Nursing Students’ Perception and Its Determinants of Using Digital Educational Technologies in Teaching and Learning of a Selected Nursing School, Sri Lanka

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has affected all forms of physical classroom education during the pandemic period, and several Digital Educational Technologies (DETs) were implemented to continue education at the School of Nursing, Matara. Students in other settings have expressed various positive and negative thoughts regarding DETs. However, there was no solid reported evidence on Nursing students’ self-perception regarding DETs and its’ determinants related to the context of the School of Nursing, Matara. Therefore, it is a timely need to assess the Nursing students’ perception and its’ determinant factors on the usage of DETs, aiming for future advancement of the blended learning activities. This study aimed to assess the Nursing students’ self-perception regarding DETs, and to identify determinant factors for the self–perception. Methods: The study design was a comparative cross-sectional. A total of 422 Nursing students were selected by using a convenient sampling method. The perception of the Nursing students was assessed by using the Sinhala version of the "Comprehensive Evaluation of Use of Technology in Education (CEUTIE)” instrument. Data were collected through a Google-based Likert scale from July to August 2023. Mean and standard deviation for all 28 items of the instrument and for the 08 constructs were calculated. Independent Sample T Test, One Way ANOVA, and Tukey Post Hoc Test were performed by using the statistical package SPSS-25 version, to identify overall mean differences between the groups of demographic and other factors, towards students’ self-perception, regarding the usage of DETs in the teaching and learning process. Results: The mean value range was 3.52 - 5.04 for all 28 items. The highest overall mean value was reported for the construct of “Technology” and the lowest for the construct of the ‘Presence/Community’. There was a significant difference between the overall mean values, among the groups of, Gender (p = 0.01), Student Batch (p = 0.03), Perceived Digital Dependency Levels (PDD) (p = 0.01), Perceived Digital Competency Levels (PDC) (p = 0.05) and Family Support Levels Received for Continue Education (FSL) (p = 0.03).Conclusions: The perception of the Nursing students regarding the DETs were ‘generally positive’. Gender, Student Batch, PDD, PDC, and FSL were the factors that determine the perception regarding the use of DETs among Nursing students.