Journal of Educational Technology Systems

This study investigated the perceived effectiveness of online instructional delivery among full-faculty experienced teaching online as well as in traditional classroom environments and variables of instructional experience, rank, academic field, online instructional experience, and course level as they related to Chickering and Gamson's Seven Principles of Effective Undergraduate Education. These principles assert that good instructional practice encourages student-faculty contact, encourages cooperation among students, encourages active learning, gives prompt feedback, emphasizes time on task, communicates high expectations, and respects diverse talents and ways of learning. Respondents rated online instruction as slightly more effective overall and also more effective for promoting prompt feedback, time on task, respect for diverse learning styles, and communicating high expectations, but was rated less effective for promoting student-faculty contact and cooperation among students. Perceived effectiveness was higher for experienced faculty and increased with the number of online courses taught and with course level of the online class. Academic field had a more limited influence.

Although distance education technology is being promoted as a method of reaching students who cannot be residents on campus, the dynamics of this technology on education are not well understood. While some individuals find a distance course interesting and useful, others perceive it as frustrating. We compare the perception and performance of individuals with different personality types in a traditional face-to-face (FTF) classroom with those in a distance classroom facilitated by two-way audio-video (AVM) technology. The results indicate that individuals with certain personality types perceive distance education as less appropriate than would those with other personality types. The performance of individuals is not linked to their personality types and more importantly their performance is not related to their perception of how appropriate the communication mode is for the learning environment. Performance, however, is influenced by the communication mode utilized for the traditional or distance course.

This study is designed to investigate student response to a traditionally structured course compared to a course designed based on what research suggests contributes to increased student learning. In particular, a Principles of Marketing course was structured in two different ways: traditional and learning based. The two different course structures were assessed over time and were contrasted regarding both student perception and learning outcomes. Effects on pedagogy are discussed.

In light of constructivism and cognitive psychology, a networked learning system enabling students to pose questions that are assessed, viewed, and answered via peers, is described in the article. A study examining the system's learning potentials and design features was conducted with 52 sixth graders. Overall, students rated favorably on the system's interface design and potentials in promoting their cognitive capability in the content domain. Questionnaires, open-ended questions, and classroom observations further revealed that via playing the roles of question-posers, assessors, viewers, adapters, and answers at various points during the process, students seemed to actively engage in the learning process by constructing and re-constructing their own interpretations of the world of information around them, which was facilitative for understanding and cognitive development. Suggestions for future studies were offered.

This study explored how university students used the Internet and how attributes, such as university major, gender, and age, were implicated in the Internet usage factors—enjoyment, usefulness, anxiety, and self-efficacy. The data revealed that university students used the Internet very frequently, with the majority on a daily basis. Factorial ANOVA analysis revealed that statistically significant differences of enjoyment was found between male and female students, the younger and older students, and students' different majors across age groups. Differences on the Internet usefulness was found between female and male students and between students' different majors across age groups. Multiple regression revealed that students' enjoyment, feeling of the Internet usefulness, and self-efficacy significantly contributed to their anxiety level toward utilizing the Internet.

This article investigated how a component of a computerized simulation (Criteria and issues related to pupil assessment) could influence the evaluative practices of early childhood preservice teachers before they encountered field experience for four weeks, and the resulting impressions of assessment subsequent to the four weeks. Chi-square, Somers' d, Gamma, Correlation, and Regression were employed with “after field experience” as the dependent variable. Statistically significant differences were revealed: Somers' d (d = .481, p < .002); Gamma (.654, p < .002); Pearson's R (.607, p < .003); Spearman (.559, p < .007); and regression analysis (b = .520, p < .003). Also, the regression model explains 36.9% of overall variation in the dependent variable (R² = .369). This study illustrates that interactive contact with a pupil assessment component of a computerized simulation can improve preservice teacher's perceptions and choice of pupil assessments during four weeks of field experience. Qualitative analysis also revealed emergent themes related to subjects' response and extended narratives for each theme.

The Internet is rapidly making its way to American residences. Nowadays, millions of children spend a tremendous amount of time at home, riding on the Internet superhighway. However, little is known about how children are using the Internet at home. This study is designed to investigate sixth graders' Internet uses at home environment. Questions investigated are: 1) What Internet activities were the children likely to engage in at home? 2) What were the children's perceptions about online information resources? 3) What were the roles of parents in supervising and guiding children's Internet uses at home? 4) What were the teachers' roles in associating with children's home Internet uses? 5) What were the children's perceptions of how knowledgeable their parents and teachers were in providing them guidance and advice in the Internet use?

This article investigated how a component of a computerized simulation (Extracurricular Activities) could influence the behavior of early childhood preservice teachers before and after they were involved in four weeks of field experience. Statistical measures applied to analyze the data were Somers'd, Gamma, correlation and regression analyses, with significant differences as follow: Somers'd (d = .322, p < .08); Gamma (.450, p < .08); Pearson's R (.466, p < .02); Spearman (.379, p < .08); Regression (b = .485, p < .02). Regression model explains 21.7% of overall variation in the dependent variable (R² = .217). Results indicate that preservice early childhood teachers tend to rate the effectiveness of the simulation higher after the field experience than before it. Qualitative analysis explored subjects' participation in extracurricular activities before and after field experience, and their related explanations along with thematic descriptions.