Saeedullah Jan  ( Department of Library and Information Science, Khushal Khan Khattak University, Karak, KP )
Abid Hussain  ( Peshawar Medical College, Peshawar )
Muhammad Ibrahim  ( Peshawar Medical College, Peshawar )
Sarah Saeed  ( Peshawar Medical College, Peshawar )

This study was planned to examine the hard and soft form of learning resources available on the internet accessed by the teaching faculty. This study was conducted at the Peshawar Medical College, Peshawar, Pakistan from January 2to April 2017. As the target population was not too large, no sampling technique was employed and census-based approach was adopted. For data collection, the pre-tested questionnaire was distributed among 115 faculty members of both basic and clinical sciences groups with a response rate of 66(57.39%). Data was analysed using SPSS. Among the respondents, 38(57.6%) were males and 28(42.4%) were females. A majority 51 (77.27%) of the respondents used the internet for teaching and research. Library was the most frequently 22 (33.33%) used place for the internet use. Low internet speed, virus on computers and a lack of modern trainings were the major barriers. E-journals, e-books, online databases and theses and dissertations were the major sources consulted by the participants.

Keywords: Use of internet, E-resources, Satisfaction, Faculty member, Peshawar Medical College.

Introduction

The Peshawar Medical College (PMC) came into being in 2006 and is run by Prime Foundation, which is not owned by an individual but has a board of directors comprising expert medical professionals and educationists. The college is recognised by Pakistan Medical and Dental Council and affiliated with Riphah International University Islamabad. Besides Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS), the PMC offers Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) and Master of Philosophy (MPhil) programmes in basic medical sciences and training of Fellow of College of Physicians and Surgeons Pakistan-II (FCPSP-II) in general medicine and general surgery.
The use of internet has brought revolutionary change in human life with a major impact on their ideas and behaviour. It has affected each and every aspect of mankind. This amazing technology has now become the natural part of our lives and has transfigured every field of world routine. Undeniably, it has brought dramatic increase in the advancement of learning and education, especially higher education. In Pakistan, most of the higher education institutes have acquired this high bandwidth technology for the promotion of education and research.¹ Faculty members are bound to rely on this emerging technology, not only for self-learning, preparation of lectures, enhancement of research, but also for new teaching methods and styles. Internet use among the faculty members of Islamia University, Bahawalpur, was much more than expected.² Singh revealed in a study that e-journals and online databases are the most frequently used e-resources.³
Sakina, Khalid Mahmood and Farzana stated that the facility of internet was emerged in 1995 by Digicom in Karachi. The internet facility is now available in each and every big city of Pakistan with Wi-Fi facility and high gigabits per second points of presence (giga POP).⁴ Citing the statistics of Internet Service Providers of Pakistan, a study reported there are 15 million mobile internet users, 25 million internet users and 1.7 million broadband internet connections in Pakistan.⁵ Saeed Ullah evaluated use of the internet by faculty members at the Bacha Khan University, Charsadda, and recommended the provision of alternative power supply for smooth functioning of the internet.⁶ The current study was planned to examine the hard and
soft form of learning resources available on the internet accessed by the teaching faculty.

Methods and Results

This study was conducted at the Peshawar Medical College (PMC), Peshawar, Pakistan from January to April 2017. A pre-tested questionnaire was used for data collection (Annexure).



The target population was the teaching faculty comprising professors, associate professors, assistant professors and senior registrars of the PMC. Staff other than above was excluded. The instrument was distributed among the total 115 teaching faculty members. Based on the previous studies, it was calculated that 15 minutes was the maximum time required for completing the questionnaire. The first part of the data collection instrument dealt with the demographic information of the respondents. The major focus of the remaining questions was on the usage of internet by the teaching faculty. Emails, text messages, telephone calls and physical meetings with the teaching faculty were used as follow-up tools. The reported response rate was 66(57.39%). The gender-wise response from males and females was 38(57.6%) and 28(42.4%), respectively. Another study reported the gender-wise response rate for male and female as 28.60% and 71.4% respectively.⁷ The collected data was scrutinised, filtered and analysed using SPSS version16.0.
It was observed in this study that library was the most frequently 22 (33.33%) used place for the internet. However, a study reported that home was the most common place for using the internet.⁸
The current study found that the trend of cyber cafe for internet usage was decreasing day by day. Another also reported that only one percent of university students were using the internet at cafes.⁹ One study reported that a majority of the internet users were using cyber cafe at universities.¹⁰
As for the satisfaction level of internet users, the current study found that a majority of participants were partially satisfied with internet facilities available in the premises of the college, with the mean rating being 27 (41%). A reasonable number of the users are fully satisfied with the current facilities of the internet. A
few teachers 14 (21.21%) were not satisfied with the use of the internet at the PMC. As it is obvious that the internet is a multifaceted technology with a variety of information sources, the respondents were asked about the purpose of using the technology. Email, social networking, sports, career development, research and teaching and recreation and news were the options given to the participants. A majority of the faculty members were surfing for research and teaching 51 (77.27%), followed by sports 14 (21.21%). It was also reported that email and social networking were the less searched items, followed by recreation and news. Some of the respondents 04 (06.60%) were also surfing the net for career development (Table-1).



It was also found that the respondents tried to access various resources on the internet. They preferred to search conference proceedings, standards and patents, databases, technical reports, reference works and e-journals. It was also observed that medical professionals were least interested in e-books, thesis and dissertations (Table-2).



The respondents were asked regarding barriers and problems they faced while using the internet. A majority of them identified slow speed as the most common issue to the smooth usage of the internet. A reasonable number of respondents pinpointed virus on computers as another issue hampering the use of the internet. Power failure was also considered as a problem by some of the faculty members. A lack of proper training was also considered as a hindrance by a few professors. Finance, social and religious factors were rarely cited as problems to internet usage. The collected data explored that the internet was on top among the sources of information used by the teaching faculty of the PMC, followed by books and research journal, respectively.
Several options were given to the teaching faculty of the PMC to record their opinions about the possible solutions, including high bandwidth internet connections, uninterruptible power supply (UPS)/generator, proper and periodic training on emerging trends, updated antivirus software, reasonable budget and up-to-date hardware. Proper and periodic training on emerging trends and updating of anti-virus software can also be considered as solutions to the problems encountered with the internet.

Conclusion

The provision of right information to the right person at right time and at right place is the basic right of each individual in a society. Being a noble and dignified slot of a society, medical faculty members should be given this right. Internet has a dominant role in the provision of latest and timely information to the society. Efforts should be made to provide this amazing and wonderful facility to teaching faculty of the PMC. Various barriers in their way should be eradicated. Access to the Higher Education Commission\\\'s (HEC) digital library should also be given to the teaching faculty for the fulfilment of their information needs. The provision of authentic and quality information to the teaching community will improve the level and standard of medical education in the college in particular and the country in general.
The revolutionary invention of the internet has affected all spheres of human life. The teaching faculty of the PMC is engaged in the positive usage of the internet. However, we found that a majority of the professors were moderately satisfied with its use. Some of the problems identified by the respondents were: power failure, a lack of training facilities and virus on computers. Installation of powerful UPS/generator/solar system, periodic and proper training, allocation of appropriate budget and the provision of latest hardware and software could address these issues. A reasonable number of participants used the internet for teaching, research, career development and as a frequent source of information. The application of the internet in the academic activities has resulted into quality and standard education. It assists in broadening the vision and subject command of the teachers which ultimately enhanced the level of understanding of students. The positive usage of internet will definitely contribute to national building.

Disclaimer: None.
Conflict of Interest: None.
Source of Funding: None.

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