Exploration of Teaching Staff and Students' Preferences of Information and Communication Technologies in Private and Academic Lives

This research aims at investigating the preferences of teaching staff and students about the use of ICT in private and academic lives, and weather this distinction is made according to their exposure to various ICT during their life stages or not. This qualitative investigation used semistructured interviews with sixty first-year students and thirty teaching staff participants from blindly selected three universities and six disciplines in order to provide a diverse range of perspectives, and also to reflect the diversity of the Egyptian higher education system. The findings of this study do not support the argument that there is a digital divide between generations, and thus adding value to our understanding regarding the preferences, uses, benefits, and barriers to using ICT, which will enhance the use of ICT socially and academically.