MANAGEMENT AND COMMERCE Using technology in teaching and learning: Important insights from Fort Hare study Wendy Terblanche, Lubbe, I., Papageorgiou, E. & van der Merwe, N pronouncements sit in well-resourced The study drew on the Unified Theory countries and know very little about of Acceptance and Use of Technology the challenges experienced by (UTAUT2) developed by Viswanath students and academic teachers in Venkatesh and colleagues at Virginia less developed parts of the world. Tech in the United States. UTAUT2 The second problem is that we have holds that the adoption of technology very little ‘hard’, rigorously reviewed is affected by users’ expectations academic research to back up the about the way it will work for them, by claims. the effort they will have to put in, by These observations about the status social and cultural factors influencing of claims make a paper published by users themselves and, also, by the a team of researchers led by Wendy extent to which the conditions in Terblanche of the Nkuhlu Department which the technology is introduced of Accounting at the University of Fort facilitate its use. Hare (UFH) investigating the adoption The aim of the study was to identify the of technology by students at four determinants of students’ acceptance South African universities, all the more of e-learning applications and, also, important. Other members of the how these determinants could be team were Ilse Lubbe of the College moderated in some way. An original Wendy Terblanche of Accounting at the University of UTAUT2 questionnaire had to be Cape Town, Elmarie Papageorgiou adapted for the South African context laims that higher education will of the School of Accountancy at in order to conduct the research, and never be the same following the University of the Witwatersrand Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) Cthe shift to online learning and Nico van der Merwe of the was used to analyse the results. The during the pandemic abound in the School of Accounting Sciences at the study confirmed the UTAUT2 model press as well as in the academic North-West University. The multi- in a cross-institutional setting using literature on teaching and learning. institutional nature of the team and a larger sample size than had been For many, the shift to online learning the fact that the study was conducted drawn upon in previous studies. This means that residential universities will at four South African universities in itself constituted an important be challenged in the future as more during the Covid-19 lockdown contribution to knowledge. and more students come to prefer period means that the sample of More importantly for teaching and e-learning. However, we should not 1864 students who participated in learning, the study showed that, for accept these claims unquestioningly the study not only drew on various blended or online learning models for at least two reasons. The first is demographic variables but also on to succeed in contexts such as those that many of those making these experiences of individuals studying at studied, students need to be exposed different institutions. 43 | University of Fort Hare