Elementary school students' attitudes and self-efficacy of using PDAs in a ubiquitous learning context

Pei-Shan Tsai, Chin-Chung Tsai, Gwo-Haur Hwang

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

53 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to develop an attitude and a self-efficacy survey of using PDAs in ubiquitous learning (u-learning) environments for elementary school students. The sample of this study included 414 third-grade to sixth-grade students (age 9-12 years) in Taiwan who had experience using PDAs for u-learning. The results indicate that the students, in general, had positive attitudes and adequate self-efficacy in terms of using PDAs for u-learning. Gender differences existed only in the students' self-efficacy of using PDAs for Internet related functions, with the male students expressing higher confidence in using PDAs for Internet-related functions than the female students. In addition, the students in lower grades (third and fourth-graders; age 9-10 years) tended to use PDAs more frequently and to have more positive perspectives of PDAs than the higher grade students (fifth and sixth-graders; age 11-12 years). Furthermore, for predicting students' attitudes toward using PDAs for u-learning, students' confidence in using PDAs for general purposes was more important than their confidence in using PDAs to perform Internet functions.
Original languageEnglish
JournalAustralasian Journal of Educational Technology
Volume26
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2010 May 16

Cite this