| Edited by Diane McGrath, Kansas State
University |
formerly Journal of Research on Computing in Education
JRTE, Volume 32, Number 1, Fall
1999
Characteristics of Students
Related to Computer-Mediated Communications Activity
Barry J. Fishman
The University of Michigan
Abstract
How do various characteristics of high school
students
correlate to the amount they use several different
computer-mediated
communication (CMC) tools? This article describes
a study
of individual differences among high school
students that
relate to and predict their use of a suite of CMC
tools.
The students in the study used e-mail, Usenet
news, and
a multimedia notebook to support project-based
science learning.
Findings of the study indicate that skill and
experience
with computers, parental education, access to
computers,
and academic self-concept are all reliable
predictors of
student CMC activity, while such attributes as
communication
apprehension and sex are related to activity with
specific
tools. This research provides insight into why
some students
use CMC tools more than others and provides
guidance to
those who wish to design or teach in CMC-rich
classrooms.
Contributor
Barry Fishman is an assistant professor of
educational
technology in the School of Education at the
University
of Michigan. His current research and teaching
interests
include teacher learning and beliefs with respect
to the
use of technology, ways that CMC technology can be
used
productively to extend the classroom learning
environment,
issues related to the scaling and sustaining of
science
curricula with embedded learning and
communications technology,
and the study of how schools and teachers plan to
use technology.
Dr. Fishman is a member of the Center for Highly
Interactive
Computing in Education (www.hi-ce.org)
and was previously a research scientist and
project director
of the Learning Through Collaborative
Visualization Project
at Northwestern University. (Address: Barry J.
Fishman,
610 E. University, Room 1360E School of Education,
University
of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1259;
fishman@umich.edu.)
A PDF file of the full article is available. Contact: jrte@iste.org. Please specifiy Volume
and Issue number and article name.
Copyright ©
1999, ISTE (International
Society for Technology in Education).
All rights reserved.
| communications, computer-mediated,
individual differences, Internet, learning environments. |
|
