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Attitudes towards computers among students in higher education: A case study in Singapore
Author(s) -
Teo Timothy,
Lee Chwee Beng
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
british journal of educational technology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.79
H-Index - 95
eISSN - 1467-8535
pISSN - 0007-1013
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-8535.2007.00724.x
Subject(s) - citation , sociology , higher education , media studies , library science , mathematics education , computer science , psychology , political science , law
Over the years, the use of computer has become an integral part of education and its impact on teaching and learning is widely accepted (Mitra et al, 2000). The successful integration of computers in educational environments depends, to a great extent, on students’ attitudes towards them (Palaigeorgiou, Siozos, Konstantakis & Tsoukalas, 2005). Computer attitude has been defined as a person's general evaluation or feeling of favour or antipathy towards computer technologies and specific computer‐related activities (Smith, Caputi & Rawstone, 2000). Of the various variables associated with computer attitude, Woodrow (1991) suggested: (1) computer importance (CI) (perceived usefulness); (2) computer enjoyment (CE) (liking); and (3) computer anxiety (CA) (student's confidence in using the computer). CI refers to the degree to which computer is perceived to be needed for present and future work and computer liking has been described as how much a user enjoys or like working with computers (Al‐Khaldi & Al‐Jabri, 1998). As such, CE is expected to correlate positively with positive attitudes towards computers as it is likely that an enjoyable activity would be repeated. CA refers to negative emotions in cognitive states evoked in actual or imaginary interaction with computer‐related technology, and students who experience a high level of CA have been found to avoid computers or general areas where computers are found, to be extremely cautious with computers, and to possess negative feelings about computers and shorten the necessary use of computers (Gaudron & Vignoli, 2002).