Sólveig Jakobsdóttir

Computer-assisted foreign language learning: Effects of text, context, and gender on listening comprehension and motivation

A computer-based foreign language lesson was developed to study the effects of text, context, and gender on listening comprehension and motivation. A total of 109 fifth grade students responded to spoken commands, with text and a story absent or present. Presenting spoken language with text appeared to assist the development of listening skills. When text was present, students made fewer errors on the subsequent comprehension test and gave higher relevance and confidence motivation ratings than when text was absent. Girls demonstrated higher achievement than did boys and rated the lesson higher, indicating that girls tend to like different kinds of software than do boys. An interaction between context and gender regarding achievement was significant: Girls, but not boys, made fewer errors after a story-embedded lesson.

Computer Graphics: Preferences by Gender in Grades 2, 4, and 6.

Abstract We examined preferences for computer graphics among 316 students in Grades 2, 4, and 6. Based on 10 guidelines developed after examining the literature, we constructed three groups of pictures: high female interest (FI); high male interest (MI); and equal interest (EI), with mixed elements of high female and male interest. Students rated the pictures that were created with Storybook Weaver (MECC, 1991a, 1991b) and projected from a computer to a TV monitor. The girls rated FI pictures highest and MI pictures lowest; the opposite was true for boys. Gender differences in ratings of FI and MI pictures were significant and persistent through grade levels, whereas gender differences were not found for EI pictures. The results support the use of the guidelines to design pictures of appeal to girls and boys. Intermediate ratings of EI pictures showed that it is possible to strike a balance between conflicting preferences.

Some effects of information and communications technology on teaching and learning in Iceland

Abstract In this article the author describes the changing of traditional teaching patterns, how difficult and time-consuming such changing can be and how use of information and communications technology (ICT) may affect that change process. She gives an overview of some effects ICT appears to be having on teaching and learning in the Icelandic educational system. Teaching practices at the compulsory level of schooling in Iceland are described and indications presented on how little they appear to be changing. Effects on teaching practices in teacher education at Iceland University of Education are also discussed, with the trend towards distance education and net-based teaching and learning being by far the most noticeable

Interacting with the World

Studies of media use and mediatisation indicate radical changes occurring in young people’s lived experiences and how their learning lives are pursued (Buckingham, 2003; Couldry, 2014; Ito, 2010; Livingstone, 2014; Livingstone & Haddon, 2009; Sefton-Green & Erstad, 2013).