A comparative study on the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on three different national university learning ecosystems as bases to derive a Model for the Attitude to get Engaged in Technological Innovation (MAETI)

Abstract

This paper reports the outcomes of a unique investigation coordinated by ASLERD that had the aim of comparing the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on three learning ecosystems with different cultural backgrounds and settings: Iraq, Italy and Mexico. Using the same questionnaire translated from Italian to English, Arabic and Spanish, the study has investigated these ecosystems through the lens of University teachers. Despite cultural and infrastructural differences that unavoidably influenced the outcomes, we have detected common effects in the three samples, such as an increase of the working load and a better organization of the time at individual level. Network analysis methods also allowed us to identify some relationships between variables common to the three contexts. In particular, some variables clustered in all samples: a cluster related to the setting (infrastructure and technologies, competences and readiness to respond), one related to the characteristics of the didactic activities, and one related to expectations for the future about use of and involvement in on-line learning. In addition, the reproducibility of classroom dynamics seems to have high betweenness centrality in all three networks. In one case, that of Iraq, we have been also able to include in the causal networks the factors considered by the TAM (Technology Acceptance Model), but the networks appear not to be substantially influenced by the inclusion of TAM variables. On the basis of these results, we propose a Model for the Attitude to get Engaged in Technological Innovation (MAETI), to be used as possible reference framework for future investigation on the effects induced by technologies on use intentions.