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DOI: https://doi.org/10.34069/AI/2022.58.10.13

How to Cite:

Assistant Professor, Psychological and educational guidance, Education Department Faculty of Science and Arts in Rafha, Northern

Border University, Saudi Arabia.

Coronavirus has drastically impacted the

educational field around the world, and it has

negatively affected students, teachers, and

employees of educational institutions, so it has

been necessary to protect teaching staff and

students, by making them more flexible during

this pandemic; and new preparatory tasks have

emerged for the expected educational models in

the future so communities urgently need flexible

Because of the sudden digital transformation in

educational institutions around the world, new

challenges in the context of educational designs

forced them to redesign their educational and

learning processes, so they had to rethink many

of their old assumptions about the learning

process, and this is a challenge that cannot be

delayed in educational institutions in the

Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the foregoing calls

for acquiring the digital competencies required to

following questions:

The current study aims to describe the

characteristics of the competencies that

characterize faculty members, and those that

students develop during their academic lives, to

identify the obstacles to digital transformation to

determine the developmental preparations

necessary for the post-Corona world and to

describe effective strategies to continue

development in pursuit of digital transformation

from the data of technologies and integrate them

into education and university administration. The

study will attempt to identify the training needs

of students and faculty members with the aim of

integrating techniques into the university

education process and ensuring a better learning

environment for students. All this will help those

involved in the university with proper planning

to keep up with the situation and deal with it.

technologies to learn, work and participate in

society. (European Commission, 2019).

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In order to identify relevant competencies using

modern ICTs, a variety of terms have been

developed that sometimes go beyond the term

digital competencies. Although discussed and

defined in different ways, the term competencies

represent a combination of knowledge and skills

as well as motivational and voluntary aspects and

competency frameworks. One of the most

important is the EU Digital Competence

Framework for Citizens (DigComp) (Carretero et

al., 2017). Within this framework, digital

competence includes the confident, decisive, and

responsible use of digital technologies and

interaction with them to learn, work and

participate in society.

available digital information (Heuermann, Engel

& Von Lucke, 2018).

According to Díaz-García et al., (2022)

The introduction of digitization necessitated

many changes in learning behavior and in the

skills required for transformation have emerged,

and the need for a cohesive educational

ecosystem in which learners move from the

inside out smoothly has emerged. In this way, the

focus should not only be on the labor market but

also on preparing students for the social,

The study of Halim and Rizk (2021) emphasized

some extent at the expense of the development of

social and emotional competencies.

To achieve the objectives of the study, a mixed

approach of descriptive survey method and the

qualitative method was adopted in line with the

nature and objectives of the study.

(406) of the Northern Border University students,

(82.5%) of the total, of whom (148) were males

and (258) were females. (Appendix 1)

The researcher developed a questionnaire to

measure digital efficiency, by reviewing the

theoretical literature related to the subject and

looking at previous studies in order to derive the

dimensions using the five Likert scale.

The scale was applied to a pilot sample of (30)

students and faculty members at Northern Border

University outside the main sample, with the aim

of extracting the Pearson correlation coefficient

between the score of each of the scale’s items

with the total score of the dimension to which it

belongs and calculating the correlation of the

items with the total score of the scale as a whole.

(Appendix 2). All values of correlation

coefficients were positive, high and statistically

significant at the level of (0.05) to emphasize the

validity, which reached (0.85). Then it was

applied to the pilot sample again after ten, and

then the correlation coefficients between the first

and second applications were calculated with the

aim of extracting the validity in the return

method, which reached (0.82). As the values

were high, it can be said that the scale is liable to

use.

and standard deviations of the dimensions of the

digital competency scale were extracted as

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At the level of paragraphs (Appendix 3),

paragraph (17), which stipulates that “the

Internet shall be used to search for information

effectively", received the highest mean of (4.62),

while paragraph (31), which stipulates that

“educational games shall be designed", received

the lowest mean of (2.82). So the digital

competencies, skills and abilities developed by

faculty members need continuous improvement

and updating.

To answer the second question which states,

“What digital competencies do Northern Border

University students have? “The arithmetic means

and standard deviations of the dimensions of the

digital competency scale were extracted as

shown in the following table:

Source: Author

The table shows the statistically significant

differences at the level (α ≤ 0.05) in the average

of faculty members attributed to gender variables

and years of experience, where the statistical

significance reached).154 (f) and (216)

respectively. To determine the direction of

differences in the averages of the academic rank

variable, the Scheffe test was used for

dimensional comparisons, showing that the

highest differences between the means were

statistically significant between the two

categories (lecturer and assistant professor) with

differences Statistical significance among the

rest of the variable categories. This result can be

innovations in university teaching, and the great

commitment of many faculty members due to the

pressures generated by the crisis.

To answer the fourth question which states: “Are

there statistically significant differences at the

level of (α ≤ 0.05) in the average numerical

competencies of Northern Border University

students of Northern Border University attributed

to the variable achievement level, and when

found that the differences between the level of

achievement is “excellent” and the level of

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“good” is in favor of students with an “excellent”

achievement. It is also clear from the table that

there are no statistically significant differences at

the level of (α ≤ 0.05) in the average digital

competencies of the students of Northern Border

University attributable to the variables of gender

and academic year, where the statistical

significance reached(225) and (096)

respectively, which is below the level05) was

therefore statistically not a function of the

relative affinity in the numerical competencies

general, and most of them adapted to the new

conditions somewhat quickly, as they are born

and grow in the technology era, and this was

confirmed by the study (Pesha, & Kamarova,

2020), whose results showed that the forced

transition to a situation Distance learning has

contributed to the development of digital

competencies for university students, but at the

same time it has somewhat reduced their chances

of developing social and emotional

Corona pandemic at Northern Border

University? “The responses of the study sample

mentioned by some, and there are logistical

obstacles related to the lack of technical devices

and lack of maintenance in addition to the lack of

devices among students. There are constraints

related to the lack of financial support provided

by the university for digital transformation,

which were pointed out by a not insignificant

number of respondents. Similarly, faculty

responses were very similar to those of students,

who also pointed to a lack of faculty and student

skills. Reflecting on these views, which were

impediment, through increasing the financial

budget for digital transformation, and entering

into partnerships with the private sector to ensure

access to information and communications

technology to raise its quality.

This is the most important thing at which this

it and mitigate its dangers. This problematic

result clarifies and critically discusses the role

The lack of acceptance of what is new and

resistance to change is one of the main reasons

for the failure of most development strategies.

Resistance to change may take many forms, such

as the public or confidential rejection of changes

announced by the university administration, and

may be expressed through cold, shy, or

aggressive responses. Some pointed out the

difficulty of changing the mindsets of many

employees from what they are accustomed to and

their routine adoption and the university's

methods and being content with their

experiences, and then another suggests activating

awareness of the importance of digital

transformation, complaining about the lack of

training programs for faculty members. Hence,

the development of an effective strategy to

confront and address the obstacles related to

resistance to change must be part of the

organizational change plan for the future

management of the Northern Border University,

the appropriate competencies ensures the

injection of new blood within the university,

which helps accelerate the process of digital

transformation, by adding new skills and

experiences that help to develop and increase the

productivity of university work and professional

growth within the University of the Northern

Borders.

part of the questionnaire, which states: “In your

view, what are the challenges facing digital

transformation at Northern Border University?”

In general, the analysis of the responses of the

study sample resulted in many proposals that we

present as follows:

working to provide the infrastructure that

corresponds to the requirements of digital

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establishment of an infrastructure of information

that facilitates communication between

employees and service seekers, as well as

providing the necessary capabilities for students

and providing adequate support to them,

knowing that a large percentage of respondents

confirmed that they have the necessary resources

for online learning, but they suffer from effective

communication with the other party, hence the

challenge related to digital communication to

represent the bridge of physical distance between

educational activities, whether through complex

technical knowledge or through the potentially

changing behavior of learners. In the first stage

of digitizing the educational process, the need for

the physical presence of those with access to the

Internet disappears in many cases, which requires

controlling the quality of educational outputs. A

large percentage of the sample of students and

teachers focused on the quality control point,

without explaining how to control the quality of

planning for transformation. In general, the rapid

digital transformation process may be alarming

responses of faculty members, they came to work

to empower students with sufficient skills to deal

with devices and train university staff to use

smart applications and electronic services

efficiently and develop technical staff and

activate their roles and increase the

organizational culture of university employees,

ensuring a distinguished level of digital dealings

in all university facilities and the use of flexible

operational models

University systems in particular, in light of the

lack of prior and real experience of students and

was not ready for this reality, as everyone was

shocked by the lack of digital and electronic

requirements necessary for the sudden digital

transformation to distance education. Hence, the

results of the current study confirm the need for

further development in the teaching and learning

process supported by technology within the

digital transformation strategies. Hence, the

study concluded that organizational leaders,