Most industrialised countries have adopted training strategies for pre-service teachers that place experienced teacher guidance centre stage, particularly within the context of regular pre-service field training sessions. In this article, after analysing the data taken from a longitudinal survey on the computer skills and attitudes of students…

With new technologies and cyberspace-literate students, distance education has been in high demand and more schools are getting into online education. As such, understanding the needs of current and prospective learners has become especially important for success in the new millennium. Based on the learners' needs and current technology status,…

This paper describes a pilot study centred on the technology-enhanced self-development of competences in lifelong learning education carried out in the challenging context of the Association of Participants Agora. The pilot study shows that the use of the TENCompetence infrastructure, i.e. in this case the Personal Development Planner tool,…

The increasing importance of technology in today's world challenges teacher educators to create technology-proficient teachers, practitioners who can utilize existing technology, learn to work with emerging technology and adapt as needed when confronted with technological issues. Acknowledging the need for technologically proficient teachers,…

Today's students were born into a world of digital technology. We investigated the impact of computers and the Internet on the learning preferences of students whose schools do not use this technology in class, specifically, (a) the usability they attributed to the technology for tasks requiring the processing of information; and (b) their…

This study investigated the effects of several elements of instruction (objectives, information, practice, examples and review) when they were combined in a systematic manner. College students enrolled in a computer literacy course used one of six different versions of a computer-based lesson delivered on the web to learn about input, processing,…

Technology training usually suffers from a two-pronged problem. First, the demonstration content is so simple that when we use the new technology in our classrooms and something goes wrong (and it will), we abandon it, blaming the technology. Second, no one teaches us how to troubleshoot those inevitable glitches. Hayes offers some practical tips…

Pre-service teachers faced an old problem with new possible solutions by working collaboratively to learn new technologies and changed the way they react to new tools. This approach required students to explore technologies independent of instructors--with peers in small groups. Instructors believe the learning activities implemented in this…

We explain certain learning difficulties in computer science education as resulting from a clash between the students' culture as computer users and the professional computing culture. We propose the concept of fertile zones of cultural encounter as a way of overcoming these learning difficulties. This pedagogical approach aims to bridge the gap…

This study replicated a 1999 survey study of classroom Internet use by social studies teachers (6-12) in Indiana. The 1999 study indicated that although 80% wished to be using it more often, respondents' Internet use was little more than "glorified information gathering." The present study modified the same instrument to survey a random…

Educational technology integration in higher education consumes enormous resources but with little evidence of efficacy, due in large measure to lack of vision and a cohesive strategy. Instructors perceive formidable technical skills in undergraduate students, untapped in an instructional role, but this may be unfounded. This article proposes a…

Introduction: This article reports on the adequacy and specific characteristics of 5th grade students' use of Web literacy skills and strategies after completing a programme in which these skills and strategies were the focus of attention. Method: Data were collected from twenty-one student pairs' Web use during six assignments, and recorded with…

The increased popularity of Google search engine in the daily routine in one's workplace and in the academic information seeking process is undeniable. "Googling" challenges the traditional skills of librarians as information providers and the role of library and information service provision in the digital era. This paper reports on the…

Relations between emotions (affect states) and learning have recently been explored in the context of AutoTutor. AutoTutor is a tutoring system on the Internet that helps learners construct answers to difficult questions by interacting with them in natural language. AutoTutor has an animated conversation agent and a dialog management facility that…

Discusses how microcomputers can effectively aid in the learning of filing and contribute to the overall computer literacy of students. (MOW)