The impact of COVID 19 restrictions on Australian nurse academics attitudes to technology: A survey of Technology Readiness Index 2.0

Mark Browning; Biswajit Banik; Sharon Bourke; Amany Abdelkader; Ligi Anish; Miriam Muduwa

doi:10.1016/j.nepr.2023.103719

The impact of COVID 19 restrictions on Australian nurse academics attitudes to technology: A survey of Technology Readiness Index 2.0

Nurse Educ Pract. 2023 Aug:71:103719. doi: 10.1016/j.nepr.2023.103719. Epub 2023 Jul 10.

Authors

Mark Browning¹, Biswajit Banik², Sharon Bourke³, Amany Abdelkader⁴, Ligi Anish⁴, Miriam Muduwa⁴

Affiliations

¹ School of Nursing and Midwifery, Institute of Health and Wellbeing, Federation University, 100 Clyde Road, Berwick, VIC 3806, Australia. Electronic address: m.browning@federation.edu.au.
² School of Public health, Institute of Health and Wellbeing, Federation University, 100 Clyde Road, Berwick, VIC 3806, Australia. Electronic address: b.banik@federation.edu.au.
³ School of Nursing & Midwifery, La Trobe University, The Alfred Centre, Level 4, 99 Commercial Rd, Melbourne 3004, Australia.
⁴ School of Nursing and Midwifery, Institute of Health and Wellbeing, Federation University, 100 Clyde Road, Berwick, VIC 3806, Australia.

PMID: 37523997
DOI: 10.1016/j.nepr.2023.103719

Abstract

Aim: This study aimed to determine the attitude of Australian nursing lecturers to the use of technology applied to the teaching and learning of nursing students.

Background: The use of technology in teaching was accelerated in reaction to the COVID-19 restrictions whereby measures, including social distancing and lockdowns, forced many higher education courses to transition online. Lecturers play a key role in the integration of technology in teaching, as it is the lecturer, not the technology, who facilitates the students' learning experience.

Design: A cross sectional survey design was used for this study, distributed from April to June of 2022. The purpose of the survey was to gather technology readiness data (via the TRI 2 questions) and descriptive data representative of the nursing academic population in Australia.

Results: There was no statistically significant differences between participants based on demographic data (such as gender or age). There was an association between TRI 2 score and: the sum of elearning technologies engaged with; the frequency of engagement with technology and self-rated confidence with elearning. Of note were statistically significant differences of TRI between states/territories. Finally, there was an inverse relationship between the impact of COVID-19 restrictions and TRI 2 score.

Conclusion: The study found that there was significant variation between states/territories and self-reported impact of TRI. Given that increased frequency and increased number of technologies engaged with are associated with technology readiness the variation between states/territories lockdowns which required engagement with technology, may have had an impact on the nursing academics attitude to technology. Importantly, this study found those who were highly technology ready found COVID-19 restrictions had less impact on them, suggesting that technology readiness may have assisted their transition to online learning.

Keywords: COVID-19; Elearning; Nursing; Nursing education; Nursing lecturer; Online teaching; Technology.

MeSH terms

Attitude
Australia
COVID-19* / epidemiology
Communicable Disease Control
Cross-Sectional Studies
Humans
Students, Nursing*