Article Reviews & Reflections
Group #4 Booklet
Olivia Dial, CSE 610
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Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Article Review, Olivia Dial ................................................................................. 3
References.................................................................................................................................................................................... 5
Chapter 2: Article Review, Rabab Al Jaman ....................................................................... 6
References.................................................................................................................................................................................... 9
Chapter 3: Article Review, Trevor Moore ......................................................................... 10
References.................................................................................................................................................................................. 12
Chapter 4: Article Review, Runnan Li ............................................................................... 13
References.................................................................................................................................................................................. 16
Chapter 5: Article Review, Zienab Al Jaman ..................................................................... 17
References.................................................................................................................................................................................. 20
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Chapter 1: Article Review, Olivia Dial
As a recent graduate from Linfield College, I decided to focus on pre-service teachers’
outlooks on computers. Each of the articles is from a very different time period in the
technological sense, one from 2002 and the other from 2008. With this disparity in technology
and my personal experience from my teacher education program, I compare how each of these
studies view computers in education. Pre-service teachers of the 21st century are required to learn
a breadth of knowledge; not only are they expected to focus on the content and cognitive
development of children, but they must develop the skills and knowledge required to implement
learning technologies. Beginning with the oldest article that is incorporated, we will notice how
the perception and inclusion of computers in classrooms rapidly changes.
Jones (2002) first asserts that during this time, computers have been used in schools for
more than twenty years. During this time period, a study demonstrated that only 20% of teachers
felt prepared to use computers, while another 70% felt reluctant (Jones, 2002, p. 8). This
somewhat recent wave of technology forced colleges to require graduate schools to teach preservice students about the uses of technology in the classroom. Their primary goal was to address
the minimum skills required to effectively use computers in the classroom. A result from this
article’s study found that self-efficacy with computers determines whether a student teacher will
teach with computers later on. Although a pre-service teacher possesses a positive attitude
towards using technology in a classroom, a correlation with their ability to apply it in classroom
was not found (Jones, 2002). Reports claim that this could be due to the decontextualized nature:
meaningful links between what occurs in a university lecture about computers in education and
the reality of managing computers in their own classrooms did not exist.
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When we fast forward six years, many changes are observed in the world of technology.
Still, teachers’ attitudes directly relate to computer use in the classroom; however, computers
appear more in the classroom, but more specifically for housekeeping tasks and parent
communication. Pre-service teachers, still almost exclusively in graduate schools, but more in
undergraduate studies, are equipped with training for useful and regular computer activities, e.g.,
instruction, research, and problem solving. More importantly, Teo (2008) again found a
correlation between greater computer use and computer confidence. His study showed that preservice teachers showed positive attitudes toward computers (p. 415), much higher than the 20%
that felt comfortable with computers in 2002. However, this is likely due to the higher
availability to computers in education during this time.
Looking farther into the future, in 2013, my teacher education program required
experience with computers throughout all of our undergraduate, major classes. Opportunities to
work with SMART Boards, Document Cameras, and a myriad of programs such as Word,
Powerpoint, Prezi, Google docs, wikis, and blogs, technology was not taught in its own
environment, but throughout our education program. In our final seminar class, we had to reflect
on how we used technology in the classrooms that we student taught in. Through the certification
of the education program, Linfield was required to add an additional assignment relaying the
technology standards to students and how Linfield’s pre-service teachers fulfilled them. Unlike
the decontextualized environment present in 2002 and even in 2008, technology surrounded us.
It was applicable across all subject and the opportunities we were given to apply them in the
classroom were numerous.
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References
Jones, A. (2002, July). Refusing or ignoring? An investigation of student teachers' perceptions
and use of computers. Australian Society for Educational Technology, p. 7-10.
Teo, T. (2008). Pre-service teachers’ attitudes towards computer use: A Singapore survey.
Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 24(4), 413-424
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Chapter 2: Article Review, Rabab Al Jaman
Onder, Celik, and Silay (2011) reported in their article, "Attitude of Teacher Candidates
toward Making Computer Supported Education," that computers play a significant role in
human's life as well as in education. Computer usage assists teachers to create an environment in
where the students have the interests towards the course for a long time without monotony. As a
result of computers support the courses, students need to learn how to use computers efficiently
under the observing of the teachers. Students will know that computers not only a tool to play or
surf the internet but also a device to make a contribution to their cultural knowledge. In the light
of above results, it is obvious how important the computer usage in education. For that, teachers
need to be educated to use computers.
Onder, Celik, and Silay made a study to determine the teachers' attitudes to use
computers in instruction and how these attitudes can change according to department, class level,
and gender. The result of this study has showed that the teachers in different departments have a
positive attitude in using computers assisted education. Also, this study has revealed that
teachers' attitudes towards giving computer supported education did not differ to their class level
as well as their gender.
In conclusion, computers are very important tools to assist education. The study that
Onder, Celik, and Silay did has shown that the teachers' attitudes from different department,
class level, and gender towards using computers supported education are highly positive.
Another article that I read was In-class laptop use and its effects on student learning
which is written by Carrie Fried. In his article, Fried provided that the laptops use in higher
education increased in the last years. All students and faculty have a computer. However, more
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and more faculty are banning the use of laptops in the classrooms as they afraid of the negative
impact of laptops on students learning. On the other hand, there are some evidences that
demonstrate how students in laptop classroom have higher participation rates, more interest in
learning, and more motivation to perform well. For that, the aim of Fried's research is to
examine students use of the laptops and how laptops affect the students learning outcomes in a
traditional lecture course. The research found that most students used laptops to do other things
not only taking notes such as checking emails, surfing the internet, and playing games. Also, it
illustrated that there was a negative impact on students performance as they use their laptops.
The use of laptops distracted students of paying attention to the lectures and understanding it
clearly. The third finding was most students faced difficulty to pay attention to the lecture as a
result of other students' laptop use.
In sum, the use of computers in classrooms can benefit students who want to take notes.
However, the using of computers during the lectures has some negative impact such as using
many things like checking emails, lower the students performance, and preventing other students
of understanding the lecture. The research that Fried did will help future researches to find some
ways to monitor the students' laptop use.
Reflection
Before reading the first article, I have known that computers are useful tools in assisting
education. Teachers can use computers to perform the activities for their lessons. This article
assured this idea that I have. I always thought that male are interested in computers more than
female. However, the result of the study found that there is no difference between the attitude
towards how computers assisting education of male and female teachers. The second article was
very interesting. I agree with the finding of the Fried's research. I noticed some students use
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their laptop during the class for playing games, surfing the Internet, or chatting with their friends.
Also, the noise of other student's laptop use distracts me from understanding what the instructors
say. What I think is an appropriate solution for using laptops in classrooms is that teachers
should allow students to use their laptops but without making noise. About the students, who
lose their time during the class playing game or doing other things, will be the biggest loser, and
they will understand that at the end of the term.
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References
Fried, C. B. (2008). In-class laptop use and its effects on student learning. Computers
& Education, 50(3), 906-914.
Önder, F., Çeli̇ k, P., & Silay, İ. (2011). Attitude of teacher candidates toward making computer
supported education. Procedia Computer Science, 3, 967-971.
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Chapter 3: Article Review, Trevor Moore
The two articles that I chose to read and review focused on students’ perceptions and
attitudes towards using computers in the classroom. The first article explains how Dr. Metin
Yaman tried to figure out what the perceptions of 330 Sports Management students and Physical
Education students were of potentially using distance learning in their programs. In order to gain
an understanding of these student’s perceptions, Yaman (2009) had each of the students
complete a questionnaire. The questionnaire revealed the students’ gender, social class, where
their family lives, how much money their family makes in a month, whether or not they have a
computer, if they have internet connection, their attitudes towards computers and distance
education, their preferred learning environment, and what they feel the roles of students are.
After giving the questionnaire, Dr. Yaman analyzed the results and found that a majority of the
students feel that distance learning would allow them to ask more questions that they would
refrain from asking in a classroom environment. The results also indicated that the students who
own a computer and who have access to the internet had a much more positive perception to the
possibility of distance learning in their programs. Although these students feel that distance
learning does have a place in their program, they do not think that all of their classes should be
done in the distance learning format. Yaman (2009) indicates that these students feel that
theoretical courses lend themselves to working well in a distance learning format, but practical
application courses would be impossible to have as distance learning courses.
The second article discusses a study that was done by Nursel Yilmaz which investigated
how pre-service early childhood teachers felt about using computer based education in science
activities. In order to collect the needed data, Yilmaz (2011) gave 215 Turkish pre-service
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teachers two surveys. One survey provided information on the students’ demographic
information; the second survey informed Yimaz about the attitudes the pre-service teachers had
towards computer based education. After analyzing the data, Yilmaz (2009) found that a
majority of the participants had positive attitudes towards computer based education while
teaching science activities. Yilmaz (2009) also found that the pre-service teachers who were
introduced to computers and began using them at an early age tended to have more of a positive
outlook on using computer based education than the pre-service teachers who began using
computers later in their education.
The results of both of these studies have showed that teachers believe that computers are
beneficial tools that should be used in the classroom. The first study shows that even in the
Physical Education field, teachers feel that computers can and should be used in their classes.
These studies have also explained that even though teachers feel that computers can be beneficial
in the classroom, there is a time and place for them. The first study explained that there are some
occasions where computers would negatively impact a lesson and that computers make the
application of some skills impossible. Taking what we learned from both of these articles, we
can see that computers do belong in the classroom setting, but it is up to us as teachers to
determine when it is appropriate to integrate them into our teaching.
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References
Yaman, M. (2009). Perceptions of Students on the Application of Distance Education in Physical
Education Lessons. The Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology, Volume 8,
Issue 1, Article 7. Retrieved from http://web.a.ebscohost.com
Yilmaz, N. (2011). Investigating Pre-Service Early Childhood Teachers’ Attitudes Towards the
Computer Based Education in Science Activities. The Turkish Online Journal of
Educational Technology, Volume 10, Issue 3. Retrieved from http://web.a.ebscohost.com
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Chapter 4: Article Review, Runnan Li
I choose two journals to read about computers in education. The first journal Technology in
the Classroom (Armstrong, 2014) focuses on the issues of how school policy and students’
attitudes toward usage of technologies, such as computers and smart-phones in education. It
indicated that many schools provided computers for students’ learning and valued computers as
effective tools of learning, but they did not treat smart-phones as learning tool. So, most of
schools did not allow students to use smart-phone in classroom. However, there are still many
issues of using technologies in education according to Armstrong (2014); many students have
access to use computers in school, but they do not have access to use computers or resources off
campus, even they may have no computer at home in some low-economics areas. This issue has
been also talked in the second journal The habitus of digital ‘stranger’ in higher education
(Czerniewicz, 2013). In addition, students’ self-choice and abilities to use technologies is one of
another challenge for using technologies in education. According to Armstrong (2014), many
students who are familiar with using computers or smart-phones may over-rely on search engines
to find information and complete research projects, thus they do not have enough ability to
identify the information that they pick up are authorized or not. So, it is important to provide
training classes both for teachers and students. According to my own experience of using
computers and smart-phone in my study, I prefer to use smart-phone in the classroom, while use
computer at home. Smart-phone is more convenient than computer. However, all my school
teachers no matter in high school or in college do allow us to use smart-phone in the class,
however they allow us to use personal computer in the class. Actually, for some small needs of
searching or checking information, smart-phone is better than computer. I agree with Armstrong
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(2014) that using smart-phone in the class is hard to monitor for teachers, and some social
functions such as text and cheating are worried by teachers (p. 43). From another perspective,
computers also contain those social functions but are easy to monitor by teachers through some
softwares. So, it is another lesson for teachers who want to effectively use technologies in
teaching.
The second journal- Czerniewicz’s (2013) article is a study that based on South Africa
learning environment. It talks about how technology usage form students’ habitus, and it makes a
connection between technology usage and cultural capital, as well as social capital. It also talks
some ideas and issues that appears in Armstrong’s (2014) article, such as students’ choice and
attitudes. The difference is that Czerniewicz (2013) analyze students’ choice and attitudes that
based on students’ cultures and personal experiences in South Africa learning environment.
According to Czerniewicz (2013), many students have access to use computers in school, but
they have no access to use computers off school; even they have computer at home, they have no
access to use internet or online sources due to the fact that they do not have awareness of using
computers as a normal study tool. The cultural capital determined that computers at home
perhaps for family business use (47). According to my own experiences, this cultural capital is
much similar to my cultural. I cannot use computer at home from Monday to Friday, because my
parent think that computer is for my father’s office use and for my entertainment use. Also,
teachers in school will not give students assignment that need to use computer after school. That
is why I always wonder why we need to take computer class in elementary school, because I
have no chance to practice after class. And for a long time, I treat computer as my entertainment
on the weekend, even I read some interesting articles, but I never thought computer is a learning
tool until I entered the college. After reading Czerniewicz’s (2013) article and combining my
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own experiences, I agree that there is a gap between using technologies in education and
students’ attitudes; students’ attitudes and habitus are shaped by cultural capital and social
capital, which directly influence how they value technologies using in learning (p. 51).
According to the two journals, it is obvious that using technologies appropriately in teaching is
benefit. However, how to use it effectively is still a lesson for all teachers. Technology is
powerful of cause, but if we cannot understand it better, it will be hard to communicate with a
machine.
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References
Armstrong, A. (2014). Technology in the Classroom It's Not a Matter of 'If,' but 'When' and
'How'. Education Digest, 79(5), 39-46.
Czerniewicz, L., & Brown, C. (2013). The habitus of digital 'strangers' in higher education.
British Journal Of Educational Technology, 44(1), 44-53. doi:10.1111/j.14678535.2012.01281.x
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Chapter 5: Article Review, Zienab Al Jaman
I read the article In-class laptop use and its effects on student learning which is written by
Carrie Fried. In his article, Fried reported that computer has become an important device in
higher education since the number of using computer in university increases constantly.
However in recent times, there are more faculty who prevent using computer in their classroom
as they distract students from learning. Whereas, There are some evidence that computer
programs have a positive effect on students. For example, computer can facilitate faculty and
student interactions in class participation. Also, it helps students to promote active learning
exploratory. The purpose of the present research is to examine student computer use and how
computers influence student learning outcomes in a traditional lecture course. The first results of
the research was that students did not use the computer for just taking note but also for checking
emails, surfing the internet, playing games and doing other activities. The second result was the
using of computer during the lectures impacted negatively the students performance and their
understanding of the lectures. Other result was most students did not pay attention to the lecture
because other students' computer use. Consequently, the results demonstrate that the use of
computers may have some negative outcomes, but students, faculty, and administrators need to
find ways to promote the appropriate use of computers at the same time reducing the negative
impacts of inappropriate use.
The second article I read, Computer-assisted second language vocabulary instruction: A
meta-analysis, which was written by Chiu. The author explained that there is an increasing
attention to integrate computer instruction for language learning and teaching. Especially,
vocabulary which is the foundation step to mastering the language for English language learners.
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He demonstrated some methods to acquisition second language vocabulary from previous studies
such as dictionary use, games, and computer-assisted language learning programs. Most
previous studies tried to investigate the efficiency of the computer in learning vocabulary. There
are many computer based methods, such as flash cards, to learn vocabulary. As a result of the
conflict result in use computers for second language learning vocabulary, Chiu sought to get a
better understanding of the various studies.
The Chiu's study concerned on the effect of computer-mediated instruction in second
language vocabulary with regard to four factors: treatment duration, the educational level of
participants, game-based learning, and the role of teachers. The first finding of the study was
that students who received computer-assisted language learning learned vocabulary better. Also,
the study demonstrated that high school or college students can benefit more from computer
assisted language learning programs than elementary students. The third finding of the study
was that second language vocabulary learning performed better without games than with the help
of the games. Finally, the study showed that learning vocabulary without the assist of the teacher
is better than the aid of the teachers.
In conclusion, students can acquisition second language vocabulary through the
computer-assisted programs efficiently. The study that Chiu did demonstrates the general
effectiveness of second language computer-assisted vocabulary instruction. This study will help
future research of how computer-assisted programs helps second language students to gain
vocabulary better.
Reflection
I found the article was very informative. Many of the ideas that the others presented
agreed with. Some students use their laptops during the classroom badly like playing games,
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looking to different website, and chatting with their friends. Also, using laptops during the class
will prevent them from understanding the lecture. They will not focus to listen to the lecture and
take note at the same time which lead to reduce students performance.
The second article written by Chiu was interesting. However, there was a point that I
would like to argue against. I think that second language students can gain vocabulary quickly
through games. These computer games will provide an interesting environment to learn instead
of the traditional way.
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References
Chiu, Y. H. (2013). Computer‐assisted second language vocabulary instruction: A
meta‐analysis. British Journal of Educational Technology, 44(2), E52-E56.
Fried, C. B. (2008). In-class laptop use and its effects on student learning. Computers
& Education, 50(3), 906-914.