Effects of study levels on students' attitudes towards interactive whiteboards in higher education

Abstract

The present study aims at exploring the effects of the study levels of the participants involved in the research on the students' attitudes towards interactive whiteboards (IWB) in higher education. A questionnaire with 28 items was distributed in April–May 2013 in order to determine the students' attitudes towards interactive whiteboards. 210 students who had been in the undergraduate studies, 24 in the master studies and 12 in the doctoral studies had responded to the survey. The questionnaire had 4 sections, focused on availability of use of IWB and the components of pedagogy, psychology and group interaction. The methodology used involved a multiple response set format in order to identify the percentage of choices for each category of issues, while the Krushal Wallis, Jonckheere–Terpstra and Mann–Whitney U tests were used to determine differences. The results obtained revealed the fact that there were relevant differences between students at different study levels concerning their attitude towards certain factors that define pedagogical, psychological, group interaction and availability of use of IWB factors. The greatest effect induced by higher study levels was observed at the availability of use of IWB factor, respectively at the perception on using IWB in the educational process. Although there are some positive interactions regarding interactive whiteboards, students accept only gradually the introduction of the new technologies, along with their progression in study level.