An Analysis Of Factors That Influence Community College Students Attitudes Toward Technology

Author : Maria Carmen Regalado
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781124223865
Total Pages : 225 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (238 download)

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Download or read book A Student-Centered Perspective of Technology for Learning at CaliforniaCommunity Colleges written by Maria Carmen Regalado and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This study investigated how current levels of computer technology competence, confidence, and attitudes of community college students toward technology in learning are affected by current access, demographic characteristics, and past experiences with computer technology. A survey and quantitative analysis were used to examine the interactions of first generation college student status, age, gender, ethnicity, primary language, employment, current income, history of access, and current access to computer and internet technology with computer technology beliefs, troubleshooting confidence, and types of technology use. A subgroup chosen from the survey respondents was interviewed individually to garner more detail and to get a greater sense of the individual perspectives, stories, and narratives of participants regarding their personal experiences that lie behind their answers on the survey. Using an ex post facto factor analysis, the attitudes subscale in the survey was divided into the dependent variables of beliefs and troubleshooting confidence. These dependent variables were measured for impact from the predictor variables of gender, age, ethnicity, first generation college student status, hours worked per week, current income, and history of access variables in multiple regression analyses. Factor analysis and multiple regressions were also used to examine the effects of gender, age, and current income on the current access of participants to computer technology, such as personal or public access to the internet and types of internet access in the form of mobile or immobile access. Finally, factor analysis and multiple regressions were used to examine the effects of gender, age, and current income on the types of computer technology participants used. Results showed no significant effects of any of the selected predictor variables on the beliefs of participants regarding the use of computer technology. Results also showed that females tended to have less confidence when troubleshooting problems encountered while using computer technology than males, regardless of age or income. In terms of access, younger participants reported higher levels of the use of public resources with immobile internet access and more use of laptops with wireless connections. The interview data supported the findings of the factor analyses and multiple regressions. The findings were discussed in terms of the persistence of gender disparities in more complex computer technology tasks and cultural shifts regarding the perception of the ubiquity and necessity of the use of computer technology. These cultural shifts appear to be embraced by younger participants, who seem to be more comfortable with high mobility and the perception that internet can be accessed as a public resource regardless of personal resource constraints.