The impact of an online collaborative learning program on students’ attitude towards technology

ABSTRACT

This quantitative research examined the contribution of an Online Collaborative Learning (OCL) program on attitudes towards technology in terms of technological anxiety, self-confidence and technology orientation among M.Ed. students. The advanced online collaborative program was implemented at two teacher training colleges in Israel for a period of 10 weeks. It was based on the TEC model that used technology to increase trust between students from different cultures through online learning. Students from the intervention group (N = 47) and the control group (N = 45) completed questionnaires which dealt with their level of collaboration, intrinsic motivation, satisfaction, and attitudes towards technology. Findings of the SEM path analysis indicated that a high level of OCL promoted positive attitudes to technology. Thus, involving students in OCL programs could reduce technological anxiety and increase technological self-confidence and technological liking. However, students’ motivation and satisfaction were found to have a strong effect on the change of attitudes towards technology in OCL environments.

KEYWORDS:

• Collaboration
• intrinsic motivation
• satisfaction
• attitudes towards technology
• distance learning
• students

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Dr. Noga Magen-Nagar is a senior lecturer at the Gordon Academic College of Education, and the Deputy Director of the M.Ed. program of Teaching, Learning and Mentoring. She is a researcher and academic consultant in the national ICT program entitled “Adapting the education system to the twenty-first century”, in the Department of Science and Technology, Ministry of Education. She is also a postdoctoral fellow at the Department of Education, Ben-Gurion University. She studied at the Department of Educational Leadership, Administration and Policy at the School of Education of Bar Ilan University. She received her Ph.D. in 2010. Her areas of expertise and research focus on integrating ICT in education, quality of teaching, innovative learning environments, and evaluation in education.

Dr. Miri Shonfeld has played an influential and instrumental role in many changes in teacher education in Israel. She was the head of ICT at the Kibbutzim College of Education, and as the head of the forum for ICT coordinators in teacher education she worked to integrate technology in education. She was involved in writing the national program for the 21th century, as well as numerous position papers. She has been invited by universities all over the world to present her philosophy and pedagogy on using ICT in education. Her research deals with online learning environments, collaborative work, and intercultural links. She is currently the head of the Technology, Education, and Cultural Diversity (TEC) Center at Mofet Institute and a faculty member of the graduate program in Technology in Education at the Kibbutzim College of Education in Tel-Aviv.