MOOCs Adoption Among Omani Faculty Members: Investigating the Effects of Gender and Faculty Disciplines on Readiness

https://doi.org/10.9743/JEO.2024.21.3.10

Abstract

This study aims to explore the factors influencing the readiness to adopt massive open online courses (MOOCs) for teaching among faculty members in Omani higher education by considering the influence of gender, disciplines, and personal factors such as attitude (ATT), self-efficacy (SE), technical competencies (TC), and access to tools (ACT). A quantitative survey research design was utilized to investigate the difference and relationship between gender and faculty disciplines (science vs. non-science) towards MOOC readiness (MR) and personal factors. The findings reveal no significant differences between gender in both disciplines towards perceived MOOC readiness. As for individual characteristics, while non-science disciplines indicate no differences between gender, the science discipline indicates significant differencesin ATT. In terms of association, male faculty members reflected high associations between and within all personal factors and MR; however, female members did not show such association by only associating SE and TC with MR. Nevertheless, more similarities were observed between male and female faculty members in the non-science discipline, indicating a focus on technical factors. These findings contribute to understanding the difference between gender and faculty discipline when explored based on personal factors that influence the future use of MOOCS for teaching in Omani higher education.

Keywords: faculty members, faculty discipline, gender, MOOC readiness, Omani higher education, personal factor