Effects of Synchronous Web-Based Instruction on Students’ Thinking Styles and Creativity

Abstract

Background:Technology and innovation are the power of human civilization. In face of such a changeable era, the rapid development and circulation of information technology has hastened the diversification of society. To cope with the approach of information society, teaching methods should also be changed, as traditional injection education could no longer adapt to the changing society. Different from the face-to-face lecturing in traditional classrooms, learners at different places could still precede “face-to-face” like instruction through synchronous web-based instruction. It is expected to promote students’ creativity.Materials and methods:Taking teachers and students of public and private universities in Kaohsiung City as the sampling subjects, 600 copies of questionnaires are distributed. Total 428 valid copies are collected, with the retrieval rate 71%.Results:The research results are concluded as following. 1. Synchronous web-based instruction would affect thinking styles. 2. Synchronous web-based instruction would influence creativity. 3. Thinking styles reveal notably positive effects on creativity.Conclusions:The research results and suggestions are expected to have teachers change the teaching methods in order to promote students’ creativity