Computer Aptitude Research Articles

The Barriers And Needs Of Online Learners

This study investigated some specific barriers and needs that online students are facing when learning English through WebEx system. It compared students’ barriers and needs with their background including gender, computer ownership, and monthly allowance. It also investigated the relationship among computer aptitude, barriers and needs of online learners. The samples were 211 undergraduate students enrolled in Fundamental English course. The instrument in this study was a questionnaire. Results indicated that the levels of needs and barriers of online learners in general were moderate. There were no statistically significant differences at .05 level found in barriers and needs of online learners as classified by gender, computer ownership, and computer aptitude. As hypothesised, there was a negative relationship between computer aptitude and barriers of online learners at .01 level. Students with high computer aptitude had fewer barriers to learn online than those with low computer aptitude. In addition, there was a positive relationship between barriers and needs of online learners at .01 levels. Students with more barriers were found to have more needs to help them to learn online than those with few barriers. Teachers and institutions can take the results of this study into consideration when developing online courses.

Attitudes Of Undergraduate Students Towards An Online English Class

Distance online learning has been regarded as a useful learning method, especially when we faced the big flood crisis in Thailand. To solve the lack of classrooms, our university administrators decided to implement WebEx system as an alternative to continue teaching. And, there were some relevant aspects that we needed to consider. Therefore, this study investigated students’ attitude toward WebEx system. It aimed to examine students’ attitudes toward using WebEx for an online English class, compare students’ attitudes toward WebEx system with their background and investigate the relationship between students’ computer aptitude and their attitudes towards WebEx system. The samples were 211 undergraduate students enrolled in Fundamental English course. The instrument in this study was a questionnaire. Results indicated that the levels of computer aptitude and attitudes towards WebEx system in general were moderate. There were no statistically significant differences at .05 level found in students’ attitudes toward WebEx system as classified by gender, computer ownership, and monthly allowance. As hypothesised, there was a positive relationship between students’ computer aptitude and their attitudes toward WebEx at .01 levels. Students with high computer aptitude were found to have more positive attitudes toward WebEx system than those with low computer aptitude. The research was done during the flood crisis. Thus, it is interesting to find out whether an English online class through WebEx system will be more accepted by users in the future, especially in a normal circumstance after the flood crisis. Nevertheless, the results of this study will give some ideas to institutions that plan to use online learning technologies.

The influence of a multimedia physics tutor and user differences on the development of scientific knowledge

This research examines high school students' performance on an interactive multimedia tutorial for learning physics concepts in conjunction with their individual differences. Students' performance were compared between two sections of the tutorial, the initial portion where the students learned concepts and the final portion that required the students to apply the concepts. Results indicated students most troubled with the concepts exhibited their best performance in conjunction with learning the concepts and with less abstract material presented early in each program segment. Also, students exhibiting right-hemispheric preferences (global, intuitive), performed better than left-hemispheric (i.e., linear, sequential, logical) students in the initial phase of the tutorial. These findings counter previous research associating left-hemispheric preferences with computer aptitude, and are discussed in terms of the special demands of working with computers for instructional, rather than programming purposes. The final phase of the tutorial appeared to be more difficult for all students. Implications in terms of the design of future student models for interactive multimedia tutorials that take into account individual differences are discussed. Recommendations for future research that explores the development of mental models of scientific phenomena via instructional strategies appealing to visual or verbal cognitive processing are suggested.

The relationship of psychological type to computer aptitude, attitudes, and behavior

Based on a review of research on the relationship of personality factors to human-computer interaction, Pocius (1991) concluded that there was little evidence for a relationship between Jungian psychological types and programming aptitude and mixed evidence regarding psychological type and computer-related attitudes. However, the studies on which Pocius based this conclusion suffered from a number of methodological flaws, including small sample sizes and restricted samples. In the present study, data from 471 introductory psychology students revealed that some dimensions of psychological type were related to computer aptitude, attitudes, and behavior, with psychological type interacting with participant sex in two instances. Implications of these findings are discussed.

An Investigation of the Predictive Validity of Computer Anxiety and Computer Aptitude

The predictive validity of computer aptitude, as measured by four aptitude subtests on the Computer Aptitude, Literacy, and Interest Profile and two computer anxiety instruments (the Computer Anxiety Scale and the Computer Anxiety Factor), was investigated using non programming computer performance as the criterion variable. The effects of computer anxiety on performance were inconsistent, and the suggestion is made that computer anxiety may be related to computer experience. The effects of computer aptitude on performance also yielded inconsistent results. The relationship between computer anxiety and computer aptitude varied. The reliability of the instruments is also reported.

Gender roles, computer attitudes, and dyadic computer interaction performance in college students

Females tend to score lower than males on measures of computer aptitude and attitudes. This study examined the potential effects of several mediating factors, sex of experimenter, sex of experimental partner, sex typing (Bem Sex Role Inventory score), and level of past experience, on a computer interaction task involving a dyad. College students, drawn from a primarily white college population, after completing paper-and-pencil measures assessing computer experience, computer attitudes, and gender roles, participated in a computer task involving drawing up to ten prescribed geometric patterns on a computer screen. Research assistants recorded the number of correctly completed patterns and videotaped participant interaction through a one-way mirror. Males reported experiencing more computer involvement than females. For males, past computer experience and masculinity were correlated with more positive computer attitude scores. For females, only past computer experience related to more positive computer attitude scores. Analyses of the computer interaction variable indicated that participants asked male research assistants significantly more questions than female research assistants. Several interaction effects were also found.

Sex and sex-typing effects on computer attitudes and aptitude

Previous research has supported a sex difference favoring males on computer-related variables. This study examines the potential mediating effects of psychological sex typing on computer variables. One hundred twenty-five undergraduates were administered measures assessing sex typing, computer experience, computer attitudes, computer self-efficacy, and computer aptitude. When the effects of specific computer experience and sex-typing variables were removed using analyses of covariance, male/female comparisons on computer aptitude and self-efficacy variables were no longer significant. Participant sex as well as masculinity and several computer experience variables were significant in the computer attitude analysis.

What best predicts computer proficiency?

Identifying variables that predict computer aptitude can help educators and employers target potential students and employees. The authors examine a number of possible explanatory variables including demographic profiles, high school achievements, prior computer training and experience, cognitive styles, and problem-solving abilities.

Validity and Temporal Stability Issues Regarding Two Measures of Computer Aptitudes and Attitudes

Psychometric information regarding the Computer Aptitude, Literacy, and Interest Profile and the Computer Attitude Scale was obtained from an NSF retraining project preparing computer science teachers for the secondary school level. Data address: (1) pre-/post-training stability; and (2) validity information involving (2.a.) course achievement predictions, (2.b.) CALIP-CAS interrelationships, and (2.c.) intra-instrument relationships.

Computer aptitude: an investigation of differences among junior high students with learning disabilities and their non-learning-disabled peers.

Despite the growing utility of the computer as a creative and self-expressive medium, it is rarely accessible for such purposes in the classroom. The professional literature is replete with evidence that computer utilization among students with learning disabilities has been primarily a computer-assisted instruction (CAI) approach. This narrow view of learners as receptors suggests, among other things, that because of their exceptionalities, students with learning disabilities possess relatively fewer strengths than their non-learning-disabled peers and less aptitude for such complex and creative tasks as programming. The purpose of the present study was twofold: (a) to investigate differences in computer aptitude among 56 junior high school students with learning disabilities and 56 non-learning-disabled peers, and (b) to consider gender differences in computer aptitude among the entire sample population. Subjects in each group were administered the Computer Aptitude, Literacy, and Interest Profile (CALIP) (Poplin, Drew, & Gable, 1984), and their composite scores were compared. Results indicated no significant difference in scores earned by students with learning disabilities and those of their non-learning-disabled peers. Likewise, intergroup score comparison suggested that no relationship existed between gender and computer aptitude among students in this sample.

Psychology of Computer Use: II. Sex Differences in Prediction of Course Grades in a Computer Language Course

This study investigated the effects of sex, computer aptitude, computer attitudes, computer experience, mathematics aptitude, and mathematics experience on the prediction of course grades in a computer language course. The sample consisted of 119 women and 73 men who completed an assembly-language programming course at a midwestern state university. While men in general had higher mathematics aptitude and computer aptitude, women received higher course grades in the computer language course. Students who failed the course were significantly lower in computer aptitude, computer experience, mathematics aptitude, mathematics experience, and high school GPA. A discriminant analysis for the total sample correctly classified passing and failing students at 81.1% accuracy rate. A short test of computer aptitude significantly added to high school grades and mathematics experience in a regression analysis of course grades. Computer attitudes were not related to course grades.

A Developmental Study of Children's Computer‐Aptitude and Knowledge About Computer Technology

A new test of computer‐aptitude and knowledge about computer technologies for young children was developed based on the Computer Aptitude, Literacy and Interest Profile (Poplin, Drew and Gable, 1984). The measure of computer‐aptitude was based on tests of number estimation, comprehension of directions, and geometric color and form analogies. Young children's knowledge about computer technologies was measured in four subsections: 1) background experience, 2) technical knowledge, 3) awareness of understanding of the role of the computer in society, and 4) perception and understanding of how the computer works. Results from testing kindergarten and third‐grade children with equal experience are described and the implications of this type of research for issues in basic and applied developmental psychology are discussed.

Cognitive Level and Achievement in Computer Literacy

Abstract This study measured to what degree achievement in a computer literacy course related to each of the following variables: general cognitive level, computer aptitude and prior experience using computers, and inherent stress. Subjects were 60 students enrolled in an undergraduate business course designed to teach the use of software packages. Achievement was measured by three course exams. Achievement early in the course was moderately related to measures of computer aptitude and cognitive level, but by the end of the course prior experience using computers emerged as the most important variable. Despite the logical and empirical connections drawn between general cognitive abilities and the ability to learn how to use computers, general abilities may be only marginally relevant to the task of learning to use software.

Computerphobia

Five studies of over 450 university students presented a comprehensive picture of computer-phobia. Three research and clinically based self-report instruments were developed to measure three nearly independent dimensions of computerphobia-computer anxiety, computer attitudes, and computer cognitions and feelings. Results indicated that older students were more computer anxious, but did not have more negative attitudes, cognitions, or feelings, than did younger students. Women had more negative attitudes than did men. Feminine-identity students showed more anxiety and negative attitudes than did masculine-identity students, regardless of gender. White students had more anxiety and more positive attitudes than did nonwhite students. Computerphobia was related to other anxiety measures (mathematics, state, and trait), but was a separate construct. Experience with computer interaction did not reduce anxiety or improve attitudes. Finally, regardless of academic major, computer-anxious students showed less computer aptitude, literacy, and interest. Implications for treating computerphobia are discussed.

A Review of the Computer Aptitude, Literacy, and Interest Profile (CALIP)

A Review of the Computer Aptitude, Literacy, and Interest Profile (CALIP)

Correlates of sex differences in attitudes toward and involvement with computers

This study investigated sex differences in computer attitude and aptitude and the relationship of these variables, math aptitude, math anxiety, and scholastic achievement to computer involvement. The sample consisted of 599 female and 342 male students from a freshman introductory psychology class at a midwestern state university. Females held more negative attitudes toward computers, scored lower in computer aptitude, and had less prerequisite math ability and math course work. More males than females had completed computer-related courses and had knowledge of a computer language. Computer aptitude was strongly related to math ability and math experience. Computer attitude was related to math anxiety and computer experience. Sex and computer attitude consistently discriminated between groups differing in computer involvement. The results are discussed in terms of the need for further research to identify the components of computer aptitude, attitude, and behaviors and of the broader issue of equity for women in the computer age.