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ABSTRACT: In the last decade, ICT use has expanded enormously in most Western
countries. In line with this development, we hypothesised that freshmen at university
would not only have mastered more ICT skills, but would also use computers more
often than their counterparts of 5 years previously. To compare students’ opinions
and behaviour between 2005 and 2009, responses to two online questionnaires (N=
714 in 2005 and N=1529 in 2009) offered at a large university were compared. The
main variables of the Technology Acceptance Model (as well as facilitating factors,
study motivation and some contextual variables) were used as predictors to explore
the possible changes between 2005 and 2009 in the mastering of 19 ICT skills, and
the frequency of the use of computers for six different tasks. The results of the study
show that freshmen became more proficient in some ICT skills, while proficiency in
other skills did not change or even dropped. Gender is still an important factor to
predict ICT skills and the frequency of using computers, but it is shown that for
some skills female students have caught up with their male counterparts.
Education and Information Technologies. 01/2011;
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ABSTRACT: Do ICT skills of freshmen change in 6 months at the university? What is
the contribution of learning styles (or patterns) to the explanation of the variance in
self-perceived ICT skills and the possible change in these skills? And what is the
contribution of learning styles and of gender, social class, and ICT course attendance
to the explanation of the variance in these skills? To answer these questions, data
were collected in a panel research project that recruited 714 freshmen at a large
Belgian university. The data show that the ability of the students to maintain a
computer and to develop a website improves at the university but not the ability to
use the Internet or to apply basic ICT skills. The analyses show that there is a link,
albeit weak, between learning styles and self-perceived ICT skills. Learning styles
can partially explain differences between groups of students with different
characteristics. The data show that having a certain learning style might influence
the perception of students of their ICT skill, but learning styles do not allow one to
predict the change in the self-perceived ICT skills of the students.
Education and Information Technologies. 01/2011;
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ABSTRACT: The passage from secondary school to university puts students in an environment with different expectations. Not only the expectations towards learning might change, but also towards ICT competences and computer use. The purpose of this article is to find out whether freshmen, after 6 months at the university, changed their self-perception of ICT competences and computer use in comparison with their behaviour at secondary school, and what factors can explain the self-perception of ICT competences and computer use in secondary school, in the university and their possible change. Based on a panel research among 714 freshmen of a large university, this article answers the following questions: (1) What is the self-perception of ICT competences among freshmen and is there a change in this self-perception 6 months after entering the university? (2) How often and for what purpose do freshmen use a computer and is there a change in the frequency of the use of a computer? (3) What factors might influence this attitude, behaviour, and possible change? In function of the basic components of Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (Venkatesh, Morris, Davis, & Davis, 2003) hypotheses was developed and tested to answer these questions. Students who consider the computer to be a useful instrument, have control over the computer, possess a certain level of Internet competence, and are at ease with computers are more likely to have the skills needed to maintain a computer, to develop a web site, and to use basic ICT skills. The predictors have little influence on Internet usage. The same predictors contribute modestly to the explanation of the different frequencies of computer use, and a few of the predictors explain parts of change in ICT skills and frequency of computer use.
Computers & Education. 01/2010; 55:53-66.
