| Edited by Diane McGrath, Kansas State
University |
formerly Journal of Research on Computing in
Education
Volume 29 Number 4 -- Summer 1997
Table of Contents
Progressive Comparison
of the
Effects of Computer-Assisted Instruction on the Academic Achievement
of Secondary
Students
Edwin Christmann, John Badgett, and Robert
Lucking.............................325
Learning Styles in a
Technology-Rich
Environment
Vicki L.
Cohen......................................................................................338
What Do Freehand and
Computer-Facilitated
Drawings Tell Teachers About the Children Who Drew Them?
Judith B.
Harris......................................................................................351
Effects of Gender on
Perceptions
and Preferences of Telematic Learning Environments
Karin Proost, Jan Elen, and Joost
Lowyck..............................................370
Teaching
Teleapprenticeships: An
Innovative Model for Technology Integration in Teacher
Education
Catherine O. Thurston, Evangeline D. Secaras,
and James
A. Levin..........385
Peer Collaboration in a
Hypermedia
Learning Environment
Sandra V. Turner and Vito M.
Dipinto....................................................392
A Qualitative Evaluation
of a Statewide
Networking Infrastructure in Education Project
Carol Scott Whelan, Carl Frantz, Juanita
Guerin, and
Sylvia Bienvenu........403
A Comparison of
Computer-Administered
and Written Tests
David Zandvliet and Pierce
Farragher....................................................423
top
Abstracts
Progressive
Comparison of
the Effects of Computer-Assisted Instruction on the Academic
Achievement of
Secondary Students
Edwin Christmann and John Badgett
Slippery Rock University
Robert Lucking
Old Dominion University
Abstract
This study employed a meta-analytic technique to
compare
the academic achievement during a 12-year period of secondary students
across
a broad latitude of academic areas who were instructed through
traditional methodology,
traditional methodology supplemented with computer-assisted
instruction (CAI),
or CAI alone. Moreover, the study compared more recent with earlier
research
findings. An overall mean effect size of 0.187 was calculated,
indicating that,
on the average, students receiving traditional instruction
supplemented with
CAI attained higher academic achievement than did 57.2% of those
receiving only
traditional instruction. However, a -0.762 correlation between effect
size and
years indicates that the effect of CAI on academic achievement has
declined
during this period.
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Learning Styles
in a Technology-Rich
Environment
Vicki L. Cohen
Fairleigh Dickinson University
Abstract
This study investigated whether learning style
would change
after a year of schooling in a technology-rich educational environment
dedicated
to a constructivist approach to learning. The subjects were 15 gifted
freshmen
who had been accepted into a "magnet" high school. The
subjects were
given Dunn and Dunn’s Learning Style Inventory and a
questionnaire before
and after the school year. This study could not conclude that learning
styles
change after one year; however, there are suggestions that learning
styles are
affected by factors within the environment, such as exposure to
technology.
Results suggest that a technology-rich environment affects the written
and unwritten
curriculum within a classroom, especially impacting the social context
that
exists. The use of computers affected the way the content was explored
and presented.
A technology-rich environment also seemed to affect the interaction
that occurred
between students and students, students and teachers, and teachers and
teachers.
A much more casual social context emerged, which was supportive of
exploration
and discourse. After one year, some students displayed low preference
for learning
in this environment; the researcher concluded that instruction must
encourage
many different forms of learning styles.
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What Do Freehand
and
Computer-Facilitated
Drawings Tell Teachers About the Children Who Drew
Them?
Judith B. Harris
University of Texas at Austin
Abstract
A qualitative analysis of data was used to
determine the
scope and interjudge agreement of personality information communicated
to computer-using
classroom teachers through three types of children’s drawings
(freehand,
graphics tablet, and Logo). Each of 10 Logo-literate 9- or 10-year-old
students
was asked to draw pictures in the three different media. Each student,
a parent,
and the student’s current classroom teacher were interviewed to
develop
10 vignette-style personality profiles. The information contained
therein was
then compared to what 13 Logo-using classroom teachers intuited about
the children’s
genders, ages, learning styles, and behavior patterns by looking at
the drawings
with no prior knowledge of the artists. Viewing teachers were not able
to consistently
detect artist gender or age by looking at pictures drawn with any of
the three
media, but 69% of the other statements made by the teachers agreed
with information
contained in the personality profiles.
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Effects of Gender
on
Perceptions
of and Preferences for TelematicLearning Environments
Karin Proost, Jan Elen, and Joost Lowyck
Catholic University of Leuven
Abstract
This study investigated gender differences in
perceptions
of and preferences for telematic learning environments (TLEs). We
distributed
a questionnaire among 1,368 traditional and open and distance learning
(ODL)
university students. Although we found significant gender differences,
none
of the variables included in the research could be regarded as
important for
explaining differences in students’ perceptions and preferences
with respect
to TLEs. Potential reasons for these results are discussed.
top
Teaching
Teleapprenticeships
An Innovative Model for Integrating Technology Into Teacher Education
Catherine O. Thurston, Evangeline D. Secaras, and
James
A. Levin
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Abstract
Teachers need to be trained to skillfully
integrate technology
into their instruction. Teaching Teleapprenticeships (TTa), an
innovative program
in the College of Education at the University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign,
is in its fourth year of integrating technology into the preservice
experience
of undergraduate education majors. One group targeted by the TTa
researchers
has been the year-long project (YLP), which involves elementary
education majors.
Data were collected on the impact of this program on the YLP through
surveys,
interviews, video, digital images, and a number of nontraditional
measures.
Results show that technology has become more than an add on and more
than just
part of the curriculum they are studying; it is now an integral part
of the
students’ personal and professional lives.
top
Peer
Collaboration in
a Hypermedia
Learning Environment
Sandra V. Turner and Vito M. Dipinto
National-Louis University
Abstract
This article describes peer collaboration in a
hypermedia
learning environment and documents the factors that facilitate the
development
of a collaborative culture among middle school students. Findings from
a four-year
research study involving middle school students as hypermedia
designers are
reported. The key research questions investigate how collaboration is
encouraged,
facilitated, and taught; the benefits of peer collaboration; peer
collaboration’s
impact on student learning; and the negative aspects of collaboration.
We address
these three questions, focusing on the factors that help establish and
support
a collaborative culture in a technology-intensive classroom.
top
A Qualitative
Evaluation of
a Statewide Networking Infrastructure in Education
Project
Carol Scott Whelan, Carl Frantz, Juanita Guerin,
and Sylvia
Bienvenu
University of Southwestern Louisiana
Abstract
This article outlines the findings of a
qualitative and
primarily formative evaluation of one state’s Networking
Infrastructures
for Education pilot program to help develop a statewide educational
technology
network. This evaluation primarily focused on efforts in five diverse
school
districts to incorporate Internet applications in the classroom at
pilot elementary,
middle, and high schools in each district. Although considerable
progress was
made helping school systems, schools, and teachers develop the
capability to
use the Internet in the classroom, much was learned that should
facilitate similar
efforts in other school districts. Thus, this article describes this
K-12 project
designed to inform state networking and outlines lessons learned from
features
and approaches in the sites that participants and evaluators viewed as
particularly
effective or as needing improvement.
Download
the full article (PDF, 70 KB, PDF Instructions)
top
A Comparison
of
Computer-Administered
and Written Tests
David Zandvliet
Malaspina University-College
Pierce Farragher
University of Victoria
Abstract
A computer testing program designed by the
authors using
HyperCard was tested for equivalence with written formats of a test.
The study
group in this research consisted of 50 adult basic education students
enrolled
in an introductory computer course at a small community college. Each
student
completed 3 written and 3 computer-administered tests. Additional
information
about these tests was collected through the use of student pre- and
posttreatment
surveys and by an innovative HyperCard script that tracked each
student’s
path through the tests. The results of the comparative analysis of
tests scores
indicated that there were no significant differences between
computer-based
and written test scores. Additionally, survey responses indicated a
student
preference for the computer-based test over the written format and
that this
preference increased after exposure to the different test formats.
Finally,
an analysis of student test-path data recorded by the computer
indicated that
the computerized tests took, on average, 2 min longer for students to
complete.
The computer test-path data and survey responses also gave an
indication of
which test-design features were the most useful for students.
A PDF file of each full article is available. Contact: jrte@iste.org. Please specifiy Volume
and Issue number.
Copyright © 1997, ISTE (International Society
for Technology
in Education). All rights reserved.
| computer-assisted instruction, learning styles, Freehand, gender, teleapprenticeships, peer collaboration, Networking Infrastucture |
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