user satisfaction, subjective norms, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and students’ attitude constructs all have a positive impact on students’ behavioural intentions to adopt and use technological tools in a mathematics class room. Findings of this research have greater implications for educators and students worldwide. Keyword: TAM, MyMathLab, university, students, math, self-satisfaction. Introduction Higher education institutions have implemented different technologies to provide teachers and students with many interesting tools that can be used to improve the teaching– learning process (Martín-Blas & Serrano-Fernández, 2009). However, despite the strong presences of information and communication technology (ICT) in classrooms, studies have shown that ICT is underused (Ruthven, 2009). For instance, although institutions have made large investments in educational technology, many technologies have Material published as part of this publication, either on-line or in print, is copyrighted by the Informing Science Institute. Permission to make digital or paper copy of part or all of these works for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that the copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage AND that copies 1) bear this notice in full and 2) give the full citation on the first page. It is permissible to abstract these works so long as credit is given. To copy in all other cases or to republish or to post on a server or to redistribute to lists requires specific permission and payment of a fee. Contact Publisher@InformingScience.org to request redistribution permission. Technology Use in Mathematics Learning 418 been underutilised or abandoned completely, due to limited user acceptance (Liu, Liao & Pratt, 2009; Teo, 2009), for example, SMART notebook. Similarly, Imtiaz and Mirhashemi (2013, p. 23) argued that many advantages of technology in education have been realized, but there still remain many hindrances and barriers in technology adoption and use in education. Imtiaz and Mirhashemi (2013, p. 23) stipulated that this has led to a less than expected implementation of technology in education. This study tries to bridge the gap identified in prior research (e.g., Liu et al., 2009; Ruthven, 2009; Teo, 2009) in relation to technology adoption and use in education. The current study proposes and empirically tests an integrated theoretical model of university students’ acceptance and intentions to use a technological tool, named MyMathLab, based on an extended version of the technology acceptance model (TAM) and user satisfaction. Recently, researchers argued that the models and theories that developed from the body of research within the business contexts could be applied to understanding technology acceptance in educational contexts (Teo, 2013). Among the most popular models in technology acceptance research, the technology acceptance model (TAM) (Davis, 1989) has been found to be a robust model for understanding the factors that affect users’ intention to use technology in education (Teo, 2012). In fact, TAM has become one of the most widely used models in technology embedded education research (Kiliç, 2014). This study aims at investigating and assessing the factors that determine the adoption of technological tools in mathematics among university students. The main research question this paper explores is, What are the main factors that determine university students’ attitudes toward adopting technological tools in learning? This paper is arranged into six sections. Following the Introduction, the second section provides a brief review of prior studies in technology adoption in general, technology adoption in education, and the exemplar technological tool used for investigation in this study. The third section discusses the research model and hypotheses. Section four describes the research method. The data analysis is presented in section five, and, finally, section six discusses the findings and concludes the paper.

Comprehensive guidelines for ABET accreditation of a computer science program: the case of the American University of Kuwait

ABET accreditation adds a real value to an educational program by meeting the essential requirements that enable it to produce ready graduates for the market. We at the Computer Science and Information Systems Department in the American University of Kuwait (CSIS-AUK) recognise this value after we have gone through restructuring and enhancing our program to meet CAC-ABET standard requirements and completing the self-study report. In this paper, we will present a complete and detailed documentation of our work in establishing our ABET compliant program. Special focus will be given to a case study of three student outcomes SOs A, B and J where, a thorough assessment process is presented including: data collection, reporting and assessment forms, analysis, justification, recommendations and finally data graphical representation for individual performance indicator (PI) trend tracking among different assessment cycles. We believe that our approach to ABET accreditation is unique from different aspects that will be very clear in the body of the paper. The CSIS-AUK department has a great confidence of the deigned, implemented and tested process and strongly believes that it will be a great source for learning, adoption and inspiration for institutions seeking ABET accreditation.

Holistic procedures for contemporary formative construct validation using PLS: a comprehensive example

Sound advice from knowledgeable methodologists synthesised from the literature, has yielded herein a complete and readily useable set of guidelines for best-practice contemporary formative construct validation using partial least squares (PLS). Procedures are logically organised around the indicator level and construct level validation. Indicator level validation is concerned that each indicator contributes to the formative construct by carrying the intended meaning. Tests advocated are in attention to: 1) multicollinearity; 2) indicator weights; 3) indicator loadings; 4) indicator criterion validity. Construct level validation includes tests of: 1) nomological validity; 2) external validity. The referent study conveniently included items whose statistical indications were mixed, inviting illuminating discussion around the basis on which key decisions are made. Guidance compiled herein and demonstrated through example, will be of value to both novice and more experienced researchers working with or considering formative phenomenon. The combination of procedures outlined makes clear the necessary data and tests required in order to facilitate strong formative construct validity testing.