Gerald Knezek

New Millennium Research for Educational Technology: A Call for a National Research Agenda

Abstract Research to indicate unique pedagogical benefits of technology in education flourished until the mid-1980s, when criticism of the premises and methodologies of studies made educators question the usefulness of so-called “media research.” Currently, increasing costs of maintaining technology infrastructure and evidence of low use of technology by teachers has generated new urgency for research to help provide a rationale for specific uses of technology to support teaching and learning. The new National Educational Technology Plan currently under development by the US. Department of Education provides an ideal opportunity for articulating a plan for meaningful research. This article describes topics and issues on which new research should focus and offers guidelines for research methods to address previous criticisms and provide results to guide future use of technology in education.

Using a Technology-Enriched Environment to Improve Higher-Order Thinking Skills

Abstract This study examined the effect of a technology-enriched classroom on student development of higher-order thinking skills and student attitudes toward computers. A sample of 80 sixth-grade and 86 fifth-grade students was tested using the Ross Test of Higher Cognitive Processes and surveyed using the Computer Attitude Questionnaire. The creation of a technology-enriched classroom environment appears to have had a positive effect on student acquisition of higher-order thinking skills. This study identified several implications related to classroom design to enhance the development of higher-order thinking skills. Teachers reported that the technology-enriched classroom differed from the traditional classroom in several significant ways.

A differential diagnostic skills assessment and tutorial tool

Abstract This paper reviews the progress made towards the development of an Intelligent Computer Assisted Instructional tool designed to function in a medical education setting. The tool, called KBIT (Knowledge Base Inference Tool) is an expert system-based instrument principally consisting of an assessment and a tutorial module. kbits sole purpose is to support the development and refinement of the differential diagnostic (DDX) knowledge and skills of medical students. The objective of the assessment module is to provide psychometrically reliable and valid measures of several DDS skills. The objective of the tutorial module is to create a learning environment wherein students make refinements in knowledge base (KB) constructs which result in progress towards the next level of DDX skills. kbits proposed educational approach is comprised of an iterative two-step process consisting of the assessment of several DDX skill performance parameters, followed by individualized formative instruction.

Instruments for assessing the impact of technology in education

Summary Ten years of instrument development are summarized and placed within a framework for assessing the impact of technology in education. Seven well-validated instruments spanning the areas of attitudes, beliefs, skills, competencies, and technology integration proficiencies are presented, along with data analysis examples. These instruments are proposed for use in modeling the process of technology integration, which is believed to be an important intermediary step in effective use of technology in teaching and learning.

Self-Report Measures and Findings for Information Technology Attitudes and Competencies

This chapter focuses on self-report findings regarding IT attitudes and competencies related to education. Studies have been conducted for more than 25 years with much having been learned during that time. For teachers, positive attitudes, competencies, as well as self-efficacy are important components of highly – integrated use of technology in the classroom. Historical concerns about computer anxiety have been largely replaced by a focus on issues such as enthusiasm and perceived usefulness. Access is important as well as attitudes and competencies. For students, attitudes and competencies are largely not a concern except in the case of students who have no access to IT at school, and also none at home. Evidence is emerging that this class of students is at a disadvantage in academic subjects as well as in technology skills. The prospect of developing unifying models that incorporate most if not all of the IT attitudes and competencies addressed is this chapter is discussed toward the end of this chapter.

3-Dimensional Online Learning Environments: Examining Attitudes toward Information Technology between Students in Internet-Based 3-Dimensional and Face-to-Face Classroom Instruction

3‐dimensional online learning environments can provide a means for users with limited connectivity to the Internet to participate as fully as their broadband‐enabled peers in collaborative experiences, information sharing and feedback. Nearly 90% of the universities in the USA that support distributed learning programmes use web‐based course delivery methods. Directors of these programmes state that web‐based delivery allows them to handle the wide range of connectivity among student populations. 3‐Dimensional online learning environments can increase online course interaction and feedback beyond current web‐based document delivery in a cost effective and scaleable manner. This article examines attitudes to information technology of students in a 3‐dimensional online learning environment versus those involved in face‐to‐face classroom instruction at the University of North Texas. We were interested in looking to see how the benefits of immersion, interaction and feedback provided by the 3‐dimensional online learning environment would impact on the students’ attitudes to information technology for an established traditional course. Les environnements d’apprentissage en ligne à trois dimensions: un examen des attitudes respectives des étudiants travaillant en 3D basé sur Internet et de ceux qui travaillent dans des classes présentielles par rapport aux TIC Les environnements d’apprentissage en ligne en 3D peuvent offrir aux usagers ne disposant que d’un accès limité à Internet, le moyen de participer aussi pleinement que leurs collègues bénéficiant de la bande large, aux expériences collaboratives, au partage de l’information et à la rétroalimentation. Près de 90% des universités des Etats‐Unis qui offrent des programmes d’apprentissage distribué, utilisent des méthodes de transmission des cours reposant sur le Web. Les directeurs de ces programmes affirment que la transmission par le Web leur permet de faire face aux grandes différences de capacité d’accès aux réseaux, d’un groupe d’étudiants à l’autre. Les environnements d’apprentissage en ligne en 3D ont la capacité d’accroître l’interaction dans les cours en ligne ainsi que la rétroalimentation, de façon plus significative que la transmission actuelle de documents par Internet et ce, d’une façon économique et mesurable. Cet article étudie les attitudes vis‐à‐vis des TIC chez les étudiants se trouvant dans un environnement d’apprentissage en ligne en 3D par rapport à ceux qui reçoivent un enseignement présentiel à l’Université de North Texas. Nous avons cherché à voir comment les avantages en termes d’immersion, d’interaction et de rétroalimentation que présente un environnement d’apprentissage en ligne en 3D, pouvaient influer sur les attitudes de ces étudiants vis‐à‐vis des TIC dans un cours traditionnel. 3 D Online‐Lernumgebungen: Einstellungsüberprüfungen zu Informationstechnologie zwischen Studenten in internetbasierter 3D und Frontalunterricht 3 D Online‐Lernumgebungen können Benutzern mit beschränktem Zugang zum Internet ein Hilfsmittel sein, so vollständig wie ihre Breitband nutzenden Kollegen an kooperativen Erfahrungen, Informationsaustausch und Feedback teilzunehmen. Fast 90% der Universitäten in den Vereinigten Staaten, die Austausch von Lehrprogrammen unterstützen, verwenden netzbasierte Distributionsmethoden. Direktoren dieser Programme geben an, dass netzbasierte Belieferung ihnen erlaubt, den breiten Bereich der Konnektivität unter den Studenten zu überwinden. 3 D Online‐Lernumgebungen können die Online‐Kursinteraktion und das Feedback über gegenwärtige netzbasierte Belieferung kostenwirksam und skalierbar steigern. Dieser Artikel berichtet über Einstellungen zu Informationstechnologie von Studenten in einer 3 D Online‐Lernumgebung gegenüber jener von in direktem Unterricht beschulten Studenten an der University of North Texas. Wir waren daran interessiert zu erkennen, wie die Vorteile von Vertiefung, Interaktion und Feedback, die der 3 D Online‐Lernumgebung eigen sind, die Einstellungen der Studenten zu Informationstechnologie für einen eingeführten traditionellen Kurs beeinflussen würden.

Transition Points for the Gender Gap In Computer Enjoyment

Abstract Data gathered from 10,000 Texas public school students in Grades 3—12 over the years 2000, 2001, 2002, and 2005 were analyzed to replicate findings first discovered as a byproduct of evaluation of a large scale U.S. Department of Education Technology Innovation Challenge Grant. Initial findings were that girls in Grades 4 and 5 reported enjoying computers more than boys. Detailed trend analyses determined that although boys and girls begin first grade with few or no differences in attitudes toward computers (Collis, Knezek, Lai, Miyashita, Pelgrum, Plomp, & Sakamoto, 1996), by Grades 4 and 5, girls are more positive in their enjoyment. Starting about Grade 6, girls’ self-reported perception of computers begins to become less positive than boys, and by Grade 8 becomes significantly lower than boys. Attitudes may become similar again by the end of secondary school. The authors suggest further study is needed to determine if this phenomenon exists in many locations, and if it does, why it takes place.

The Importance of Information Technology Attitudes and Competencies in Primary and Secondary Education

Since the early days of Information Technology (IT) in education, attitudes and competencies of students (and later teachers) have been in the domain of interest of researchers, because they appeared to be an important factor in the decision to use IT in educational practice. In 1995 the US Office of Technology Assessment (US Congress, 1995) reported that helping teachers “effectively incorporate technology into the teaching and learning process is one of the most important steps the nation can take to make the most of past and continuing investments in educational technology” ( p. 8). Although during the 1970s the study of effective incorporation into teaching and learning often focused on the specific impact an IT intervention might have on student learning (Marshall and Cox, 2008), by the mid-1980s the emphasis had shifted toward the study of intervening variables such as attitudes and competencies. This was in part due to the low recorded level of IT usage by teachers and students in spite of large increases in IT resources in schools and informal educational settings (Marshall and Cox, 2008). Some specific examples serve to add emphasis to this point:

simSchool: an online dynamic simulator for enhancing teacher preparation

A rationale for using a simulated teaching environment to train pre-service teacher candidates is presented, followed by the key components of the simSchool dynamic simulator created to accomplish this task. Results of analyses of two sets of data, for the areas of pedagogical practices and teaching skills, are used to illustrate that changes in pre-service educators can be assessed as a direct outcome of activities completed within the simulated environment. Major outcomes to date indicate that teacher candidates gain a sense of instructional self-efficacy (confidence in their competence) more rapidly using the simulator, compared to traditional teacher preparation classes and related activities. This outcome is true for pre-service candidates working with simulated students spanning the normal range of personality attributes and sensory abilities, as well as pre-service teacher candidates working with simulated students with disabilities.

Construct Validity for the Teachers' Attitudes toward Computers Questionnaire.

Abstract Positive teacher attitudes toward computers are widely recognized as a necessary condition for effective use of information technology in the classroom (Woodrow, 1992). To measure attitudes toward technology, it is important to have valid and reliable instruments. In this study, the authors used confirmatory factor analysis to verify construct validity for the Teachers’ Attitudes Toward Computers (TAC) Questionnaire, an instrument created from 32 well-validated scales, as a more parsimonious questionnaire covering areas assessed by previously existing instruments in the field. Since its creation as 284 items in 1997, this Likert- and Semantic Differential–based instrument has undergone two major refinements, each of which was designed to reduce the number of items while retaining subscale internal conshhhncy reliabilities in the range of .8–.9. The 51-item version of the TAC (v. 6.1) produced acceptable goodness-of-fit indices for its nine subscale constructs, based on analysis of 1,179 teacher responses from 2003. High internal consistency reliabilities were also verified-for additional sets of 2006 teacher data and 2008 preservice teacher preparation data. This led the authors to conclude that the TAC is a well-validated, reliable instrument for teachers’ self-appraisal of their attitudes toward computers, wonby of continued use in multiple language and cultural environments.