Volume 3, Issue 2, April 2012

ABSTRACT

Navigation in web-based environments is one of the challenging tasks for hypertext readers. During reading, hypertext readers are reported to allocate their cognitive resources to meet the cognitive demands and are often reported to get disoriented while navigating through hyperlinks. Meanwhile, readers’ understanding of hypertext structures and memories interact while navigating between pages. Yet, as researchers pointed out and the correlations are taken into account, there are no research studies that have directly explored their factorial patterns within the context of hypertext reading process. Therefore, the purpose of this study is both to investigate the confirmatory study of a Perceived Disorientation Scale (PDS), and to investigate the effects of hypertext structure, presentation type, and instruction type on readers’ implicit and explicit memory performances and their perceived disorientation. Instruction type and presentation type main effects were found to be significant only on WSC scores (memory scores). However, there was no significant main effect of hypertext structure observed for neither WSC nor PDS-TR scores. The interaction effect between hypertext structure and presentation type was significant only on PDS-TR scores, yet no other interaction effects were significant. Potential implications of these results for e-learning providers and content developers in hypertext are discussed, followed with further research questions.

Keywords: Disorientation, Hypertext navigation, Hypertext reading, Implicit memory, Explicit memory

ABSTRACT

Students at a regional campus of a Midwestern university were surveyed using an online questionnaire to determine their ownership, skill, and use of technological devices. Four hundred ninety-three students responded to the survey. It was found that the survey sample mirrored the student population at the university. Students owned and used a wide variety of electronic devices. Eighty five percent of the students owned laptop computers, 62% digital phones, 60% desktop computers, and 52% gaming systems. Students used electronic devices an average of 6.03 hours per week on classroom activities and 3.93 hours per week surfing the Internet for pleasure. They perceived themselves as being very skilled at using email, surfing the web, and word processing. It was also found that there was a significant correlation between students’ ownership of and skill with educational technology and their experience with Blackboard. Technological barriers were found to have a negative impact on students’ experience with Blackboard. Those barriers also negatively impacted their technological use and skill. A simple linear regression model explains that students’ experience with Blackboard is enhanced by having greater skill with technology, but is diminished when confronted with technological barriers. Implications for course design are discussed.

Keywords: Educational Technology, Post-Secondary Education, Student Experience with Technology, Barriers to Use Technology, Course Design

ABSTRACT

The interactive whiteboards (IWB) has now been incorporated into the Turkish schools and educational institutions with the launch of the Fatih Project. This article first described the adaptation of a self-efficacy scale on IWB use in Turkish. The secondary aim of the study was to report the self-efficacy levels of primary school teachers toward the technology and the use of IWB in teaching. The participants of the current research were selected on a non-random basis among the primary schools in Kirikkale having at least one designated classroom with IWB. The adaptation studies of the scale including 19 items revealed that it possessed two factors which were implied as common and specific tools of IWBs. The results suggested that the confidence levels of the participant teachers in using IWB tools and features were observed as not satisfactory. This research is expected to serve as a basis for further IWB related studies and contribute to enhancing opportunities to utilize current technologies within the Turkish educational contexts.

Keywords: Interactive whiteboards, New educational technologies, IWB, Teachers’ selfefficacy in the use of technology, Fatih Project

ABSTRACT

The incorporation of technology into teaching and research is one of the most important challenges for education today. It is time to move beyond the walls of our classrooms to join forces with other institutions and societies to revitalize education. The present paper focuses on the use of technology in teaching-learning process that will greatly contribute to meet student needs for learning anywhere, anytime. Integration of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) into teaching and learning process is a growing field which has variety of definitions according to different points of view. A very common view asserts that the application of ICT processes should be presented in an integrated way as well as concrete model need to be developed for the teachers in order for the integration process to improve students’ learning. Based on the premise that “The integration process should strengthen learning of students”, there is a need to present an integrated point of view in the application of these processes and to develop some concrete examples for teachers. Therefore, the main purpose of this study is to develop a model assessing the ICT integration process and helping to improve students’ learning.

Keywords: Information and Communication Technologies, ICT intregration, Enhancing learning, Educational improvement, Teacher Education

ABSTRACT

The present study aimed at developing a scale for diagnosing instructional strategies to be used to determine the instructional strategies applied in the instructional process. In the process of the scale development, first the related literature was reviewed. Following this, field experts were asked for their views, and the instructional activities to be carried out in the instructional process were identified. Afterwards, considering the similar and different features of the instructional activities, they were grouped by associating them with instructional strategies. The draft scale, which made up of a total of 291 items in the beginning, was exposed to a four-phase application process prior to the actual application. At the end of this process, it was transformed into a 70-item scale applied to 614 home teachers and field teachers. For the content validity of the scale, field experts were asked for their views. Data collected were analyzed with the methods of principle components analysis and exploratory factor analysis. As a result of the exploratory factor analysis conducted to determine the construct validity of the scale, the factor load of each item in the scale was found over .30. In order to determine the factors involving the items in the scale, the orthogonal rotation was applied with the Varimax technique to the data collected. The scale included two sub-scales. The rate of the factors in the sub-scale of meeting the total variance was 43% for the sub-scale of focus strategies and 62% for the sub-scale of process strategies. The value obtained by testing the internal consistency for the whole scale was found as α=.964. With respect to the item-whole scale correlational consistency, the items in the scale ranged between.406 and .816. The findings obtained in the process of developing this five-point Likert-type scale demonstrated that the scale could be used successfully in determining the nature of instructional strategies applied in the instructional process.

Keywords: Instructional strategies, Instructional methods, Instructional tactics, Instructional approaches, Scale development

(no abstract)