Elsevier

Computers & Education

Volume 59, Issue 2, September 2012, Pages 687-700
Computers & Education

Courseware development model (CDM): The effects of CDM on primary school pre-service teachers' achievements and attitudes

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2012.03.015Get rights and content

Abstract

The main purpose of this study is to design a “Courseware Development Model” (CDM) and investigate its effects on pre-service teachers' academic achievements in the field of geography and attitudes toward computer-based education (ATCBE). The CDM consisted of three components: content (C), learning theory, namely, meaningful learning (ML), and multimedia (M). The CDM is designed to show the synthesis of the C and M components under ML. In this study, an experimental design including pre-test and post-test groups is used to define the efficiency of the CDM. There are 31 pre-service teachers in the control group, 28 pre-service teachers in the meaningful learning theory group-ML, and 30 pre-service teachers in GTC group that uses geography teaching courseware-GTC based on the CDM. The results of the analysis indicate that the courseware is quite effective, improving pre-service teachers' academic achievements as well as their ATCBE scores. The results also suggest that the new model has an appropriate structure for courseware design.

Highlights

► CDM model is a guide for instructors developing courseware to teach better in schools. ► The CDM shows the synthesis of multimedia and lesson content based on learning theory. ► Better learning is possible when multimedia elements are related to real life events. ► It was determined that courseware (GTC) is effective on both academic achievement and attitudes.

Introduction

As is the case in many fields, computers have become a basic technological element used in all levels of education (Dockrell, Fallon, Kelly, & Galvin, 2009; Paraskeva, Bouta, & Papagianni, 2008; Sung, Chang, & Yu, 2011; Teo & Noyes, 2008; Tsai, 2009). Angeli and Valanides, 2005, Angeli and Valanides, 2009, Efendioğlu and Yelken (2010), and Niess (2005) stress that the integration of theoretical and conceptual structure of technology into the teaching-learning process is one of the weaknesses of instructional technology area. Computer-based teaching methods can be used to bring multimedia materials into the classroom (Austin, 2009; Mackey & Ho, 2008). Many different methods can be used to implement computer-based teaching, such as PowerPoint presentations, online discussion environments, web-based software, virtual classroom applications, distance education, and especially coursewares (Janier, Shafie, & Ahmad, 2010). The results of the studies testing the effectiveness of these teaching methods show that computer-based teaching applications have a positive effect on students' learning (Bell & Trundle, 2008; Chang, Sung, & Chen, 2001; Evans & Gibbons, 2007; Hannafin & Foshay, 2008; Harskamp & Suhre, 2006; Kerwin, 2006; Kozielska, 2004; Olkun, Altun, & Smith, 2005; Woo & Reeves, 2007).

For computer-based teaching to be successful, however, the instructional technology must be used in a way that is acceptable to students. Therefore, students' attitudes toward computers are important (Davies & Brember, 2001; Teo, 2006). Their attitudes toward computers reflect students' preferences for computer usage in learning, and are indicators of adaptation to new technologies (Sahin, Kesici, & Akturk, 2009). According to Fullan (2001), participants' attitudes toward innovations in the classroom environment are important for the use of innovations during education. Additionally, Fishbein and Ajzen (1975) note that one's attitude toward an issue significantly affects one's behavior. For this reason, educational change can be implemented more quickly in societies in which educators are open-minded and willing to accept innovations. Students' willingness also has a significant impact on technology integration in the classroom (Ahmed, 2010; Selwyn, 1997). If the interaction between students and technology is not positive, learning levels will be negatively affected (Noyes & Garland, 2005). Consideration of user attitude is an integral part of educational computer use because attitudes influence not only students' initial acceptance of information technology, but also their future behavior regarding computers (Selwyn, 1997). Merely providing access to hardware and software does not guarantee effective integration of information technology into an educational setting without the learners' inclination to use the technology (Selwyn, 1997; Yanpar & Yıldırım, 1999). Students' behaviors such as their inclination are affected by the teacher's professional specifications. It is known that pre-service teachers must have some qualifications and skills related to technology for their professional development. These are important requirements in the 21th century. Moreover, various educational researchers (Chandra & Lloyd, 2008; Davis, Preston, & Sahin, 2009; Efendioğlu & Yanpar Yelken, 2010; Lawless & Pellegrino, 2007; Ottenbreit-Leftwich, Glazewski, Newby, & Ertmer, 2010; Polly, Mims, Shepherd, & Inan, 2010) emphasize that supporting students' learning by using technology in schools is critical. So, pre-service teachers take basic computer courses in teacher training programs in order to develop their technological skills and professions. Although they have technological skills, there is little guidance on how to implement and use them in the classroom properly (Andersson, 2006; Beyerbach, Walsh, & Vannatta, 2001; Ottenbreit-Leftwich et al., 2010; Polly et al., 2010; Schussler, 2007; Wang, 2002). Therefore, their experiences in teacher education programs are crucial for their professional development and for reflecting these experiences on their students to positively affect their attitudes. Students' positive attitudes toward computers can result in student preference toward computer-based methods in their learning environment. Aside from the attitudes, students' academic achievements showing that the students reach the goals of the course are correlated with the learning strategies (Diseth & Kobbeltvedt, 2010). Moreover, according to Preckel, Lipnevich, Schneider, and Roberts (2011), academic achievement is related to cognitive ability. In general, researchers assess academic achievement in three ways: school grades, standardized test scores, and/or teacher ratings (Pinxten, De Fraine, Van Damme, & D'Haenens, 2010).

On the other hand, many courseware applications do not perform well on the attitudes and achievements according to the criteria which are more closely related to educational activities. According to Sung et al. (2011), the handicaps of these coursewares are originating from their instructional presentations, summative evaluations, and the congruence among instructional goals, teaching strategies and assessments. These handicaps may be difficult for instructional designers to overcome. This also requires that instructional designers need more training and advanced knowledge about integrating technology with teaching strategies such as simulations (Chang, Chen, Lin, & Sung, 2008; Sitzmann, 2011; Vogel et al., 2006), problem based learning (Hilbert, Renkl, Schworm, Kessler, & Reiss, 2008; Hsu, Hwang, Chuang, & Chang, 2011), and the multimedia learning (Clark & Mayer, 2008; Harskamp & Suhre, 2006; Munzer, Seufert, & Brunken, 2009). Moreover, some models presenting the specifications that must be taken into consideration during the use of technology in education such as Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPCK), and some theories such as Multimedia Learning and Cognitive Load help designers in carrying technology into the classroom. However, in the literature, any model supporting the ideas above and presenting how courseware should be designed according to these ideas is not designed.

The meticulous design of computer-based educational courseware is therefore of utmost importance. Because, courseware integration into instruction has become a very effective tool for learning and the coursewares are called as instructional or educational software which are widely used in higher education as an integral part of the courses (Tsai, 2010) for enhancing the self-learning, helping learners to think clearly, enriching the training processes and controlling methods of working (Derong, Wu, & Guangming, 1998). When researchers develop courseware, they have to focus on designing courseware content. Moreover, they should select proper learning theory for design and multimedia elements that provide learning in the most effective way. In this context, present paper suggests a new courseware development model that allows developing courseware as a computer tutor for benefiting from individualized instruction by a competent pedagogy (Murray, 1999) and multimedia elements, and shows its effectiveness.

Section snippets

Structure of courseware development model (CDM)

Generally, a course includes a complete series of specific subjects in a discipline. During the teaching process of these subjects, teachers have a great deal of importance. They have to prepare proper learning environments for students in order to achieve the academic goals. In this context teachers use various educational tools that enable students to learn the subjects more effectively. Especially in computer based learning, one of the educational tools is courseware as an educational

The problem of study

In this study a courseware development model which may be developed by taking into consideration the scientific outputs of various approaches and theories explaining the basic characteristics of the integration and use of the technology into the classrooms is proposed. A courseware based on proposed model is developed for geography course. Consequently, the focus of the study is what the characteristics of a CDM should be, how a courseware based on CDM may be designed, and what the effects of

Research approach and participants

In this study, an experimental method including pre-test and post-test group was used. The study was conducted in the Faculty of Education Primary School Teaching department at a university in southern Turkey. The research was carried out during “Geography and Geopolitics of Turkey” course. The population of the study included 215 undergraduate pre-service teachers attending the course. The sample of this study comprised of 89 pre-service teachers randomly selected from the population. The

Findings of ANOVA and ANCOVA for GGTAAT scores of GTC, ML and control groups

ANOVA and ANCOVA were performed to determine whether the differences between the average scores of GGTAAT were significant. The results are shown in Table 4.

As shown in Table 4, ANOVA findings present significant differences between the pre-GGTAAT scores of ML and control groups (p < .05), control and GTC groups (p < .001). These significant differences were accepted as handicaps for comparing the post- GGTAAT scores of the groups. According to ANCOVA analysis, taking under control of the pre-

Conclusion and discussion

In the present study, GTC application was found to be significantly effective in both geography course academic achievement and attitude toward computer based education in comparison to ML and control groups. Moreover, within the GTC group, the pre-service students' pre- achievements and pre-attitudes were significantly increased by this application.

The result about the effectiveness of GTC on attitude is parallel with the findings of Mitra and Craig (1997) and Ozmen (2008). Learning in

Acknowledgments

The author wishes to thank Assistant Prof. Dr. Hasan Güner Berkant from Kahramanmaraş Sütçü İmam University, Lecturer Çağatay Akyol from Çukurova University, and Asistant Prof. Dr. Emre Kılıç from Houston University for their useful help and support.

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