How undergraduate students meet a new learning environment?

We evaluated if the theory of planned behavior explains students‘ activity in a web-based learning environment. Two of the considerations of the theory, attitude toward the behavior (behavioral beliefs and outcome evaluations) and perceived behavioral control (computer self-efficacy), were evaluated. The scope was also widened to students' approaches to learning and anxiety in computer using situations as well as their interpretations of the environment and the learning situation. Forty-two undergraduate medical and sociology students completed the questionnaire assessing attitudes, self-efficacy, anxiety and approaches to learning before and after the web-based courses. The attitude toward the behavior, efficacy beliefs, approaches to learning and anxiety in computer using situations did not predict the activity in the learning environment, but students interpreted the environment and the learning situation more negatively after the courses. Students' anxiety and approaches to learning also affect some of their expectations and experiences after the courses.     

Mediating the impact of technology usage on perceived ease of use by anxiety

Computerphobic adults including first-year university students have been reported to range from 25% to 50%. Although self-reported computer anxiety has reduced in the past decade, it continues to be a significant issue for many. This is especially true for students of today where the stakes are high when using computers for their course work. Anxiety becomes even more critical when students are taking online courses. Past research has shown that computer experience is a strong predictor of whether or not a user will suffer anxiety symptoms while using a computer. Moreover, a substantial amount of work has been done to study the effect of previous computer experience on anxiety and on ease of use of information technologies using the technology acceptance model. However, few, if any, have investigated the role of anxiety in mediating technology usage experience on perceived ease of use. In this study, technology usage is viewed from two perspectives, the computer and the internet. We study the influence of anxiety in mediating the impact of computer and internet experiences on perceived ease of use. Questionnaire data from 114 university students were analyzed. The context was the use of a quiz tool to practice multiple choice questions. Contrary to most related studies, results indicated that anxiety has no mediating role on the impact of computer experience and perceived ease of use. However, anxiety was shown to present some moderating influence on perceived ease of use.     

Effectiveness of using a video game to teach a course in mechanical engineering

One of the core courses in the undergraduate mechanical engineering curriculum has been completely redesigned. In the new numerical methods course, all assignments and learning experiences are built around a video/computer game. Students are given the task of writing computer programs to race a simulated car around a track. In doing so, students learn and implement numerical methods content. The design of the course, around a video game, is rooted in commonly accepted theories of how people learn. The article describes a study to assess the effectiveness of the video game-based course. Results show that students taking the game-based course, on average, spend roughly twice as much time, outside of class, on their course work. In a concept mapping exercise, students taking the game-based course demonstrate deeper learning compared to their counterparts taking traditional lecture/textbook-based numerical methods courses.     

提高计算机软件课程教学效果的思考

在信息技术时代的今天,伴随着计算机技术的迅猛发展以及在日常生活和工作中的普及,我们如何掌握常用的计算机应用软件成为每个人工作学习中不可缺少的课程。在该课程的教学过程中,教师应选择合适的版本,以培养学生的动手能力、自学能力和创新意识为出发点,综合运用实例教学法、任务驱动教学法等方法,同时给学生创造一个自主的学习环境,并建立灵活的评价体系,以增强教学效果。     

Opening up horizons: Providing on-line course material in cyberspace

Distance learning course providers world-wide are looking to new technology to enhance the presentation of their courses. Projects investigating how tutors teach and students learn when courses adopt new technology methods are of paramount importance. M205-STILE (Students' and Teachers' Integrated Learning Environment) is one such project which piloted the use of conferencing and World Wide Web (WWW) with nine tutors and 110 distance learning computer science students in the United Kingdom and Europe. The main aim of the project was to improve the presentation of the course by providing structured access to on-line facilities. This paper describes the students and tutors preferred form of presentation of course material, either conferencing or WWW It also reports which software was easier to install and how the materials were actually used and makes recommendations about how future on-line courses can benefit from the findings of this study.     

The impact of presentation graphics on students’ experience in the classroom

To investigate the benefits and perceived effectiveness of instructional technology, students enrolled in several courses were compared on student evaluations of instruction, grades and an attitudinal questionnaire. The instructors of the courses taught the same course across two successive semesters, using traditional “chalk-and-talk” methods the first semester, and PowerPoint the next; all other techniques (e.g., exams, lecture material) were held constant. Results suggest that organization and clarity, entertainment and interest, professor likeability, and good professor behaviors were enhanced with PowerPoint although final grades were not.     

Rethinking HCI Education for Design: Problem-Based Learning and Virtual Worlds at an HCI Design Studio

The practice of teaching and learning human–computer interaction (HCI) design has to develop its own approaches that balance method and technology use with reflective and situated practice. This article presents our HCI design studio course that makes a combined use of constructivist pedagogies and virtual worlds aiming to aid students critically review and reflect on the use of related methods and technologies in design and to cultivate more general skills like self-directed learning, intrinsic motivation, and critical thinking. Our HCI design studio course can be thought of as an iterative and incremental teaching and learning process that blends HCI methods, design practice, and technology between a real and a virtual design studio. The course introduces problem-based learning to the pedagogies of project-based learning and studio-based learning currently employed in most HCI design studios. The positive student responses and our reflection and experiences focusing on a number of challenges for further implementation are also outlined.     

The acceptance and use of a virtual learning environment in China

The success of a virtual learning environment (VLE) depends to a considerable extent on student acceptance and use of such an e-learning system. After critically assessing models of technology adoption, including the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), TAM2, and the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Usage of Technology (UTAUT), we build a conceptual model to explain the differences between individual students in the level of acceptance and use of a VLE. This model extends TAM2 and includes subjective norm, personal innovativeness in the domain of information technology, and computer anxiety. Data were collected from 45 Chinese participants in an Executive MBA program. After performing satisfactory reliability and validity checks, the structural model was tested with the use of PLS. Results indicate that perceived usefulness has a direct effect on VLE use. Perceived ease of use and subjective norm have only indirect effects via perceived usefulness. Both personal innovativeness and computer anxiety have direct effects on perceived ease of use only. Implications are that program managers in education should not only concern themselves with basic system design but also explicitly address individual differences between VLE users.     

Electronic versus traditional print textbooks: A comparison study on the influence of university students' learning

University students are increasingly choosing to purchase e-textbooks for their mobile devices as an alternative to traditional textbooks. This study examines the relationship between textbook format and 538 university students' grades and perceived learning scores. Results demonstrate that there was no difference in cognitive learning and grades between the two groups, suggesting that the electronic textbook is as effective for learning as the traditional textbook. The mean scores indicated that students who chose e-textbooks for their education courses had significantly higher perceived affective learning and psychomotor learning than students who chose to use traditional print textbooks.     

Sharing instructors experience of learning management system: A technology perspective of user satisfaction in distance learning course

The use of educational technology increased rapidly in higher education. Learning Management System (LMS) is the most popular educational technology system used in distance learning. There are only a few studies have been carried out to measure instructors satisfaction in distance learning courses, although instructors satisfaction is considered as very important for the course involvement and increasing the students interactions with the course content. Hence, this study proposed a detailed framework to measure instructors’ satisfaction of using LMS. The findings prove that perceived usefulness and service quality are taking the highest share on affecting the instructor satisfactions. This study limited to higher education’s instructors and used a questionnaire survey to collect the data. Hence, the LMS should be designed based on the needs of the instructors as well as the students, by adopting the latest technologies. In the contrary, building LMS without taking the instructors’ satisfaction into account will affect negatively the distance learning course outcomes.     

Using animation to support the teaching of computer game development techniques

In this paper, we examine the potential use of animation for supporting the teaching of some of the mathematical concepts that underlie computer games development activities, such as vector and matrix algebra. An experiment was conducted with a group of UK undergraduate computing students to compare the perceived usefulness of animated and static learning materials for teaching such concepts. Undergraduate computer game development courses are currently a growing area of UK higher education. Computer game development can often involve the use of mathematical modelling of two-dimensional and three-dimensional computer game objects and their interactions. Overall, it appeared that animated learning materials appeared to be perceived as being more useful to undergraduate computer games students than traditional learning materials for learning such concepts.     

浅谈计算机应用基础课中任务驱动教学法的应用

如今科技的发展,早已使计算机的应用渗透到各行各业,因此计算机应用操作的技能,已成为我们在生活与学习中所必须具备的一项技能。而计算机应用是高职院校所开设的一门公共基础课程,那么我们作为高等职业院校的教师,如何让学生通过计算机应用课程来使学生快捷而又高效率地掌握技术便是我们所需要认真探究出有效的教学的方法,并付诸于实践的。本文根据个人从教之经验,简单地探讨了从任务驱动教学法入手,来提高教学效率的方法。     

The computer attributes for learning scale (CALS) among university students: Scale development and relationship with actual computer use for learning

The purpose of this study was twofold. First to develop an instrument, the computer attributes for learning scale (CALS) for assessing how university students perceive the attributes of computer use for learning, and secondly to examine the predictive value of the CALS in relation to the actual use students made of a computer for learning. The research was based on innovation diffusion theory, and was set in the context of higher education in Flanders, the Dutch speaking part of Belgium. The first step in the development of the computer attributes for learning scale, was to draw on the literature to determine a set of attributes which could be used in relation to the use of computers for learning. Secondly, working with a stratified sample of university students (n = 237), exploratory factor analysis was used to develop a one-dimensional nine item-scale for measuring students’ perceptions towards these specified attributes of a computer for learning. Next, using another similar stratified sample of the same size, confirmatory factor analysis was used to assess the stability of the one-factor structure. Finally, having developed the instrument, the predictive value of the CALS was assessed by examination of the relationship of the CALS with actual computer use for learning, when controlling for related computer variables, including computer self-efficacy, perceived usefulness of computers and computer use for personal purposes. The CALS was found to have a significant predictive value in terms of computer use for learning. In view of this it is argued that the CALS is an instrument which can be used in the future to assess the likely use students will make of a computer application in relation to their learning.     

Online teaching and technological affordances: An experimental investigation into the impact of modality and clarity on perceived and actual learning

Online courses have become commonplace at many institutions of higher education. While the popularity on online courses is growing, there are still many questions regarding the effectiveness of such courses in facilitating learning outcomes. Using theories from mass communication and education, we designed an online lecture which employed a 2 (modality) × 2 (clarity) between-subjects factorial design to better understand how variations in the mode (text only; audio and text) and structure/clarity (high clarity; low clarity) of information impacted feelings of instructor closeness, credibility, and perceived and actual learning. Results indicated that online lectures presented in a multimodal format were better at facilitating positive student experiences with instructors, as well as perceived and actual learning than lectures that contained only one mode of information. Implications of these findings are discussed with a specific focus on instructional design and technology.     

Quality enhancement for e-learning courses: The role of student feedback

The collection of student feedback is seen as a central strategy to monitor the quality and standards of teaching and learning in higher education institutions. The increasing use of technology to support face-to-face, blended and distance courses has led managers as well as practitioners to become increasingly concerned to identify appropriate ways of assuring the quality of this e-learning provision. This paper presents a study of the collection of student feedback in higher education e-learning courses and the use of this feedback for quality assurance and enhancement. We carried out a series of case studies of the procedures in place in four e-learning courses, and in each case study we collected the quality assurance documentation and interviewed stakeholders (administrators, educational technologists, tutors and students). The comparative examination of these two sets of data showed that the main strategies for collecting student feedback – module evaluations and student representation – were both strongly affected by the distinctive features of the mode of delivery in e-learning courses, and as a consequence they were not able to adequately support quality enhancement. The remote location of the students impacted on both student representation and on the response rates for module evaluations. The enhancement function of the module evaluations were adversely affected by lack of appropriate course management arising from the disaggregation of course processes and the resulting ambiguity in the allocation of responsibilities.     

Using instructor-led Facebook groups to enhance students’ perceptions of course content

Research on the impact of instructor-guided Facebook usage in college classrooms shows that the technology can increase students’ cognitive and affective learning, yet the role of social media in the classroom remains contentious. Analysis of open- and closed-ended survey data from 87 students enrolled in university courses from 15 institutions showed that students participating in a class Facebook group reported more interest in and perceived more value in course content, felt closer to the course and perceived their instructors as more involved. Effects on perceived closeness to course instructors and classmates were negligible, and effects on instructor immediacy or credibility were not found.     

College students’ perceived threat and preference for seeking help in traditional,distributed, and distance learning environments

The purpose of the present study was to examine how college students’ help seeking behavior varied across different instructional learning environments. Four hundred and seventy four (N = 472) students enrolled in distance, distributed, and traditional classes were queried about their help seeking preferences, help seeking tendencies, personal threat in seeking help, and academic self-efficacy. It was hypothesized that students enrolled in courses with an online computer component would report (a) higher instances of help seeking behavior, particularly from instructors; and (b) feel less threatened to seek help than students in traditional learning environments. It was also expected that student achievement would be significantly correlated with formal help seeking, academic self-efficacy, and perceived threat to seek help. Lastly, it was postulated that students would report that they prefer to use electronic means to seek help and that they find it more effective. Overall the hypotheses of this study were supported. Educational implications and recommendations are provided regarding the type of technological tools that college instructors might consider using in their courses to promote help seeking.     

计算机应用专业“接口技术”课程的教学改革探索

"接口技术"是一门软硬结合的偏硬件课程。学习这门课程需要学生对一些先修课程熟练掌握,并能够灵活地综合运用这些知识。它对计算机应用专业的学生来说常常是令其头疼的课程,教学效果往往较差。笔者结合自己多年来教授该课程的经验,就课程、学生以及实验配备等方面存在的问题进行深入分析,并有针对性地提出一些改革方向,以期对该课程的教学有所裨益。     

Student engagement with mobile-based assessment systems: A survival analysis

Research on mobile-based assessment systems is still an emerging topic in the mobile learning field. Current research has demonstrated that the use of mobile-based assessment systems seems to have a positive impact on students' learning outcomes and motivation. The paper identifies some factors that influence student engagement with mobile-based formative assessment in a language learning course. Survival analysis of the interaction of N = 86 students from eight English as a Foreign Language (EFL) courses over 5 weeks showed that students with higher levels of self-reported effort and perceived importance engaged for longer periods of time. Perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness and behavioural intention to use were all predictors of the longer use of mobile-based assessment systems. We found that within the first 25–50 min of use, about half of the students might disengage from using a mobile-based assessment application.