Factors Affecting Teachers' Motivation to Adopt Cloud-based E-learning System in Iraqi Deaf Institutions: A pilot Study

Abstract

Hard-of-hearing (HoH) and hearing loss or hearing-impaired individuals describe “those who cannot hear or do not hear well” due to being born deaf or who may have lost some or all of their hearing ability at some time in their life. Some of the hearing-impaired people use sign language to communicate with other similarly-affected individuals as well as with those with normal hearing ability. Sign language comprises a range of hand shapes, facial expressions, body movements, and lip patterns. Currently, one of the most urgent requirements of the hearing-impaired, especially the young among them is their education needs. They need to learn how to communicate and convey information as well as effectively share learning materials between them. Towards this end, the potential solution lies in the use of today's advanced modern global technology innovations, such as cloud based on e-learning systems. This system can be made accessible to instructors and students and prove to be a practical and effective pedagogical tool for the hearing-impaired and their instructors. This study aims to investigate the key factors that can positively impact teachers' motivation to adopt cloud based on e-learning systems for deaf students. A survey research design method was chosen to verify the factors and construct the relationship between them. The main factors that may affect teachers' motivation to adopt and use cloud based on the e-learning system and involve the following key factors: hardware availability, software modularity, cost, security and privacy, training, knowledge sharing, top management support, sign language, video and animation, online dictionary, teacher motivation, and system adoption. To verify the reliability of the questionnaire, a pilot study was done among 30 participants. The questionnaire was distributed among teachers of deaf students in Baghdad deaf institutes to examine the hypothesis on each factor. Cronbach's Alpha coefficient reliability and exploratory factor analysis EFA test in SPSS 22 software package was employed to verify the reliability of the questionnaire. The results showed that the value of Cronbach's Alpha coefficient is 0.7 or more and KMO are above the threshold values in the test, which are standard.