TECHNOLOGY ACCEPTANCE ON HIGHER EDUCATION: THE CASE OF AN ENGINEER'S SCHOOL

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has impacted on all aspects of society in the recent years, and its potential to transform education continues to be widely acclaimed. The high expectation of the role ICT can play in schools places both opportunities and challenges for those involved in its application for teaching and learning.The pressure to use WEB technologies came together with the implementation of the Bologna Declaration - that aims to harmonize the structures of Higher Education (HE), with the goal of increasing the competitiveness of European HE system and the promotion of mobility and employability of graduates. It is intended that teachers monitor the progress of technology and start to contribute in creating new learning environments. Our research hypothesis starts with the premise that technology can be adapted to education and not the other way round, to reach higher levels of effectiveness. However, if the use of these technologies is not reflected in the change of procedures, the real influence on learning results is to be questioned. It is important to note that change from the traditional education to a mode based on Web technologies implies adaptation and a willingness to implement this change in teaching procedures. In the new generation of Web applications, there are a few ones where resources are shared on the same platform. It is a new level of interaction that facilitates collaboration and information sharing. They facilitate the provision of resources in different formats like text, video and audio, links to sites, notices to students, student/teacher interaction through communication tools, tools to support collaborative learning and registration activities. Those platforms, in general, have been used in blended-Learning (b-Learning) or as a support to face-to-face education in HE. Despite adults and youngsters having distinct approaches to Internet and ICT, both are actors of an active and social process of learning in schools, where a changing attitude is urging. Unfortunately, the schools have difficulties in using technology on their own benefit and involve students in interesting learning activities. Additionally teachers are uncomfortable with the technology usage, specially knowing their students are digital natives. So how can we change this scenario in order to use technology on behalf of learning? This article intends to do an analysis of current developments on the use of ICT in the context of HE in the light of changes in the information society. In particular, focusing on the adoption of online learning platforms and their impact in the teaching-learning model in HE, looking as an example to the integration of MOODLE platform at the Instituto Superior de Engenharia do Porto (ISEP). It was found that there is a low rate of adherence to the use of online teaching platform, even as a repository of information and there is even a much greater reluctance to use the platform for b-Learning settings.