Investigating teacher stress when using technology

In this study we use a model which we refer to as the ‘teacher–technology environment interaction model’ to explore the issue of the stress experienced by teachers whilst using ICT in the classroom. The methodology we used involved a comparison of three datasets obtained from: direct observation and video-logging of the teachers in the classroom; recordings of their galvanic skin response (GSR) taken whilst teaching; and interviews. Data were obtained from nine teachers, and in total, approximately 32 h of teaching activities were observed. The main results of this study were (a) the demonstration that teachers do suffer stress associated with the use of technology in the classroom (i.e. technostress) (b) the identification of causes, symptoms and coping strategies associated with technostress in the classroom. This study, therefore, points to an alternative way of thinking about the problems of implementing e-learning by conceptualizing some of these implementation problems in terms of technostress (and in particular of teacher–technology environment fit).     

Investigating models for preservice teachers’ use of technology to support student-centered learning

The study addressed two limitations of previous research on factors related to teachers’ integration of technology in their teaching. It attempted to test a structural equation model (SEM) of the relationships among a set of variables influencing preservice teachers’ use of technology specifically to support student-centered learning. A review of literature led to a path model that provided the design and analysis for the study, which involved 206 preservice teachers in the United States. The results show that the proposed model had a moderate fit to the observed data, and a more parsimonious model was found to have a better fit. In addition, preservice teachers’ self-efficacy of teaching with technology had the strongest influence on technology use, which was mediated by their perceived value of teaching and learning with technology. School’s contextual factors had moderate influence on technology use. Moreover, the effect of preservice teachers’ training on student-centered technology use was mediated by both perceived value and self-efficacy of technology. The implications for teacher preparation include close collaboration between teacher education program and field experience, focusing on specific technology uses.     

Split-attention and redundancy effects on mobile learning in physical environments

This study investigated split-attention and redundancy effects in a mobile learning environment on leaf morphology of plants as a function of different combinations of media. Eighty-one fifth-grade students were randomly assigned to the following three conditions: texts with pictures embedded in the mobile device (TP condition); texts embedded in the mobile device and real objects that are outside of the mobile device (TO condition); and texts with pictures embedded in the mobile device and real objects that are outside of the mobile device (TPO condition). Differences in performance on comprehension tests and learning efficiency were examined across conditions. The TP condition was expected to perform better than the TO condition due to a split-attention effect. The TP and TO conditions were expected to perform better than the TPO condition due to a redundancy effect. The results indicated no difference between the TP and the TO condition in comprehension and learning efficiency, but the TP and TO conditions performed better than the TPO condition on both measures. The implications of the results for research and design of mobile learning environments are discussed.     

Key instructional design issues in a cellular phone-based mobile learning project

Adding flexibility to the learning process, mobile learning offers great opportunities for education, especially for teenagers, who show great attentiveness to mobile technologies. Thus, the need to focus on design aspects of such learning is growing. This study aims to reveal critical issues in designing mobile learning based on a program for 11th graders and to unfold students’ perceptions about reasons for participation, satisfaction, implementation processes, and specific content representation types. Reflections on insights gleaned from the instructional design process of the project and students’ perceptions are presented with related recommendations.     

Recurrent routines: Analyzing and supporting orchestration in technology-enhanced primary classrooms

The increasing presence of multiple Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in the classroom does not guarantee an improvement of the learning experiences of students, unless it is also accompanied by pedagogically effective orchestration of those technologies. In order to help teachers in this endeavour, it can be useful to understand how this orchestration takes place in real-world classrooms, and to provide teachers with professional development opportunities that can be easily applied to their everyday classroom practice. This paper describes a qualitative field study conducted in five primary school classrooms where a new collaborative software was introduced alongside existing classroom technology. For six months, teachers designed and orchestrated classroom activities in these authentic, technologically-rich settings. The analysis of the resulting activity designs and enactments uncovered a limited set of recurrent elements of teacher practice, or routines. These routines and their graphical representation are posited as a useful analysis tool for researchers in understanding complex teacher practices with ICT. Moreover, the authors propose that these routines offer new opportunities for professional development of teachers in effectively using ICT in their classrooms. Initial uses of these routines in teacher workshops, with encouraging results, are also presented.     

The design and implementation of a meaningful learning-based evaluation method for ubiquitous learning

If ubiquitous learning (u-learning) is to be effectively developed and feasibly applied to education, it is necessary to evaluate its effectiveness. Yet to achieve a sound evaluation, a particular paradigm must be employed to fit the problem domain. Toward this end, the authors of this study have adopted a meaningful learning paradigm. Meaningful learning is often regarded as the ultimate learning status for a learner, regardless of the learning environment. Interestingly, several characteristics of u-learning are also linked to attributes of meaningful learning. For example, both u-learning and meaningful learning emphasize the authentic and active of the learning activity. Therefore, it is important to investigate the applicability of a meaningful learning paradigm for evaluating the efficacy of u-learning. The method proposed here evaluates u-learning along both macro and micro aspects, and in an effort to make u-learning more sustainable. By employing a case study, we demonstrate the feasibility of our approach by showing the advantages and disadvantages that are common to both u-learning and meaningful learning. Moreover, we also provide suggestions for instructors and designers so that they can promote the quality of u-learning.     

Suggestions for content selection and presentation in high school computer textbooks

Based on the findings from reviewing 32 textbooks in the past four years for Taiwan’s Ministry of Education, we have identified common problems in the reviewed textbooks and analyzed their inadequacies. Typical problems include the Wintel bias, too much coverage of software application tools and too little of computer science concepts, too many technical terms, meaningless analogies and examples, lack of supplementary materials, and inadequate treatment of programming-related content. The discussion about each problem is substantiated with examples, and suggestions are made on possible improvement. This analysis should help textbook writers avoid undesirable elements in their books and help high school computer teachers select higher quality books for their students.     

Learning in serious virtual worlds: Evaluation of learning effectiveness and appeal to students in the E-Junior project

The objective of this study is to present and to evaluate the E-Junior application: a serious virtual world (SVW) for teaching children natural science and ecology. E-Junior was designed according to pedagogical theories and curricular objectives to help children learn about the Mediterranean Sea and its environmental issues while playing. In this study, we present data about the E-Junior evaluation. A class in a serious virtual world (virtual group) was compared with a traditional type of class (traditional group) that contained identical learning objectives and contents but lacked a gaming aspect. Data collection consisted of quantitative and qualitative measures on a sample of 48 children. With regards to learning effectiveness, the results showed that the serious virtual world does not present statistically significant differences with the traditional type of class. However, students from the virtual group reported enjoying the class more, being more engaged, and having greater intentions to participate than students from the traditional group. The plausible explanation for this can be found in the qualitative data. The implications of these results and improvement proposals are also discussed in this work.     

The importance of elementary school students’ social chat online: Reconceptualising the curriculum

The Internet is increasingly being used as a tool for communicating and learning in primary schools across many developed and developing countries. The place of social chat as part of online interactions has as yet not been fully recognised as an important component of learning.     

Investigating the impact of video games on high school students’ engagement and learning about genetics

The popularity of video games has transcended entertainment crossing into the world of education. While the literature base on educational gaming is growing, there is still a lack of systematic study of this emerging technology’s efficacy. This quasi-experimental study evaluated a teacher created video game on genetics in terms of its affective and cognitive impact on student users. While statistical results indicated no differences (p > .05) in student learning as measured by our instrument, there were significant differences (p < .05) found in the participants’ level of engagement while interfacing with the video game. Implications on this emerging line of inquiry are discussed.     

Effects of teaching and learning styles on students’ reflection levels for ubiquitous learning

Ubiquitous learning (u-learning), in conjunction with supports from the digital world, is recognized as an effective approach for situating students in real-world learning environments. Earlier studies concerning u-learning have mainly focused on investigating the learning attitudes and learning achievements of students, while the causations such as learning style and teaching style were usually ignored. This study aims to investigate the effects of teaching styles and learning styles on reflection levels of students within the context of u-learning. In particular, we investigated the teaching styles at the dimensions of brainstorming and instruction and recall and the learning styles at the dimensions of active and reflective learning. The experiment was conducted with 39 fifth grader students at an elementary school in southern Taiwan. A u-learning environment was established at a butterfly ecology garden to conduct experiments for natural science courses. The experimental results of one-way ANCOVA show that those students who received a matching teaching–learning style presented a significant improvement in their reflection level. That is, matching the learning styles of students with the appropriate teaching styles can significantly improve students’ reflection levels in a u-learning environment.     

Socioeconomic differences in elementary students’ ICT beliefs and out-of-school experiences

The purpose of the study was to explore possible links between student socioeconomic status (SES), beliefs about information and communication technologies (ICTs), and out-of-school learning resources. Grades 5 and 6 students (N = 345) who were enrolled in one private and six public elementary schools in Greece, located in areas with different demographic characteristics, responded to a questionnaire addressing their ICT self-efficacy and value beliefs, out-of-school ICT access and activities, perceived parental support and regulation of home ICT activities, and access to sources of technological support beyond the family. Findings showed that students from all SES family backgrounds tended to have positive views about the value of ICTs, but students from low-SES families expressed lower confidence in their ICT skills. Parents from all SES backgrounds appeared to view equally favorably their children’s engagement with ICTs, and perceived parental support correlated highly with students’ ICT value beliefs. However, students from low-SES families appeared to have fewer opportunities to develop ICT competencies, which may explain why they expressed less positive self-efficacy beliefs. Findings stress the need for school ICT integration efforts to take into account student differences in prior experiences and to be coordinated with students’ home computer use.     

The self-directed learning with technology scale (SDLTS) for young students: An initial development and validation

Research has found self-directed learning to have a significant impact on the long-term societal demands on our future workforce and our perspective on learning. Over the years, many measures have been developed to examine self-directed learning. However, few, if any, were developed for use by young students (age 10–12). In addition, none have included technology as an element in supporting self-directed learning. The aim of this study is to develop and validate a Self-Directed Learning with Technology Scale (SDLTS) for young students. Using two studies, a proposed 6-item SDLTS was piloted with 558 students, aged 10–12 years (mean = 10.18; SD = 0.38) and subsequently tested to establish the validity and reliability of the scale using a separate sample (n = 545). Applying principal component and confirmatory factor analyses, the results of these studies supported a 6-item, two-factor Self-Directed Learning with Technology Scale (SDLTS): Self-Management and Intentional Learning.     

Developing Web literacy in collaborative inquiry activities

Although many children are technically skilled in using the Web, their competences to use it in a critical and meaningful way are usually less well developed. In this article, we report on a multiple case study focusing on the possibilities and limitations of collaborative inquiry activities as an appropriate context to acquire Web literacy skills in primary education. Four 5th grade school teachers and their students worked with collaborative inquiry activities on the subject of ‘healthy food’. The project was aimed at both the development of Web literacy skills and content knowledge building. Data from a variety of sources were collected: videotaped and written lesson observations, interviews with teachers and students, teacher diaries, student questionnaires, and student assignments. The teachers appeared to be able to carry out the program to varying degrees. Contextual factors that influenced the realization of the project’s goals and results were the adequacy of the research questions formulated by students, students’ inquiry skills, and the teachers’ teaching styles. Students’ learning results show that it is possible to teach Web literacy skills in the context of collaborative inquiry activities. All classes show knowledge gain with regard to the subject healthy food and all classes but one show knowledge gain with regard to Web literacy skills. Although many students show adequate use of particular Web searching, reading and evaluating skills after the project, inconsistency, impulsiveness and impatience are also typical of their Web behaviour. In the context of collaborative inquiry activities teachers are challenged to deal with the paradox that they want their students to be active knowledge builders with help of the Web, whereas the Web seems to invite students to be more or less passive searchers.     

Investigating attitudes towards the use of mobile learning in higher education

Mobile learning (M-learning) has become an important educational technology component in higher education. M-learning makes it possible for students to learn, collaborate, and share ideas among each other with the aid of internet and technology development. However, M-learning acceptance by learners and educators is critical to the employments of M-learning systems. Attitudes towards M-learning technology is an important factor that helps in determining whether or not learners and educators are ready to use M-learning. Such attitudes will serve to identify strengths and weaknesses and facilitate the development of the technology infrastructure. This paper aims at exploring students and educators' attitudes towards the use of M-learning in higher educational universities within Oman and UAE; two neighboring countries in the Arab Gulf region. To serve this purpose, two survey questionnaires were conducted: one for students and another for educators. The participants of this study are 383 students and 54 instructors from five universities. Different factors have been examined to test where there is a significant difference among students and educators' attitudes towards the use of M-learning, such as gender, age, country, level of study, smartphone ownership, major in terms of students and age, country, academic rank, academic experience and smartphone ownership in terms of educators. Findings revealed significant differences among the students’ attitudes towards M-learning with regard to their smartphone ownership, country and age. Furthermore, results indicated that M-learning can be one of the promising pedagogical technologies to be employed in the higher educational environments within the Arab Gulf countries.     

Parental acceptance of digital game-based learning

In research about digital game-based learning, the likely negative perceptions of parents are often enlisted as a barrier toward the adoption of games in classroom settings. Teachers, students and policy makers appear to be influenced by what parents think about games in the classroom. Therefore, it is important to study these parental beliefs about games. The present research develops and validates a path model to explain and predict parental acceptation of video games in the classrooms of their children. The hypothetical model was found reliable and valid, based on a survey of 858 parents with at least one child in secondary education. Overall, the results show that 59% of the variance in parents’ preference for video games can be explained by the model comprising hypotheses about learning opportunities, subjective norm, perceived negative effects of gaming, experience with video games, personal innovativeness, and gender.