From internet access to internet skills: digital inequality among older adults

Universal Access in the Information Society - Although much research examines the factors that affect technology adoption and use, less is known about how older adults as a group differ in their...     

Comparing six video chat tools: A critical evaluation by language teachers

This article presents a critical comparison of the usefulness and practicality of six CMC video chat tools (CUworld, ICQ, MSN Messenger, Paltalk, Skype, and Yahoo Messenger) from the perspective of language teaching professionals. This comparison is based on the results of a semester-long project between graduate students at an American university and their counterparts at a university in Turkey. The language teachers were asked to pair up with a partner in the collaborating university to test and then evaluate each of these tools via video chat tool evaluation sheets. They also completed an overall evaluation sheet commenting on CMC tools in general and ranking the video chat tools in terms of their potential as language teaching tools and their usability for personal communication purposes. The qualitative and quantitative analyses of the evaluation sheets indicate a clear preference for MSN Messenger and Skype while placing CUworld and Paltalk at the bottom of the list. The article also provides pedagogical implications and applications for using tools for language teaching purposes.     

Cross cultural analysis of the use and perceptions of web Based learning systems

The main objective of this paper is to examine cultural differences and technology acceptances from students of two universities, one is from a European country: Spain, and the other is in Latin America: Chile. Both of them provide their students with e-learning platforms. The technology acceptance model (TAM) and Hofstede’s cultural dimensions are the tools used to measure the acceptance and use of web-based learning platforms and cultural diversity of respondents, respectively. In summary, we can affirm that the sample of tertiary Spanish and Chilean students are culturally different with regard to some of Hofstede’s dimensions, but their behavior of acceptance of e-learning technology globally matches according to the TAM model. This study provides relevant implications for on-line courses managers’ who have tertiary students from different nationalities.     

Using Hofstede’s cultural dimensions to interpret cross-cultural blended teaching and learning

This article reflects on the cross-cultural communicative experiences of professors from South Africa and students from Sudan, during a two-year Internet-supported Masters’ course in Computers in Education. Four of Hofstede’s cultural dimensions were considered as categories of interpretation. The purpose of the research was to determine the extent to which Hofstede’s static quantitative, research could be used as a basis for an essentially qualitative dynamic interpretation. While Hofstede’s work focuses on cultural differences, this article tries to uncover what commonalities were constructed in the process. It was found that in this case, dimensions such as power distance and uncertainty avoidance tended to amplify each other, while together they resulted in a movement away from individualism towards collectivism. Accommodating across cultures did not mean that one should move into the other culture. Three elements seem to play a role when cultures meet: Reduction of communicative uncertainty, construction of shared meaning, and appropriate use of technology. More research should be conducted to uncover the elements that are common to cultures because emphasising commonality seems more useful than trying to overcome differences.     

Politeness strategies in collaborative e-mail exchanges

Computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) has been the subject of a wide range of studies over the last twenty years. Previous research suggests that CSCL exchanges can facilitate group-based learning and knowledge construction among learners who are in different geographical locations (Littleton, K. & Whitelock, D. (2004). Guiding the creation of knowledge and understanding in a virtual learning environment. Cyberpsychology & Behaviour, 7(2), 173). A less known fact, however, is that successful CSCL exchanges depend on the social interaction that takes place among participants. This social interaction is crucial, since it affects both cognitive and socio-emotional processes that take place during learning (Kreijns, K., Kirschner, P., Jochems, W. & Van Buuren, H. (2004). Determining sociability, social space, and social presence in (a) synchronous collaborative groups. Cyberpsychology & Behaviour, 7 (2), 156). Nevertheless, its presence in these exchanges should not be taken for granted, since there are certain barriers which may impede interaction; for example, students may not know each other previously (high social distance) and requests and offers which appear recurrently in collaborative learning messages can threaten the participants’ negative face ( Brown and Levinson 1978, 1987). In order to explore how participants overcome these barriers, we have analysed the linguistic features of politeness strategies used in the introductory e-mails exchanged between eleven students and their partners, who are students of English and Spanish, respectively. Our findings show that partners in collaborative e-mail exchanges do not use negative politeness strategies as often as we might expect in encounters where the social distance between participants is high, but they rely heavily on positive politeness strategies, especially those relating to ‘claiming common ground’, ‘assuming or asserting reciprocity’ and ‘conveying cooperation’. The presence of these strategies would indicate that fostering closeness, solidarity and cohesion becomes the priority to be achieved between the partners, instead of the expected negative politeness mechanisms whose aim is to demonstrate high social distance and, therefore, formality and impersonality.     

Exploring students’ learning experience in an international online research seminar in the Synchronous Cyber Classroom

The development of computer-mediated communication enables teaching and learning to take place across geographical boundaries. An online synchronous learning environment with cyber face-to-face features affords students the sense of learning together online. This study reports a novel design of organizing a 16-week seminar for doctoral students across Canada, Italy, New Zealand, and Taiwan in the Synchronous Cyber Classroom, an online synchronous learning environment. Students’ learning experiences were explored from the perspective of students’ interactions with students, instructors, and the content, based on which the perception of being in a learning community was formed. This article reports how this international online research seminar was organized, how students’ learning experience was analyzed, and what we learned about students’ learning in this international online research seminar.     

From Moodle to Facebook: Exploring students' motivation and experiences in online communities

The present paper documents a qualitative study that examines the motivating and inhibiting factors that influenced students' engagement in online discussions via Moodle and Facebook. The data was collected through individual interviews with 14 pre-service teachers. Using the Activity Theory as a lens, the study reveals a set of factors concerning the technical tools, subjective perceptions, goals of online discussion, social presence within a community, rules for participation, and roles of the participants that affect their online engagement patterns. The findings of the study inform educators and software designers of how online discussions can be better promoted among students, and how a web-based environment more conducive to learning can be created.     

Gender and digital usage inequality among adolescents: A comparative study of 39 countries

The paper investigates how gender exerts its influence on contemporary adolescents with respect to their access to the Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). The focus here is on the so-called usage access. The paper's empirical basis is that of information on the ICTs usage collected for 39 countries in the framework of the 2006 wave of the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) study. Ordinal regression modelling is used as a method for data investigation. The analysis points to the persistence of gender inequality seemingly in favour of boys. In all countries under investigation, boys report using computers and the Internet for educational purposes more often than girls. Controlling for the 2006 value of the national GDP per capita, the level of a country's gender inequality measured by the Gender Gap Index does not have any statistically significant effect on gender gap in educational use of ICTs. A sign of the gender coefficient suggest, however, that the increase in society's gender-neutrality is associated with the increase in boys' advantage over girls as regards the frequency of ICT/Internet educational use. The possibility that this advantage of boys is in fact a sign of their educational underperformance is discussed. Another possibility is also discussed, namely, that girls' decreased (in comparison with boys) frequency of using computers and the Internet for playing computer games might, counterintuitively, be the source of girls' disadvantage in the future.     

Secondary school educators' perceptions and practices in handling cyberbullying among adolescents: A cluster analysis

School educators play an important role in cyberbullying management. Since scarce earlier research indicated low perceived competence of school educators in handling cyberbullying, more insight is needed in what determines their actions and how to improve these practices. This study assessed school educator practices, their perceptions and context factors from a behavior change theoretical framework, and investigated educator clusters related to this. An online survey was conducted among 451 secondary school educators (teachers, principals, school counselors). School educators mostly used recommended actions (i.e. conversations with pupils, enlisting professionals for support, parental involvement, providing supportive victim advice). Four educator clusters were identified: ‘referrers’ (65%), ‘disengaged’ educators (14%), ‘concerned’ educators (12%) and ‘use all means’ educators (9%). The first two clusters were less adept at handling cyberbullying and comprised mostly teachers, particularly indicating a need for training teachers. Our findings show a need for tailored educator training, e.g. by job position, gender, school size and grade. The behavior change theoretical framework can help target educators' particular needs.     

The digital divide and t-government in the United States: using the technology acceptance model to understand usage

This paper applies the technology acceptance model to explore the digital divide and transformational government (t-government) in the United States. Successful t-government is predicated on citizen adoption and usage of e-government services. The contribution of this research is to enhance our understanding of the factors associated with the usage of e-government services among members of a community on the unfortunate side of the divide. A questionnaire was administered to members, of a techno-disadvantaged public housing community and neighboring households, who partook in training or used the community computer lab. The results indicate that perceived access barriers and perceived ease of use (PEOU) are significantly associated with usage, while perceived usefulness (PU) is not. Among the demographic characteristics, educational level, employment status, and household income all have a significant impact on access barriers and employment is significantly associated with PEOU. Finally, PEOU is significantly related to PU. Overall, the results emphasize that t-government cannot cross the digital divide without accompanying employment programs and programs that enhance citizens’ ease in using such services.     

Laptop usage affects abstract reasoning of children in the developing world

There is a rising trend to provide low-cost laptops to children in developing countries. Notwithstanding strong claims about the educational effectiveness of these programs, there is very little systematic evidence. Given the level of modernization and the teacher-led learning environment in developing countries, the usage of laptops in such contexts may affect children in ways that are quite different to how they would affect children in developed countries. A field experiment was conducted to compare abstract reasoning of Ethiopian children equipped with a laptop (n = 203) with a matched control group (n = 210) after 6 months of usage. Children with a laptop had significantly higher scores on finding analogies and categories. Effects were significant among children in grade 6 and 7, but not in grade 5. Different laptop activities may boost children's abstract reasoning. Theoretical and practical implications and the implemention of laptops in developing countries are discussed.     

Ubiquitous laptop usage in higher education: Effects on student achievement, student satisfaction, and constructivist measures in honors and traditional classrooms

Three years of graduating business honors cohorts in a large urban university were sampled to determine whether the introduction of ubiquitous laptop computers into the honors program contributed to student achievement, student satisfaction and constructivist teaching activities. The first year cohort consisted of honors students who did not have laptops; the second and third year cohorts were given laptops by the University. The honors students found that their honors classrooms were statistically significantly more constructivist than their traditional (non-honors) classroom. The introduction of laptop computing to honors students and their faculty did not increase the level of constructivist activities in the honors classrooms. Laptop computing did not statistically improve student achievement as measured by GPA. Honors students with laptops reported statistically significantly less satisfaction with their education compared to honors students with no laptops.     

How access gaps interact and shape digital divide: a cognitive investigation

Inequalities in the access to and use of information and communication technologies (ICT) have become an important area of concern for over a decade. Yet, theoretical attempts to understand the dynamics behind shaping these inequalities are scarce. This study draws upon the extent literature on digital divide and explains how the four different access gaps (motivational, material, skills, and usage) interact and contribute to digital divide. Revealed causal mapping (RCM) is utilised to analyse the data collected from eight same-gender focus groups in four primary schools located in Iran. The revealed causal map demonstrates the interaction and linkages between different access gaps. The findings provide a theoretical account of the dynamics behind shaping digital divide and generate insights into extending the concepts of access gaps. We establish a theoretical model that places an emphasis on the centrality of motivational-related factors such as ‘lack of interest in IT-related things’ and ‘lack of motivation to learn recent technology’ as well as skills-related factors such as ‘operating skills’, ‘anti-filtering skills’, and ‘lack of IT background’.     

From social anxiety to interpersonal connectedness: Relationship building within face-to-face,phone and instant messaging mediums

The present research examined whether social anxiety moderates the potential relationship between conversation medium and interpersonal connectedness. Hypotheses predicted that individuals with high social anxiety would demonstrate greater interpersonal connectedness following instant messaging conversations; whereas, individuals with low social anxiety would report greater interpersonal connectedness following face-to-face and phone conversations. Undergraduate participants (N = 165) were randomly assigned to one of three conversation mediums (face-to-face, phone or instant messaging) during which they engaged in an interaction with an unfamiliar partner. Participants completed a measure of social anxiety before the interaction and measures of interpersonal connectedness prior to and following the interaction. Results revealed that level of social anxiety is a significant contingent condition for the association between type of conversation medium and attitude homophily (i.e., a measure of interpersonal connectedness). For individuals with low social anxiety, scores on the attitude homophily measure were significantly lower in the instant messaging condition, compared to the face-to-face and phone conditions.     

Computer-mediated communication and persuasion: Peripheral vs. central route to opinion shift

Objective of this research was to investigate the differences between face-to-face communication and computer-mediated communication regarding opinion change in small group decision-making. We hypothesized that people in a discussion through computer-mediated communication accede to cognitive processes that could facilitate resisting the effects of a persuasive message.     

Gender issues in Internet access and favourite Internet activities among Greek high school pupils inside and outside school

This study investigates gender differences in Internet use by Greek high school pupils within school and out of school environments. A sample of 340 pupils (170 boys and 170 girls), aged 12–16 years, completed a written questionnaire on their attainability, location, frequency and purposes of Internet access. The data analysis showed that more pupils use the Internet outside school (at home, in Internet cafés) than within school and that boys have more opportunities to access the Internet. Both inside and outside school, pupils' favourite Internet activities relate to information gathering for personal purposes and to entertainment. Boys use the Internet for entertainment and Web page creation more than girls do, whereas no other significant gender differences were noted regarding pupils' other Internet activities, such as communication via e-mail, chat or videoconferencing, Web surfing and information search for personal or school purposes.     

Blogging privacy management rule development: The impact of self-monitoring skills,concern for appropriateness,and blogging frequency

The current study utilized communication privacy management (CPM) theory to examine how individuals’ blogging privacy management rules are related to their communication-based personality dispositions (self-monitoring skills and concern for enacting socially appropriate interactions). The study also explored relationships between the same dispositions and blogging frequency. Overall, 356 bloggers completed an online survey instrument. Regression analysis provided support for both hypotheses. Bloggers with higher self-monitoring skills had a more private orientation towards their blogging privacy management practices. Bloggers’ CFA level was related to more public and open blogging permeability rules. High self-monitors and high CFA dispositions were positively related to blogging frequency. Implications of the study to current computer-mediated communication (CMC) theory and research are discussed.     

Collaborative learning in environments with restricted access to the internet: Policies to bridge the digital divide and exclusion in prisons through the development of the skills of inmates

The deprivation of freedom for the prisoners, involves not only physical isolation, but also digital, which implies a strong isolation particularly painful in an “information society”. Spanish prison population is deprived of access Internet and all ICT that could contact inmates with outdoor life, this is mainly due to security issues. Not having enough ICT skills is a new cause of social exclusion. The objective of this research was to identify the key issues which should be focused by policy makers to avoid digital divide among prison population. A survey among inmate population in all the five penitentiary centers in Galicia, in the northwest of Spain, was undertaken to obtain a sample of 380 inmates. A Structural Equation Model (SEM) was carried out to explain prisoners’ ICT Skills, in bias to inmate’s social skills, general skills and attitude towards collaborative learning. For inmates, who are characterized by their low education level, results shown the relevance of having general and social skills to be able to have more ICT skills. Then, collaborative learning in prison it is shown as a way to bridge both walls: the physical (better reinsertion and no recidivism) and the digital one.     

The digital divide: the special case of gender

Abstract This paper examines the evidence for the digital divide based on gender. An overview of research published in the last 20 years draws to the conclusion that females are at a disadvantage relative to men when learning about computers or learning other material with the aid of computer-assisted software. The evidence shows that the digital divide affects people of all ages and across international boundaries. We suggest that the digital divide is fundamentally a problem of computer anxiety whose roots are deep in socialization patterns of boys and girls and that interact with the stereotype of computers as toys for boys. A model of the digital divide is presented that examines gender stereotypes, attribution patterns, and stereotype threat as antecedents of computer anxiety. Computer anxiety in turn leads to differences in computer attitudes and computer performance. A number of suggestions are offered to reduce the impact of the digital divide.     

Serious games and learning effectiveness: The case of It’s a Deal!

Although the value of serious games in education is undeniable and the potential benefits of using video games as ideal companions to classroom instruction is unquestionable, there is still little consensus on the game features supporting learning effectiveness, the process by which games engage learners, and the types of learning outcomes that can be achieved through game play. Our aim in this discussion is precisely to advance in this direction by providing evidence of some of the factors influencing the learning effectiveness of a serious game called It’s a Deal! This serious game was created for the purpose of teaching intercultural business communication between Spaniards and Britons in business settings in which English is used as the lingua franca. This paper hypothesizes that the immersive, all-embracing and interactive learning environment provided by the video game to its users may contribute to develop and enhance their intercultural communicative competence. The study attempts to answer three main research questions: (a) after playing It’s a Deal!, did the students sampled improve their intercultural awareness, intercultural knowledge and intercultural communicative competence in business English? (b) If they improved their intercultural learning, what are the factors influencing such improvement? And (c) if they did not improve their intercultural learning, what are the factors influencing such failure? The game participants who volunteered to take part in the study were all students of English Studies at the University of Alicante in the academic year 2010-2011. One hundred and six students completed both the pre-test and the post-test questionnaires, and played It’s a Deal! A sample of fifty students was selected randomly for the empirical study. The results obtained in the tests performed were compared and contrasted intra-group, both qualitatively and quantitatively, for the purpose of finding any statistically significant difference that may confirm whether or not there was an improvement in the students’ intercultural communicative competence in business English as a result of the implementation of the It’s a Deal! serious game. Findings of this study demonstrate that the video game is an effective learning tool for the teaching of intercultural communication between Spaniards and Britons in business settings in which English is used as the lingua franca. In particular, whereas the game had a small learning effect on intercultural awareness and a medium learning effect on intercultural knowledge, it had a large learning effect on intercultural communicative competence. The study also documents correlating factors that make serious games effective, since it shows that the learning effectiveness of It’s a Deal! stems from the correct balance of the different dimensions involved in the creation of serious games, specifically instructional content, game dimensions, game cycle, debriefing, perceived educational value, transfer of learnt skills and intrinsic motivation.