Attitudes towards Computers. An investigation into the use of computers by teachers


Scientific Study, 2016

25 Pages


Excerpt


ATTITUDE TOWARDS COMPUTER

INTRODUCTION

Time to time the new inventions of science and technology makes human life luxurious, interesting and easy in terms of time, money and human energy. Technology is described as the process by which people try to improve and organize the world (Yildirim, 2000). Computer one of the parts of technology is widely spread in all the areas of life. In today's education the computer has become the new pencil and paper, text book, library and in many cases teacher. The computer and its related technologies are now such an integral part of everyday life that it must be an ingredient in educating for participation in present and future society. The computer can be a tool for learning in many areas of the education. For educators computer is a tool for lesson preparation:

Help in research information.

Help teachers to collect ideas used by to present lesson. Help to prepare audio/video lesson presentations.

Despite its increasing demand in all the fields, most of the education sector has struggled for computers and computer related skill and instructions. Even where this technology is available, there are many other reasons that necessary information is not given to the learners. The reasons may be inefficient teachers, willingness of learners, physical factor like light etc.

Traditional or Conventional teachers have phobia for using technology like fear of looking foolish, fear of asking for help, fear of not ‘catching on’ quickly enough, and fear of not being able to be effective with the technology in instructional settings. It is important to understand that these fears were self-imposed and self-generated, but very real nevertheless.

Technology has an essential role to play in reducing the disparities that exist between the developed and developing countries. Computers are especially important in this context, because so many computer applications have a direct bearing on some of the main facets of the development process and reflect certain aspects of the technology that has facilitated the growth of the economically advanced countries (ACAST, 1973).

The computer is one of the most revolutionary single inventions in organizations of the twentieth century. The computer has created a new information and communication technology that is drastically affecting ways organizations are designed and how executives manage their operations. Concurrently, the computer is affecting the degree of efficiency and effectiveness of organization's performance (Brink, 1969; and Simon, 1977).

Students are always keen to learn new things and the children of this century love to work on computer. They like computer games, surfing on net, to spend time in social websites, to become computer engineer and so on. Students attitude toward computer constitute a determinant factor for both participation, and subsequent achievement in information technological activities (Jones & Clarke, 1994).

DEFINITION & CONCEPT OF ATTITUDE TOWARDS COMPUTER Attitude

The meaning of attitude is pre-dispositions to respond favourably or unfavourably to a more or less predictable degree to particular situations on the basis of ideas and feelings we bring to these situations. It is readiness to react towards or against some situation/person or thing in particular manner. Attitudes are dynamics as they change with time, interest and personal experience. Attitude is not innate but is acquired from the environment.

Allport (1935) defined the concept of attitude as “An attitude is a mental and neural state of readiness, organized through experience, exerting a directive or dynamic influence upon the individual’s response to all objects and situations with which it is related.”

Attitude is one of the determining factors in predicting people’s behavior. That is to say by understanding an individual’s attitude towards something, one can predict with high precision the individual’s overall pattern of behavior to the object (Ajzen and Fishbein, 1977: as cited in Yushau, 2006). Attitude has been defined as “a learned predisposition to respond positively or negatively to a specific object, situation, institution, or person” (Aiken, 2000: as cited in Yushau, 2006).

Therefore, attitude affects people in everything they do and in fact reflects what they are, and hence a determining factor of people’s behavior (Yushau, 2006).

Thus, attitude is defined as feelings and behavioural tendencies towards socially significant objects, groups, events or symbols.

Student Attitude Towards Computer

Students attitude toward computer has been defined as an individual’s general evaluation or feeling of favour or antipathy towards computer technologies and specific computer related activities (Smith, Caputi, & Rawstorne, 2000). Computer attitude evaluation usually encompasses statements that examine users’ interaction with computer hardware, computer software, other persons relating to computers, and activities that involve computer use. Computer-related activities examined are either single instances of behaviour (e.g. specific software use) or classes of behaviour (e.g. attaining computer related courses) (Smith et al. 2000).

An individual’s feeling towards computer is influenced by a variety of factors like social issues relating to computer (Popovich, Hyde, Zokrajsek & Blumer, 1987), computer liking, its confidence to use, anxiety for it etc. (Loyd & Gressard, 1984), achievement (Bandalos & Benson, 1990), its utility and value (Francis & Evans, 1995). Positive attitudes enhance the learning process (Shneiderman, 1980), specifically the motivation to learn and the ability to retain information in a given situations (Jawahar & Elango, 2001). A negative attitude may lead to computer resistance (Shneiderman, 1980).

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

Computer attitude scales can be analysed into several intrinsic variables such as computer anxiety, computer liking, perceived usefulness, self-confidence and perceived consequences for society (Loyd & Gressard, 1984; Heinssen, Glass & Knight, 1987).

Loyd and Gressard (1984 & 1985) developed computer attitude scale. It is one of the widely applied scale to undergraduate students. It is made up of four sub-scales: computer anxiety, computer confidence, computer usefulness and computer liking and consists of 40 questions with choices measured on a 4 point Likert scale (strongly agree, slightly agree, slightly disagree, strongly disagree). Loyd and Gressard reported high reliability on the total score (.90).

Dambrot, Watkins-Malek, Silling, Marshall & Garver (1985) developed a 20 item computer attitude scale made up of 9 positive and 11 negative items of your feeling towards computer.

Nickell and Pinto (1986) developed a computer attitude scale of 20 items in which there are 8 positive and 12 negative items.

Popovich (1987) developed the computer attitude scale consisting of 40 items in which 5 items are negative. Popovich et. al. (1987) and Zakrajsek, Watevs, Popvich, Craft & Hampton (1990) reported the coefficient alpha = 0.84 for 20 item scale.

Orabuchi (1992) did a 4-month experimental study designed to determine the effectiveness of CAI. The researcher found that CAI students scores were significantly higher than non-CAI group in inferences, generalizations, and math problem solving. The results showed also that the CAI group was higher in self-concept, attitude toward school, attitude toward computers, and tasks they could do with computers.

Sacks et al. (1993-94) studied the attitudes toward computer and computer use by Grade 10-12 students in a small urban school district in Northern California. Researchers examined gender differences in computer use and attitudes toward computers. They used a 30-item questionnaire concerning student’s attitudes toward computer use. The questionnaire was a Likert- type instrument yielding three subscale scores (computer anxiety, computer confidence, computer liking) and a summary score. Researchers found that (a) girls attitudes toward computers improved while boys attitudes did not; (b) boys attitudes toward computers and actual computer use were relatively unrelated, while girls attitudes toward computers and actual computer use converged; and (c) boys attitudes and behaviors toward computers were relatively stable, while girls attitudes and behaviors were not stable.

King (1994-95) examined seventh-grade student’s attitudes toward computers and school in Australia. Using the computer was a government-sponsored electronic-learning project. Two instruments were used in the study. The first was a computer-anxiety index consisting of 26 positively or negatively worded Likert-type items. The second instrument was used to measure the student’s perceptions of the quality of their school life. It was a 40-item Quality of School Life Questionnaire. King found that the computers positively increased the student’s attitudes. However, no identifiable effect of the presence of the computer on the quality of school life was found.

Brosnan (1998) examined the role of psychological gender in children’s computer-related attitudes and attainments by 48 primary (6-11 years old) school-aged children in South London, UK. Research used the Children’s Sex Role Inventory, which is based upon the Bem Sex Role Inventory. The instrument was a 10-item questionnaire upon a 4-point scale from not at all true to very true. The findings show that boys hold more favorable attitudes towards computers than girls and that boys hold more positive attitudes and achieve higher levels of computer-related attainment than girls.

Computer attitudes are influenced by different variables. Examples from recent research include computer training (Tsitouridou and Vryzas, 2003), gender (Bebetsos and Antoniou, 2009), knowledge about computers (Derscheid, 2003), computer anxiety (Savenye, 1993; McInerney, McInerney and Sinclair, 1994), liking (Yıldırım, 2000; Deniz, 2007) and computer experience (Sadık, 2006; Deniz, 2007).

Khatoon and Sharma (2009) developed the computer attitude scale which covered the areas like computer anxiety, computer confidence, computer interest, computer a useful tool and computer career. The scale consists of 20 items in which 11 are positive and 9 are negative.

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

From the reviews of many scales investigator didn’t get an appropriate scale which would include the following 11 dimensions so as to explore the students feeling towards computer. The dimensions are namely -Personal Feelings, Computer Anxiety, Globalization, Self-ratedComputer Knowledge, Impact on Individual Health, Computer and Employment, Integration of Computer in Curriculum, Role with other subjects, Impact on Individual creativity, Accessing of Computer in relation to Gender and Computer Language.

DEVELOPMENT OF THE ATTITUDE TOWARD COMPUTER SCALE

Development of a scale is an independent, advanced and technical area of research and is based on well-developed theory of psychometrics. To construct the attitude toward computer scale, the following steps should be taken:

1. Planning of the test:Firstly the following conditions should be kept in mind for planning of the attitude toward computer scale.

Purpose of the test: The investigator wanted to know the interest of children of age group 14-16 years towards computer in today’s society.

Target Population: The investigator conducted test on class viii - x of age group 14-16 irrespective of gender at Jasdev Singh Sandhu School, Kauli (Vill.) near Patiala. This is the target population. The investigator randomly selected 52 students from class viii-x to measure attitude toward computer. Age Group: The investigator conducted test on students of age group 14-16 years irrespective of gender.

Type of test items: The logical statements positive as well as negative related to individual’s feeling toward computer will written and measured on five point Likert Scale i.e. strongly agree, agree, undecided, disagree and strongly disagree. The subject is required to select the most appropriate response of his/her feeling toward computer.

2. Preparation of the Test Items or Preliminary Draft:

The investigator firstly constructed the 50 items to keep in mind the selected dimensions for attitude of students toward computer after thoroughly analyzed the literature over attitude of students toward computer. The items of was written in such a manner so as to cover all the dimensions (personal feeling, computer anxiety, globalization, self-rated computer knowledge, impact on individual health, computer and employment, integration of computer in curriculum, role with other subjects, impact on individual creativity and accessing of computer in relation to gender and computer language), easily modified by experts, objectivity of the items and quickly acceptable by subjects. The following table showed the distribution of total positive and negative items on its dimension.

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Excerpt out of 25 pages

Details

Title
Attitudes towards Computers. An investigation into the use of computers by teachers
Author
Year
2016
Pages
25
Catalog Number
V339941
ISBN (eBook)
9783668297715
ISBN (Book)
9783668297722
File size
497 KB
Language
English
Notes
This text was written by a non-native English speaker. Please excuse any errors or inconsistencies.
Keywords
computer, modern technology, teaching, new media
Quote paper
Ruchi Sachdeva (Author), 2016, Attitudes towards Computers. An investigation into the use of computers by teachers, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/339941

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