Assessing Students' Attitudes Towards Web-based Learning Resources
Technology has become an integral part of higher education instruction. With increased usage of instructional technology, web-based instructional resources like the electronic textbooks are slowly making their way into the higher education system. Given it’s increased use, it is important to understand how instructional technology and the technologically rich environments are influencing student attitudes toward learning. An important aspect in successfully implementing instructional technology is user acceptance, which may be influenced a great deal by users’ attitude. Various studies have addressed the issue of student attitude toward instructional technology and specifically toward computer technology and technologically enriched learning environments.
The purpose of this research was to study the attitudes of students towards instructional technology and specifically web based support material for the classroom. The study assessed (A) differences in attitude change towards computer technology for students using web-based resources and those using traditional textbooks and (B) computer literacy as a predictor of attitudes toward computer technology.
The teaching and learning process has been dramatically altered by the convergence of a variety of technological, instructional, and pedagogical developments in recent times (Bonk & King, 1998; Marina, 2001; Smith, 2002). Garmer & Firestone (1996) concur that technology is challenging the boundaries of the educational structures that have traditionally facilitated and supported learning. Recent advances and especially in the area of computer technology have heralded the development and implementation of new and innovative teaching strategies.
Instructional technology is influencing education in many ways. Although education has brought significant contributions to society, it has remained elusive to many people. Instructional technology is bridging this accessibility gap by permeating the walls and opening doors for as many people as wish to participate in learning (Hanna, 1999). According to Hofmann (2002), educational opportunities are now accessible to students who in the past lacked opportunities due to such restraints as geography, time, family and money. Instructional technology is also influencing the way learners make choices on when to learn, how to learn, where to learn (Ling, Arger, Smallwood, Toomey, Kirkpatrick, & Banard, 2001). Additionally, the use of emerging technologies has enhanced distance learning (Bates, 1993; Marina, 2001). Due to these technological advances, McIsaac & Gunawardena, (1996) and Barker (2000) acknowledge the current difficulty in distinguishing between traditional and distance education settings. On-line learning is now considered the backbone of continuing education and is enabling educators to reach populations that would be otherwise inaccessible (McEwen, 2001). The Web has also expanded opportunities for the increasing information to enhance the traditional classroom instruction.
Currently, there is greater possibility of accessing up-to-date content, as updating information on the web can be done faster and more easily than with textbooks. In addition, educators can make choices as to what technologies to integrate into their classroom situations from the large pool of resources available, such as CD-ROMs, DVD-ROMs, application software, multimedia applications, laserdisc, and communications applications (Shelly, Cashman, Gunter, & Gunter, 1999). Those who advocate technology integration in the learning process believe it will improve learning and better prepare students to effectively participate in the 21st century workplace (Butzin, 2000; Hopson, Simms & Knezek, 2002; Reiser, 2001; Marina, 2000).
Rather than asking whether to use technology, today’s educators are concerned with how to use technology to enhance and enrich their learning environments (Barker, 2000). Ultimately, an attempt must be made to assist teachers at all levels to develop rich classroom environments that encourage active learning and higher level thinking skills; such as reflection, problem solving, flexible thinking and creativity (Grabinger, 1996; Hopson, Simms & Knezek, 2002). It is not surprising that institutions of higher learning are forming partnerships and creating virtual universities to foster resource sharing in the learning environment. Some of the resource sharing is realized in course sharing. Course sharing is “using technology to share scarce resources (instructor) among geographically disbursed learners in order to create economic economies of scale” (Jackson, 2001). With necessary systems in place, like organized bodies of knowledge on the Internet, electronic books, web-based libraries, and schools, willing to facilitate the learning process, knowledge can be shared effectively irrespective of distance, locality, and time. (Gladieux & Swail, 1999; Lee, Baek & Spinner, 2002). Technology has no doubt become an integral part of higher education enabling students to access information rapidly and visually (Smith, 2002). Coupled with increased usage of instructional technology, web based instructional resources like electronic textbooks are slowly making their way into the higher education system (Chen, 1999). These resources, like the web-based texts give readers a feeling of engaging in real time, face to face interaction through use of interactive programs (Ahern & El-Hindi, 2000).
Addressing differences in attitude change, towards the Western Civilization class, for students using web-based resources and those using traditional textbooks. In this study no differences were found in change of attitude towards the Western Civilization class between the students that used web-based resources and students that used traditional textbooks. These findings agree with those of Mayes (1995) and Gee (1990) who also found no differences. However the study disagrees with the findings of (Koohang, 1989 and Rothman, 2000) who found differences in attitude change. As acknowledged by Erwin (2001), these contradictory findings could be attributed to the complexity of measuring attitude. Erwin (2001) insists that attitude is an important construct and must be measured because of its usefulness in predicting behavior. Further explanation for a lack of attitude change could be supported by the findings of Powers and Mitchel (1997) who reported student’s perception was affected by the fact they found Internet to be time consuming and Gee (1990) who reported that students found the Internet to be distracting. Further, added pressure is imposed on students when class outcomes are linked to technology. The result of this pressure is likely to negatively influence attitude change. But it should be noted that though there was no significant difference in change of attitude between the groups, the students entered the study with high mean attitude and maintained that through the study.
The study also addressed the differences in attitude change, towards computer technology, for students using web-based resources and those using traditional textbooks. There was no difference in change of attitude towards computer technology between the students that used web-based resources and students that used traditional textbooks. These findings did not agree with those from other studies (Taghavi, 2001; Hopson, Simms & Knezek, 2002; Mitra & Steffensmeier, 2000; McKinnon, Nolan & Sinclair, 2000). It should be noted that the students in some of those studies had computer literacy classes. It is unclear however, in the present study, whether or not the students were trained in the specifics of using the technology. This could account for the difference in this study and the findings of others. In addition, the majority of the students in both web-based and the traditional textbook groups owned personal computers and had Internet accessibility in their homes, it is therefore possible that computer use was equal for all groups. As was pointed out in the findings for the first research question, the difficulty of measuring attitude is an issue, again highlighting the need for better instruments for measuring that construct. It should be noted that although changes were not significant, both groups entered the study with reasonably good attitudes and maintained that through the semester.
The extent to which age, gender, level in college, owning a personal computer, Internet accessibility at home, hours spent on the Internet per day, Internet time used for class work, and percentage of project time used on Internet were predictors of attitude was also addressed in this study. Of these, only gender, time spent on the Internet for class work, and time spent on the Internet for class projects were found to predict attitude towards computer technology. In this study, both males and females had reasonably good attitudes to computer technology, generally males were found to have a better attitude. The results of this study also agree with similar studies where gender was found, not only to be related to attitude towards computer technology, but more specifically, there was a difference in attitude between males and females (Busch, 1995; Corston & Colman, 1996; Dyck and Smither, 1994; Levin and Gordon, 1989; Radford & Holdstock, 1995). Some studies reported that age was related to attitude towards computer technology (Comber, Colley, Hargreaves & Dorn, 1997; Dyck & Smither, 1994; Todman & Lawrenson, 1992), but in this study, most of the students in both groups were within the 18–21 age range. Hence, the real effects of age did not become apparent. Neither owning a personal computer nor having Internet accessibility at their current residence was a predictor of attitude towards computer technology in this study, although, however, other studies have shown a relationship between the two (Rocheleau, 1995; Levin & Gordon, 1989; Nichols, 1992; Perkins, 1995). Similar to findings of Gunter (1994), Molla, (1987), and Taghavi (2001), no relationship was found between level in college and attitude towards computer technology in this study. Beyond these studies little empirical support is found for such relationships. Time spent on Internet for schoolwork was also found to predict attitude toward computer technology. Hours spent on the Internet daily was not related to attitude to computer technology. There were no other studies identified that addressed these issues. Percentage of time used on the Internet for class projects was a predictor of attitude towards computer technology in this study but again, few or no studies are available in this area.
In addition, the relationship between computer literacy and attitude towards the Western Civilization class and attitude towards computer technology was also studied. The research found a relationship between computer literacy and attitude towards computer technology; however, no relationship was found between computer literacy and attitudes towards the class. These findings support those of Busch, 1995; Koohang, 1989; Wishart, 2002; Levin & Gordon, 1989; Hall & Cooper, 1991; Liu, Papathanasiou & Hao, 2001. Based on the frequent occurrence of findings such as these, one may conclude that students who are going to participate in courses that require the use of instructional technology would benefit if offered technology literacy courses prior to enrolling in courses that require it’s use. One may also conclude that these courses would increase computer literacy, consequently improving attitudes towards learning.
An important conclusion of this study is that the fundamental pedagogy of web-based courses is as equally valid an academic teaching strategy as the more traditional lecture/textbook approach utilized across the spectrum of higher education. However, the study’s general conclusions regarding student attitudes does not reflect the observed student attitudes regarding the significant incorporation of technology into a course nor is this case of zero-sum results. Technology should not be viewed as a replacement of more standard pedagogies, but, rather, as an enhancement of those approaches and as a method of more effectively engaging the student(s) in the topic. Therefore, utilizing technology within a course should not lead an instructor to cease doing what he does best in presenting information.
The students enrolled in the Massachusetts Maritime Academy’s Western Civilization course showed significantly higher levels of satisfaction and intellectual interest in the subject as a result of the use of web-based content than this study indicates. The reasons for this apparent contradiction lay in some of the inherent, and unavoidable, limitations of this study. First, the study defined “technology” too narrowly, focusing only on web-based resources. While such resources are very significant and their employment in courses will expand over time, future studies should expand the definition of “technology” to include computer-based presentation technologies (ie.wireless Internet access, Smartboards, integrated high technology podiums providing instructors with the capability of rapidly changing their presentations by integrating VHS, CDs, digital overhead projectors, on-line content, computer game simulation and standard lecture notes, etc. into the course.). In addition, the instructor’s own expertise and personal compatibility with such technologies, and classroom configuration should also be studied. Furthermore, future studies should also evaluate how the incorporation of this comprehensive technology influences the instructor’s own pedagogical approach to the discipline (subject?) and what innovations, if any, it influences the instructor to adopt for the course. Additionally, while questionnaires are clearly beneficial in providing basic information, a more comprehensive approach involving follow-up interviews of the subjects and each professor should be instituted into later projects. Finally, there is a clear need for projects that will examine how emerging technologies will be best utilized at all levels of education.
As previously noted the instructor's role in any learning environment is critical to the success of the course. It is important to note that instructors in many academic areas are reluctant to move to use of technology in the classroom without research to support the effectiveness of the technology and without support for integration into the curriculum. Additional research in the effectiveness of technology on the learning environment should include not only the student perceptions but also those of the instructor.
A number of limitations need to be considered in interpreting the results of this study. First, students involved in this study were from one course, History of Western Civilization. Including a variety of courses in this study would likely offer more support for the validity of the findings. Second, a larger and more diverse sample would have provided more observations consequently improving the reliability of these observations. Third, although a pretest-posttest control group design was used, subjects were not randomly assigned to the experimental and control groups from a common population. Hence, it would be appropriate to conduct a true experiment (random assignment), which may enhance interpretation of the results. Finally, given the limitations mentioned above, it is obvious that any generalizations from these results must be done with caution.
In conclusion, the teaching and learning process has been dramatically altered by the convergence of a variety of technological, instructional, and pedagogical developments in recent times (Bonk & King, 1998; Marina, 2001). In particular web-based texts give readers a feeling of engaging in real time, face to face interaction through use of interactive programs (Ahern & El-Hindi, 2000). The web-based texts and other technologies represent an unstoppable technological revolution enabling students to access information rapidly and visually (Smith, 2002). If instructional technology will enhance the motivation to learn by acting as a catalyst to attitude change, then educators must endeavor to design high level learning environments with outcome objectives in mind.
Thus, while this study provides a valuable foundation for future studies, such projects should endeavor to incorporate a more comprehensive evaluation that will ultimately provide important data on the successful utilization of present and future technologies into the various levels of education.
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