Introductory Computer Literacy Research Articles

The Effect of Course Focus on Preservice Teachers’ Attitudes Toward Personal and School Uses of Computers and Computer Anxiety

AbstractThis study investigated two different teaching approaches to the same introductory computer literacy course for preservice teachers to examine preservice teacher’s resulting attitudes toward personal uses of computers, attitudes toward school uses of computers, and computer anxiety. Two class sections focused on building a strong knowledge base with positive attitudes as a secondary priority while another two class sections focused on developing positive attitudes with little emphasis on developing a strong knowledge base. Results indicated no significant differences between the groups for any of the three areas after the 1 -semester treatment, which indicated that the elevation in positive attitudes and reduction of computer anxiety were not related to course focus.

Comparison of satisfaction and success of traditional and online students in an introductory computer literacy course in a small liberal arts university

The purpose of this research study was to compare the satisfaction and success of two student groups: a traditional face-to-face (f2f) computer programming class and an online computer programming ...

Affect and learning: An exploratory look into the role of affect in learning with AutoTutor

The role that affective states play in learning was investigated from the perspective of a constructivist learning framework. We observed six different affect states (frustration, boredom, flow, confusion, eureka and neutral) that potentially occur during the process of learning introductory computer literacy with AutoTutor, an intelligent tutoring system with tutorial dialogue in natural language. Observational analyses revealed significant relationships between learning and the affective states of boredom, flow and confusion. The positive correlation between confusion and learning is consistent with a model that assumes that cognitive disequilibrium is one precursor to deep learning. The findings that learning correlates negatively with boredom and positively with flow are consistent with predictions from Csikszentmihalyi's analysis of flow experiences.

Using Latent Semantic Analysis to Evaluate the Contributions of Students in AutoTutor

AutoTutor is a fully automated computer tutor that assists students in learning about hardware, operating systems, and the Internet in an introductory computer literacy course. AutoTutor presents questions and problems from a curriculum script, attempts to comprehend learner contributions that are entered by keyboard, formulates dialog moves that are sensitive to the learner's contributions (such as prompts, elaborations, corrections, and hints), and delivers the dialog moves with a talking head. Latent Semantic Analysis (LSA) is a major component of the mechanism that evaluates the quality of student contributions in the tutorial dialog. LSA's evaluations of college students' answers to deep reasoning questions are equivalent to the evaluations provided by intermediate experts of computer literacy, but not as high as more accomplished experts in computer science. LSA is capable of discriminating different classes of student ability (good, vague, erroneous or mute students) and in tracking the quality of contributions in tutorial dialog.

An innovative pedagogy for teaching and evaluating computer literacy

In Spring 1998, 353 students enrolled in a web-based, self-paced, competency-based introductory computer literacy course. This pedagogy radically differed from the traditional lock-step, “monkey-see, monkey-do” approach utilized by many colleges and universities. This paper reports on the outcomes of this innovative approach including student success rates, instructor differences, technical considerations, and student attitudes. With the exception of withdrawal rates, all indicators are positive regarding both student perceptions and student learning outcomes.

AutoTutor: A simulation of a human tutor

AutoTutor is a computer tutor that simulates the discourse patterns and pedagogical strategies of a typical human tutor. AutoTutor is designed to assist college students in learning the fundamentals of hardware, operating systems, and the Internet in an introductory computer literacy course. Most tutors in school systems are not highly trained in tutoring techniques and have only a modest expertise on the tutoring topic, but they are surprisingly effective in producing learning gains in students. We have dissected the discourse and pedagogical strategies these unskilled tutors exhibit by analyzing approximately 100 hours of naturalistic tutoring sessions. These mechanisms are implemented in AutoTutor. AutoTutor presents questions and problems from a curriculum script, attempts to comprehend learner contributions that are entered by keyboard, formulates dialog moves that are sensitive to the learner’s contributions (such as short feedback, pumps, prompts, elaborations, corrections, and hints), and delivers the dialog moves with a talking head. AutoTutor has seven modules: a curriculum script, language extraction, speech act classification, latent semantic analysis, topic selection, dialog move generation, and a talking head.

The Relationship of Computer Experience and Computer Self-Efficacy to Performance in Introductory Computer Literacy Courses

This study was designed to identify the relationships that exist among computer experience, computer self-efficacy, and computer-dependent performance in an introductory computer literacy course. Measures of computer experience and computer self-efficacy were assessed prior to student participation in the course, and their relationship to subsequent course performance was analyzed. Results suggest that it is the relevance, rather than quantity, of computer experience students bring to class that is most predictive of performance. Accordingly, only computer self-efficacy was found to be significantly related to computer-dependent course performance. Implications for educators charged with assessing the computer literacy of students entering college are discussed.

Locus of control and computer attitudes as determinants of the computer literacy of student teachers

The computer literacy of a group of 106 student teachers enrolled in an introductory computer literacy course was measured and correlated with measures of their computer attitudes, locus of control for academic achievement, gender, age, word processing and computer experience. Computer literacy was found to be correlated, at the P < 0.05 level, with positive attitudes towards computers, and at the P < 0.01 level, with the interest attitude subscale. Computer literacy was also correlated, at the P < 0.05 level, with previous computer experience, and at the P < 0.01 level, with previous word processing experience. Computer literacy was negatively correlated, at the P < 0.05 level, with the ability subscale of the locus of control scale but was otherwise uncorrelated with the locus of control measures. Age and gender had no correlation with computer literacy.

Determinants of student teacher computer literacy achievement

The achievement of 98 student teachers enrolled in an introductory computer literacy course for novices was measured and correlated with measures of their computer attitudes, locus of control for academic achievement, gender, age, prior word processing and computer experience, and entry-level computer literacy. Computer literacy achievement was found to be correlated, at the P < 0.05 level, with prior programming experience and with entry-level computer literacy, and at the P < 0.01 level, with the perceived locus of control for academic achievement with internally oriented students out-performing their externally oriented peers. Entry level computer literacy showed no correlation with an internal perception of locus of control for achievement. Therefore, it appeared that the achievement levels of the internally oriented students resulted entirely from their efforts during the course and not from a base of prior knowledge. Age and gender had no correlation with computer literacy achievement.

Locus of control and student teacher computer attitudes

The attitudes towards computers and the perception of locus of control over factors which determine academic success were measured for a group of 106 pre-service teachers enrolled in an introductory computer literacy course. All subjects were computer novices. Positive computer attitudes were found to be correlated with an externally-oriented perception of locus of control. The external attribution of luck was most highly correlated with positive computer attitudes. Among internally-oriented subjects, those who felt that effort primarily determined academic success displayed the most negative attitudes towards computers. Locus of control was found to account for more variation in computer attitudes than were the factors of student age, gender, computer experience and word processing experience.

Introductory computer literacy skills for students and faculty through word processing

Introductory computer literacy skills for students and faculty through word processing

Programming

This study investigated the impact that varying levels of programming had on teachers participating in computer literacy training coursework. Two groups who had received different amounts of programming content in their introductory computer literacy course were compared on their cognitive and affective computer literacy outcomes. One group spent 90-100% of class time programming in BASIC. The second group spent 25-35% of class activities programming in BASIC. Using the MECC computer literacy assessment instrument, significant differences were found between the two groups for total affect, enjoyment, and educational computer support. The findings reinforce that educators like to study and learn about applications other than programming, and that an overall positive attitude concerning educational computing is enhanced by computer literacy training models emphasizing several application areas.