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This paper investigated the gender differences in junior high school students’ Internet self-efficacy and their use of the Internet. A total of 1080 eighth graders were randomly selected from all junior high school students in Taiwan. The Internet Self-Efficacy Scale (ISES) was developed and used to examine students’ Internet self-efficacy in two dimensions: online exploration (explorative ISE) and online communication (communicative ISE). A survey including the ISES instrument was administered to all the subjects and finally 936 valid questionnaires (from 466 males and 470 females) were returned for data analyses. No significant gender difference was found in students’ total ISE and explorative ISE; however, a significant gender difference was found in students’ communicative ISE. Surprisingly, the girls had significant higher communicative ISE than had the boys. In addition, there was no significant gender difference in students’ Internet using experience and computer ownerships; however, there were significant gender differences in their Internet using purpose and intensity. In spite of the boys showed a significantly higher Internet use intensity than did the girls, the boys were more exploration-oriented Internet users and the girls were more communication-oriented Internet users. And this orientation played a significant role in their Internet self-efficacy. These results suggested that the gender gap may no longer exist in young students’ confidence in using the Internet. However, boys and girls used the Internet for significantly different purposes suggesting that the Internet played different roles for boys and girls in Taiwan. With a large scale examination by using a valid and reliable instrument, this study provided representative results for further related studies.
This study was conducted in an authentic university setting with fourth-year Educational Sciences’ students operating as online peer tutors to facilitate freshman tutees’ online collaboration and knowledge construction in a blended “Instructional Sciences” course. Taking into account prior research uncovering weaknesses in online peer tutor behaviour, the aim of the study was to explore the possibility to optimise the quality and the nature of online peer support. In this respect, the study examined the impact of three tutor training conditions (multidimensional support, model/coach, and control condition) on peer tutors’ actual tutor behaviour in asynchronous discussion groups and on tutors’ self-efficacy beliefs, perceived collective efficacy, and training evaluation. Quantitative content analysis was applied to study online peer tutor behaviour. More specifically, two coding schemes were used focusing respectively on the occurrence of different e-moderating activities and on the evolution from modeling to coaching behaviour. Tutors’ self-efficacy beliefs, perceived collective efficacy, and training evaluation were assessed by means of questionnaires. The results indicated that, compared to the control condition, in both the multidimensional support and the model/coach training the occurrence of social postings decreased whereas the presence of support stimulating tutees’ personal development increased. Regarding the evolution from modeling to coaching behaviour, tutors started as a model in both experimental training conditions. Further, it appears that the experimental training conditions differ significantly with regard to peer tutors’ self-efficacy beliefs on fostering knowledge construction and with regard to the tutors’ personal training evaluation. Overall, it can be concluded that an explicit tutor training appears to determine the adoption of the expected types of tutoring activities. In this respect, providing novice peer tutors with guidelines by means of a specific training is fruitful for realising more adequate online tutoring behaviour and optimising self-efficacy beliefs regarding tutoring competences.
This research combines the idea of cake format dynamic assessment defined by Sternberg and Grigorenko (2001) and the ‘graduated prompt approach’ proposed by (Campione and Brown, 1985) and (Campione and Brown, 1987) to develop a multiple-choice Web-based dynamic assessment system. This research adopts a quasi-experimental design to investigate the effectiveness of this Web-based dynamic assessment system (GPAM-WATA) and normal Web-based test (N-WBT). One hundred and sixteen sixth grade elementary students from four classes participated in this research. These four classes were randomly divided into the GPAM-WATA group and N-WBT group. Before e-Learning instruction, all the students took the prior knowledge assessment and the pre-test of the summative assessment. After 2-week e-Learning instruction, all the students took the post-test of the summative assessment. The research findings show that students in the GPAM-WATA group experience better e-Learning effectiveness than those in the N-WBT group. GPAM-WATA is also found to be effective in improving the e-Learning effectiveness of students with low-level prior knowledge.
Video games are often regarded as promising teaching and learning tools for the 21st century. One of the main arguments is that video games are appealing to contemporary students. However, there are indications that video game acceptance cannot be taken for granted. In this study, a path model to examine and predict student acceptance of video games is proposed, and empirically tested by involving 858 secondary school students. The results show that students’ preference for using video games in the classroom is affected directly by a number of factors: the perceptions of students regarding the usefulness, ease of use, learning opportunities, and personal experience with video games in general. Gender effects are found as well, but appear to be mediated by experience and ease of use.
As more and more people use computers to complete their work and solve problems in the workplace, computing education is emphasized for students of all levels and disciplines in Taiwan. However, the computing education in Taiwan can hardly be recognized as effective and satisfactory. Many inappropriate examples that lack context are used in teaching and textbooks that may result in employees with low competence and insufficient ability for collaborative working. Students who grow up in this learning context usually lack the ability to seek information and solve problems by themselves. In this regard, the author redesigned a course and adopted online collaborative learning with initiation to establish the essential knowledge for students’ collaboration in the initial stage of a course. This study conducted an experiment that included 169 undergraduates from three class sections – the first two from an academic university (Case 1, n = 68; Case 2, n = 68) and the last one from a university of science and technology (Case 3, n = 33) – taught by the same teacher under the same course name and the same course website. The results show that students who received online collaborative learning with initiation had higher grades than those without. The author further discusses the implications for teachers, schools, and scholars who plan to provide online courses for their students, particularly computing courses.
The purpose of this research is to identify the causal attributions of business computing students in an introductory computer programming course, in the computer science department at Notre Dame University, Louaize. Forty-five male and female undergraduates who completed the computer programming course that extended for a 13-week semester participated. Narrative interviews were conducted to obtain their perceptions. While some research confirmed that the four most responsible causes for success and failure in achievement contexts are ability, effort, task difficulty, and luck, this research shows that in its context ‘ability’ and ‘luck’ were absent, and ‘task difficulty’ and ‘effort’ were almost absent. In all, participants made 10 causal attributions that were either cultural or specific to computer programming. The 10 causal attributions are ‘learning strategy’, ‘lack of study’, ‘lack of practice’, ‘subject difficulty’, ‘lack of effort’, ‘appropriate teaching method’, ‘exam anxiety’, ‘cheating’, ‘lack of time’, and ‘unfair treatment’. All high achievers cited appropriate ‘learning strategy’.
This paper highlights key themes which emerged from schoolgirls’ responses to focus group questions regarding perceptions of Information Communication Technology (ICT) subjects in the Queensland senior secondary curriculum, primarily, Information Processing Technology (IPT) and Information Technology Systems (ITS). The 2006 focus group interviews comprised one component of a 3-year research project seeking to identify factors that deter females from ICT education and career pathways. Focus group data reveal that one barrier to selection of advanced ICT options was girls’ experience of junior secondary school ICT subjects which had been typically delivered by teachers with limited expertise and constituted by mundane, repetitive tasks. Further, while Non Takers of senior ICT subjects acknowledged the pervasiveness of ICTs in the workplace, they were disinterested in a specialized ICT career path. Hence, rather than undertake advanced offerings of little relevance to career aspirations, Non Takers perceived that they could continue to hone their skills on a needs basis and, indeed, were routinely and purposefully using computers in their home settings. A lack of understanding of the different foci of IPT (i.e. programming and databases) and ITS (i.e. multimedia and web design) was evident among Non Takers, with many singularly associating senior ICT subjects with programming and other highly technical skills. Both Non Takers and Takers (who in the context of the focus groups were largely Takers of ITS) expressed an aversion to programming. It was the creative aspects of ITS which had attracted Takers to the subject and they were, in fact, enjoying its authentic, problem-based design tasks. Many Non Takers responded positively to interviewers’ descriptions of ITS; the subject’s broader appeal is evidenced in growing enrolments since its 2000 introduction in the senior curriculum. Findings indicate that schoolgirls’ participation in ICT pathways may be well promoted through subjects that position and call for students to engage with ICTs as ‘enablers’ in diverse, meaningful and creative human contexts.
This paper reviews a range of accessibility tools and evaluates how successful they have been in helping teachers in higher education and further education develop accessible e-learning materials and activities for disabled learners. It is argued that these accessibility specific tools have had limited success to date, and that there may therefore be value in exploring the potential role that more general pedagogic tools might play in the development of accessible e-learning and accessibility practices. Two examples of general pedagogic tools, learning theories and learning design tools, are assessed for the extent to which they raise awareness of an association between accessibility and pedagogy; highlight potential barriers to and facilitators of accessible e-learning and offer methods and approaches for developing accessible e-learning. This assessment suggests that the general pedagogical tools will have a limited or abstract influence on the development of accessible e-learning, but that this influence could be potentially increased by “blending” the use of specific accessibility tools with the use of more general pedagogical tools. The success of a blended approach to designing and developing accessible e-learning will depend on a number of factors, including teacher and learner agency. Nevertheless such an approach could be significant in terms of seeking to make accessibility as much a pedagogical issue as it is a technical one.
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