The two-step cluster analysis of pre-COVID-19 experience and cybersecurity concerns about online education for academic staff in Saudi universities

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to learn about the attitudes of the academic staff of the medical, business, humanities, and science and engineering disciplines concerning online education during the COVID-19 pandemic at Umm Al-Qura University (UQU), Saudi Arabia. While research in online education focuses on learning experiences such as facilities, learning materials, and learning interests, several elements of online education in this research were investigated, including advantages, features, and cybersecurity. The research data were gathered through a survey containing three demographic items, four items on perceptions of online education, and seven questions on perceptions of cybersecurity. Responses obtained from 238 academic staff were used for statistical analysis. After the routine descriptive analysis analyses, the response data were subjected to unsupervised k-means centroid cluster analysis. Two clusters of academic staff differing in teaching disciplines, and pre-COVID experience in online education were identified. Cluster 1 had medical and business and humanities academic staff, predominated by those without pre-COVID experience in online education, and perceived online education and cybersecurity at neutral to a slightly low level. Cluster 2 consisted of science and engineering discipline academic staff predominated by those with pre-COVID online education experience and perceived online education and cybersecurity in the range of neutral to slightly high levels. The result of this study shows that academic staff in the medical, business, and humanities disciplines have less expertise with online education software and a low level of awareness about online education security. On the other hand, academic staff of science and engineering disciplines fields has more expertise with online educational technologies and a better level of understanding of online education security.