Educational Technology
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Perception of Secondary School Teachers on the Use of ICT Tools: Case Study of Amman - Jordan
Information and Communication Technology (ICT) usefulness and continuous usage cannot be over emphasized, considering its adoption in the trending educational setting by teachers. The purpose of this research work is to analyze the secondary school teacher’s perception on the usefulness of ICT and its usage. And this study further investigated on the teacher’s perception on ICT use and other factors like, internet as a reliable source, social networks, work and ICT, security of internet, using of internet for building course content, other media etc., based on age, gender and years of experience of the participants. Questionnaires and interview questions were used for data collection from participants. The 40 chosen participants were all grouped and analyses based age, gender and years of experience. Descriptive analysis was done on the data gathered based on, t-test, ANOVA, frequencies, standard deviations and percentages. Analysis of the variables was done in other to detect the significant differences for the demographic features of participants. The results of this study showed that the perception of secondary school teachers on the usefulness of ICT tools and its usage is relatively very high and there were strong relationships on the teacher’s responses on their perception according to age, gender and years of experience. Keywords: Perception, ICT usage, ICT tools, Case Study
An Assessment of Undergraduate Students' Self-Regulated Online Learning Status in Emergency Remote Learning Period: An Example of EMU Faculty of Education
The emergence of the Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic has seriously affected education as it has affected many diverse fields around the world. As a result of this condition, many educational institutions made a quick transition to emergency remote learning, hence lessons were pursued online. As a result of this, students took their courses online in this process. The concept of self-regulated online learning has become an important concept during the emergency remote learning period. The aim of this thesis is to examine the self-regulated online learning status of undergraduate students studying at the Faculty of Education, Eastern Mediterranean University during the emergency remote learning period. The study was conducted as a quantitative research. For data collection tool, the “Self-Regulated Online Learning Questionnaire (SOL-Q)” developed by Jansen, Van Leeuwen, Janssen, Kester, and Kalz (2017), which was later adapted into Turkish by Yavuzalp and Özdemir (2020) was utilized. As a result of this study, it was determined that the general status of students' selfregulated online learning is good. In addition, the findings show that based on the subdimensions the self-regulated online learning status of students in respect to their metacognitive skills and time management is average; while environmental structuring, persistence and help seeking are good. In addition, when the self-regulated online learning status of the students were examined in terms of students with and without previous online learning experience, it was determined that their status was good in both groups. In other words, it was revealed that previous online learning experience did not generally make a difference on students' self-regulated online learning status. When the online learning experiences of the students were compared in terms of sub dimensions, it was seen just in the time management sub-dimension, the students who had previous online learning experience were in good condition, while the students who were inexperienced in online learning could be described as average. Except for the time management sub dimension, there was not detected any noticeable difference between the two groups (with and without online learning experience).
Artificial Intelligence in Personalized Education: An Exploration of Current Intelligent Tutoring Systems and the Design of an Enhanced Interactive Programming Tutor
This thesis aims to explore the influence and advancements of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in education, particularly focusing on Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITS) for programming education. A comprehensive review of existing ITS models will be carried out, examining their implications on academic performance, student engagement, and motivation. Building upon this analysis, the research will conceptualize and design an innovative ITS, prioritizing interactivity, enhanced code evaluation, and accessibility. While empirical testing of this tool will not be within the scope of this study, a theoretical comparison against existing non-programming chatbot tutors and other ITS will be made. This work is expected to provide substantial contributions to educators, policymakers, and researchers interested in the intersection of AI and programming education. Keywords: Artificial Intelligence, Intelligent Tutoring Systems, Programming Education, Interactive Learning, Educational Technology, Student Outcomes
Evaluating the Quality and Student Satisfaction Towards the Online Education Service Provided by Eastern Mediterranean University during COVID-19 Pandemic
Due to the unfortunate circumstances related to the global health crisis of coronavirus, most of the educational institutions heavily relied on the fully online system to continue the scholastic process. Therefore, this study aimed at evaluating the students’ satisfaction regarding the online education quality service provided by Eastern Mediterranean University. Besides, it examined the major factors that influenced the quality of this program. Additionally, the current study investigated students’ problems in using the online learning and suggested solutions on improving the quality of this service. This study adopted the quantitative approach, which involved a questionnaire based on empirical researches majored in the theme of quality and satisfaction. In regards to the data collection, a pre-testing was used to measure the validity and reliability of the questions. The Google form was distributed via Microsoft teams platform and emails. Following, the data were collected from more than two hundred ten male and female students with different ages and educational levels enrolled in several departments. To analyze the data, the study used the descriptive statistics, t. test, and one-way ANOVA. In respect of the findings, the descriptive analysis showed a number of factors that generally influenced the respondents’ satisfaction towards the distance education such as relevance, authentic learning, course structure, and autonomy. Additionally, one-way AONVA results revealed the insignificant impact of gender, faculty, and educational level on students’ satisfaction considering the virtual learning. However, the age played an important role in this theme. Besides, the students reported problems in using the online learning related to computer skills, Internet access, technical devices, and instructors’ feedback. Moreover, Preparing the academic staff with advanced technical skills, enabling free access to the Internet, providing technical devices, and designing a system guideline for the learners were students’ most suggestions on improving the quality of online learning. The study provided implications for curriculum planners, designers, instructors, and institution regarding the online learning. Also, it reconsidered the study's limitation and recommended for future studies.
The Effect of Technology-enhanced Classroom in Middle School Education
ABSTRACT: The education system in North Cyprus is changing continuously in an effort to bring standards up to par with developed nations. The new system designed in 2005 is still not used effectively in most of the schools in North Cyprus. Educational technology, viewed as an inseparable part of education, has also been introduced into the new North Cyprus education system although the implementation of technology has not occurred as planned. The present study’s objective, therefore, is to investigate how technology use affects student progress. For this purpose, in the present study the experiment was conducted in technology-enhanced classroom. Furthermore, the effect of technology-enhanced classroom was examined with respect to gender and the multiple intelligence (MI) profiles of students. A private school in the Famagusta district was chosen and the progress of all 82 seventh grade students (34 female and 48 male) was observed in two subjects, English and Mathematics. In each part of this experimental study, students were divided into treatment and control groups using the cross-implementation experimental method. The study lasted 40 contact hours for each subject. In treatment groups for both Mathematics and English, lessons were held in technologyenhanced classroom whereas in control groups no technology was implemented, in other words, traditional instruction was maintained. The results indicate that in English lessons, technology-enhanced classroom did not make a significant difference whereas it did seem to improve students’ performance in Mathematics lessons, even though the difference was not statistically significant. Also, no statistically significant differences were found with regard to the gender of students. On the other hand, when the MI profiles of students were taken into consideration, the results revealed that the kinesthetic, verbal, and logical intelligences of students were predictors of their success in Mathematics lessons in technology-enhanced classroom. The study also reveals that students had positive opinions on technology use as did English teachers whereas Mathematics teachers felt rather negative towards the implementation of technology. Although the literature indicates that technology use affects classroom instruction positively, some research has yielded similar results to those of the present study, where technology-enhanced classroom was found not to be effective. This suggests that the research should be repeated on a longitudinal basis in order to obtain more reliable results which could contribute to the education system in North Cyprus. Keywords: instructional technology, cross-implementation experimental method, English, Mathematics, opinions on technology use, secondary education, instructional design. …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Perceptions of Students’ on ‘Intelligent Tutoring System
The research in this thesis investigated how instructional technological based solutions, such as intelligent tutoring system, help students to increase their learning motivation and satisfaction after provided quality of information, system, and service. Intelligent tutoring system as an educational supplemental tool, which has been one of the major discussion topics about between educators and education theorist, is designed to assist students for their academic achievement. Although intelligent tutoring system has been successfully used in number of disciplines, it has not been exactly identified what affects students‟ perceptions and consequently what factor leads to success or failure of the program. Therefore, this study implemented information system success model to ensure that all the dimensions are measured scientifically to carry out reliable and validated findings. This model proved that intelligent tutoring system helps to improve the desired learning performances significantly as students receive quality information, service and system. Another noteworthy finding was learning motivation, student satisfaction and task-technology fit were closely related with the learning performances.
Analysis of Student Attitudes towards E-Learning: Case of Computer Science Students’ in Nigeria
The approach of students‟ to new innovations (technologies) signifies the basic aspect that will accustom their stance in respect to e-learning & alertness in utilizing them. Usage of personal computer, network and portable devices (mobile) has captivated the enthusiasm between different students that benefit from it as an educational tool. According to (UNESCO, 2006); the rise in numerous developing countries concerning e-learning where it can conceivably take care of a rising demand for learning and tackle the deterioration of experienced instructors. Moreover, it has been discovered that students‟ attitude and belief towards e-learning is viewed as achievement determinant of imminent e-learning activities. As reported by (El-Gamal & El-Aziz, 2011); by College students in developing countries have differing perspective in connection to e-learning, yet generally their dispositions are sure. Therefore, the research will explicitly analyze the overall attitude of students towards e-learning in Nigeria, in which as a researcher I have highlighted above. In this research, mixed approach is going to be used and as a methodology the researcher will collect and examine data through qualitative and quantitative method; then utilize Statistical Package for the Social Science (SPSS). Moreover, semi-structured interviews with the students on voluntary basis will be used. Conclusion and suggestions will be presented at the end of the research as a contribution to this field. Keywords: e-learning, innovations, computer science students, student attitude.
Perception of Students toward Using Tablet Computers/Smartphones in Education: The Case of Eastern Mediterranean University
The very first time when mobile technologies were attempted to be used in education goes back to mid- 1990s. Like any other ICT device, tablet mobile devices have their own advantages and disadvantages which may either create or eliminate some limitations possibly arising due to environmental factors or teachers’/students’ readiness. In this study, an investigation of findings about the advantages of m-learning is carried out. At first, the recognition to which devices, (tablet computers/smart phones) are for using in curriculum context, then the technologies which can be used as a tool, the advantages of each tool, different ideas regarding their usage for educational purposes and finally, the key factors which have impact on higher education to use mobile devices in m-learning were examined. Students’ perception of using mobile tablet devices for educational purposes and the freedom of entering the classroom with mobile tablets were discussed. In addition, its effect on students’ learning, differences between male and female students were detailed, attitude toward using mobile tablets in their daily life and the effect of owning mobile tablets in education in contrast to other mobile devices were also discussed. Moreover, some recommendations on utilizing what kind of technology and how to use mobile tablets as an educational tool were offered. Keywords: Learning, M-Education, mobile devices, m-Learning in education, Mobile tablets.
Examining Teachers’ Self-efficiency Regarding Web Pedagogical Content Knowledge Framework
Technology has been always important for all industries and due to the dramatically increase and its influence of it in education, in the last decades there has been a crucial need for teachers to learn how to adopt, integrate and apply new technologies in their instruction. Accordingly, this study investigated the level of teachers’ knowledge in Web Pedagogical Content Knowledge (WPCK) framework with respect to some of their personal characteristics such as age-range, gender, years of experience in teaching, division of teaching, and access to the internet outside the school. To fulfill this, a survey implemented in Eastern Mediterranean University (EMU) targeting all teachers in foreign language and English Preparatory School including (FLPS) total number of 167 instructors. A questionnaire called Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge-Web (TPCK-W) developed by Lee and Tsai (2010) has been applied by this study as a survey instrument. As a result of measuring coefficient, mean, standard deviation, and probability value (P-value), this study found high level of knowledge in WPCK framework as well as notable positive attitude toward the Web-based instruction. Furthermore, some significant correlations have been found in some different factors of Web-general (WG), Web-communicative (WC), Web pedagogical content knowledge (WPCK). Keywords: TPCK-W, Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge-Web
The Attitudes of Computer Science Students and Instructors on Academic Social Network (ASN) Site: Case of University of Sulaimani
Nowadays, Internet, specifically Social Network Sites (SNS) have a great influence on the education system and academic life in universities. The main purpose of this study was to find out and discover instructors’ and students' attitudes towards the use of both SNS and Academic Social Network (ASN) site in their academic life in university of Sulaimani. In addition, UoS_ASN site was proposed and developed as an ASN site. The development of UoS_ASN site was formulated by the design-based research approach. Later, it was tested and used by students and instructors in the same university then students’ and instructors' attitudes and opinions were examined. The core purpose of UoS_ASN site was to assemble instructors and students online which it gave opportunity to them to communicate and collaborate with each other, disseminate tutorials, research and academic papers as well as help them to express their ideas and opinions. In this research, both qualitative and quantitative research methods were administered. The semi-structure interview was used to collect qualitative data with the instructors and questionnaire tools were used to collect quantitative data with the students. The participants in this research consisted of 105 students and 11 instructors. The result of the research demonstrated that instructors and students mostly have a positive attitude toward the use of SNSs and UoS_ASN. Keywords: Social Network Sites, Academic Social Network, ICT, E-learning
Palestine Technical University Students’ Perceptions on Educational Use of ICT Tools
Technology is very important for todays‟ education. The main purpose of this study is to explore the students‟ perception of Palestine Technical University toward educational use of ICT tools. The selected sample was students for Palestine Technical University, Palestine. Quantitative method was applied on PTU students and questionnaire collected to conduct survey of 137 participants. The study data was analyzed by quantitative method, questionnaire published and the sample collected randomly from all PTU faculties. The data were analyzed using frequencies; Anova test using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences. Finding showed that there is positive attitude toward using ICT tools; however the result showed that there are no significant differences according to academic year and gender while there are significant differences with regard to CGPA, faculties, having computer at home, having internet at home, using computer in classrooms per week. Keywords: ICT tools, perceptions, technology, learning system.
An Investigation of Senior Secondary School Teachers Utilization of ICT: An Example of Anambra State, Nigeria
This study evaluates how secondary school teachers in Anambra State, Nigeria utilize Information and Communication Technology (ICT based on their gender, age, teacher’s grade level, ICT general knowledge, and their usage of ICT. Due to the nature of this study, the study was carried out using quantitative research and survey method while ICT Utilization (ICTU) scale was data collection tool in this study. On the other hand, this research consists of two hundred and five (205) participants of actively employed teachers during the 2019–2020 academic session in both private and public secondary schools. Data analysis was conducted using frequency (f), percentage (%), mean (X̅) and descriptive data analysis techniques while T-test and One-Way ANOVA was used result validation. The results demonstrated a strong sign that a greater number of the teachers demonstrated reasonable ICT utilization skills in terms of general knowledge and usage. On the hand, no major distinction could be found between ICT utilization and age, gender and grade level orientation. The results also showed that there is great competence in the skills of teachers to make use of ICT effectively, at least on a technical or basic level. There remains a considerable gap between acquiring these skills and using them in the educational setting. Beside this, there is some acknowledgement and support of the benefits connected with usage of ICT, and there are some secondary school teachers who identify the significance of ICT in developing more productive techniques in the classroom.
Design and Implementation of an Automated Class Attendance System for Educational Purposes
This research was conducted in order to easily get the attendance of the students at the Eastern Mediterranean University (EMU) in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. The research technique used in the project is Design Base Implementation Research (DBIR) and it is a combination of hardware and software system. The main purpose of this research is to reduce the time taken by the existing student attendance system on a paper or via calling the name of the students and to increase the efficiency of the attendance system. Thus, it aims that the time spent by the lecturer for the attendance taking to be effectively acquired in teaching and the taking attendance to be more accurate. The developed system uses a microprocessor called Raspberry Pi. For the project, RC 522, which is a radio frequency identification (RFID) reader, and liquid crystal display (LCD) used. In addition, the application code for the Raspberry Pi is written with Python 2.7 programming language. This project contains five different phases. The first one is that the student read his/her card to the system. The second operation is the person's information which is processed by the system and the message is displayed on the LCD screen either as an error message or success message. The third operation is the transfer between Raspberry Pi and the server. The fourth operation is the server process where the database is available. With the information read from the card, attendance is also recorded to the Relational database management system (RDBMS) if it meets the requirements. Finally, the fifth process is web based management application that is available to student, teacher and administrators. The web-based application is developed using the HTML, PHP and JavaScript programming languages. This project offers an automated attendance system, which is faster and reliable, alternative to the current traditional methods of taking attendance at EMU.
Perceptions of Students and Instructors about the Use of Moodle/Office365 Portal in Educational Activities: A Case Study at EMU
In this study, the perceptions of students and faculty members regarding the use of Moodle / Office365 system in educational activities were examined. Perceptions have been examined from three different perspectives: These are the effect, usefulness and ease of use of the technology used on students' motivation in learning activities. Students enrolled in ITEC115 - ITEC190 courses using the Moodle / Office365 system and the instructor of the course participated in the study in the spring semester of 2019- 2020. This study was conducted within the framework of using qualitative and quantitative research methods together which is mix method. The data was collected through a Microsoft Forms 365 link placed on the Moodle pages of the respective lessons. The research group consists of 106 students enrolled in ITEC115 and ITEC190 courses from the Faculty of Education and other faculties, and the lecturers of the course attended the meeting. As a result of this study, it was understood that the participants believed that the Moodle / Office365 system was a useful and easy to use technology. It has been observed that students and faculty members find it useful to use this new system in learning environments. In addition, it is thought that the use of this new system by students and faculty has a positive effect on students' motivation in learning activities.
Students and Instructors Perception on the Use of Moodle-LMS in the Department of Computer Science in Veritas University
Teaching and learning has become a significant factor in today’s world, where numerous nations are putting great amount of monetary resource in education in view that education is essential for any nation to develop. The new trend of developing countries are to invest into modern innovations for educational purposes with function to make learning more adaptable, progressively viable and effective. Lots of Nigerian universities still lack the effort to arrange a good structure online learning course that support student learning ability also having access to learning materials from anywhere. Learning is not a popular teaching approach in Nigeria, but most Universities in Nigeria prefer off - campuses for their distant student who enrols in their educational programs. Many universities in Nigerian still practice full-time traditional approach of teaching - school campus. This makes e-learning unpopular in Nigerian Universities. This study used both quantitative and qualitative approaches to analyse students and instructors` perception towards use of Moodle with sample size of 107 participants were used to collect data from the department of computer science at Veritas University. However, the study provides positive and fresh perceptions towards both theoretical and real-life challenges of LMS and the results show that the attitude and perceptual experience of students and instructors within the department of computer science at Veritas University were positively significant and this is due to the fact that new methods are incorporate modern applications with learning activity, this brings more and new approach to school curriculum. Keywords: E-learning, Moodle, Higher education, Learning Management System, Nigeria.
Students’ Perceptions towards the Effective Use of Web-Based Learning Platform (WBLP) on their Learning Outcomes
Nowadays, computers are the potential deliverers of the educational system, since they can be used for personalizing learning, to design learning according to the learners’ knowledge and needs. Educators’ attention has overtime been attracted by the development of the internet and internet-based computerized learning (i.e e-learning). Academic studies in this area have portrayed that the process of obtaining web technology for the purpose of learning and teaching is quickly becoming an important tool in these fields. In accordance with the latest requirements, many institutions and individuals prefer to provide education/training via the Internet and that has sparked a remarkable rate of increase in web-based education institutions. And therefore, there has been a rise in the usage of personal/informal as well as institutional/formal web-based learning platforms. Therefore, the web, with its wide range of functions, has become such a highly invaluable source and the tool to acquire learning, research development that in all honesty without its learning process. The technological implications and wide use of learning applications of the web that includes a wide array of functions and many unique components are now currently utilized in the development and evaluation of effective web-based learning applications in order to facilitate teaching contents through interactive exercises and multimedia materials. This research is to analyze the perceptions of Eastern Mediterranean University (EMU) students, who are registered to a course which is given by the School of Computing and Technology through a web-based learning platform Keywords: web-based learning, e-learning applications, multimedia technologies, teaching tool, the educational system
Attitudes of ELT Students towards the Usefulness of Mobile-Assisted Language Learning (MALL) for Learning English
This study explored the attitudes of ELT students towards the integration and implementation of Mobile-Assisted Language Learning (MALL) devices and their applications in and out of the EFL classroom. The aim of this study was to explore the usefulness of mobile devices and applications as supplementary learning materials and also it explored the attitudes of participants towards current limitations in mobile learning and the strategies that should be adopted in order to remove limitations. The participants in this study were B.A students of ELT department at Eastern Mediterranean University. The perceptions of participants were collected through filling out questionnaires and conducting interviews. The findings of the study revealed that ELT students perceived the integration of mobile devices in the ELT context as positive. Participants generally agreed that MALL devices and applications provide learners with ubiquitous learning opportunities. They also assist them in keeping in touch with their peers and instructors. The data obtained in this study showed that a great number of students own and use mobile devices for language learning purposes. Furthermore, some participants reported that there were few limitations such as insufficient provision of wireless Internet connection at the Department and that they had insufficient digital literacy. Several strategies and solutions were also proposed by some participants in this study in order to have a better integration and implementation of mobile devices in EFL context. Keywords: Mobile Assisted Language Learning (MALL), ubiquitous learning, digital literacy
ELT Students’ and Instructors’ Perceptions, Practices and Needs about the Use of Technology in ELT
This study aimed to investigate into the English Language Teaching (ELT) students’ and instructors’ perceptions, practices and needs about the use of technology in ELT, at the Department of Foreign Language Education (FLE) Eastern Mediterranean University (EMU). To this aim, the ELT students’ and instructors’ perceptions, practices and needs were identified. The current study was designed as a case study which applied the qualitative and quantitative research methods (mixed methods). The participants of the research were 30 third and fourth year undergraduate students, as well as 15 M.A students, 15 Ph.D. students and 6 instructors in the Department of Foreign Language Education of Eastern Mediterranean University. The data was collected through student and instructor questionnaires together with semi-structured interviews. The results of the study showed that the ELT students’ and instructors’ perceptions, practices and needs are parallel to each other, and a variety of similarities were acknowledged from the study. According to the results of the study, the students and instructors have positive perceptions of technology use in ELT. Moreover, the students believe that technology is useful for language learning and language teaching; it improves students’ vocabulary knowledge, motivates students and extends the educational setting to outside the classroom. Likewise, the instructors also believe that technology extends the educational setting beyond the classroom; it attracts students’ attention, motivates students, and it is useful for language learning and teaching. Overall, the instructors and the students have parallel positive perceptions, practices and challenges, but various needs regarding the integration of technology in ELT. This can be associated with the fact that the participating instructors are the teachers of the participating students sharing the same experience when technology is used in the classes. Keywords: Technology in ELT, Perceptions, Practices, Needs, Pre-service English Teachers, ELT Instructors.
Prospective Teachers’ Attitudes towards Computers in the Pre-service Teacher Education Programs at Eastern Mediterranean University
ABSTRACT: The aim of this study is to investigate the attitudes pre-service teachers towards computers. The participants of the study were 394 prospective first and fourth year teachers from the teacher education programs in English Language Teaching, Turkish Language Teaching, Psychological Counseling and Guidance, Pre-School Teacher Education, Elementary School Teacher Education, and Secondary School Teacher Education under the Faculty of Education at Eastern Mediterranean University, Famagusta, Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC). To achieve this aim, quantitative data were collected from these participants. A quantitative research method was used to collect the data. The questionnaire given to the teacher candidates was in the students‘ mother tongue, Turkish, and consisted of two sections with a total of 45 items; the first section asked the participants their gender, program of study, year of study, computer ownership, and year(s) of ownership. The second section included 40 items concerning attitudes towards computers. The participants completed the questionnaire, which asked them to fill in an optic answer sheet toward the written statements. They were asked to do so, by stating whether they strongly agreed, agreed, disagreed, or strongly disagreed. The data were analyzed through the PASW program. Analysis of the data included differences between how pre-service teachers felt towards computers, and how they felt towards computers according to gender, program of study, year in program, computer ownership, and year(s) of ownership. The findings of the study revealed that pre-service teachers from the mentioned programs hold an above average positive attitude towards computers. The findings also reveal that gender, years of study, and years of computer ownership do not prove to be significant in the process of defining an individual‘s attitude towards computers. However, the findings do reveal that a significant different exists between the attitudes of pre-service teachers towards computers and their ownership of a computer. Furthermore, the findings indicate that a significant difference existed among the programs of Turkish Language Teaching, and English Language Teaching and Pre-School Teacher Education with respect to attitudes of students towards computers. A significant difference in the attitudes of students also exists between the programs of Pre-School Teacher Education and Psychological Counseling and Guidance. Finally, the implications of these findings and suggestions for further research are given. Keywords: Pre-service teachers, attitudes towards computers. ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Instructors’ Opinions about New Learning Management System
Learning management system (LMS) is highly discussable subject in educational field. Such systems need to always be updated and upgraded with new features, tools and design to keep up with technology development from day to day. A standard framework for developing LMS was provided with focusing on the design and interface. This research focused in implementing new LMS and implements it in new way by using up to date technologies to achieve user friendly and ease to use. In this research EMU was taken as a case study to get opinions on new LMS of students and instructors and compares it to an existing one in Eastern Mediterranean University. Data is collected by using Interview questions with 10 instructors from School of Computing and Technology. User friendly interface and ease to use design can empower the LMS. Keywords: learning management system, LMS, interface design, LMS Development Framework, LMS comparison.
Satisfaction Level of Teacher Candidates in Online Learning: Case Study of Eastern Mediterranean University
In recent years, online learning environment has become popular since it provides flexibility in terms of time and place. The aim of the current study is to assess the level of satisfaction of teacher candidates. This study is formed as a “case study” by employing both qualitative and quantitative data collection methods to collect data from the respondents. Teacher candidates who are studying 2013-2014 Summer Semester Pedagogical formation certificate programs were chosen as a sample for the current study and sample size was determined as 291 respondents at EMU. The quantitative data were collected by appointing the “E-Learning Student Satisfaction Questionnaire” which proposed by Kantoglu et al., (2013). Furthermore, qualitative data was gathered by employing a semi-structured interview form. Current study has revealed that level of of satisfaction of teacher candidates were high for online learning environment. Moreover, results indicated that level of satisfaction of female teacher candidates were higher than the level of satisfaction of male teacher candidates in terms of quality of support services. Results also expressed that students in 29-36 age interval were having higher satisfaction level on online learning when compared with teacher candidates in 23-28 age interval in terms of the material usefulness and actuality of materials. Keywords: Student Satisfaction, Online Learning Environment, Online Learning Environment Student Satisfaction
Instructors’ Perceived Knowledge of Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) at the Faculty of Education
The use of technology in instruction has brought about different perceptions. The need to know how teachers integrate technology in instruction has brought along side different views. Therefore, this study mainly seeks to understand these views on instructors’ perceived knowledge of technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) as it examines how their views changes according to gender, age, period of service, ranking, employment status, department, and the state of in-service training oriented towards the use of technology. In order to achieve the above aim, the researcher statistically examined Eastern Mediterranean University (EMU) Faculty of Education instructors’ perceived knowledge of TPACK. In this thesis, a TPACK survey instrument was administered to 53 instructors, a questionnaire was used to ascertain their perception levels across the seven TPACK dimensions. Mean, standard deviation, percentage, frequency and non-parametric tests (Mann Whitney U and Kruskal-Wallis test) were used for data analysis. The study reveals that instructors’ perceptions about TPACK were significantly high across all knowledge dimensions and there were statistical significant differences on how instructors viewed TPACK according to the above listed variables. These differences took place in Technological Knowledge (TK) and Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) according to gender, Technological Knowledge (TK) according to age, Technological Knowledge (TK) according to period of service, Technological Knowledge (TK), and Technological Pedagogical Knowledge (PCK) according to employment status, Technological Knowledge (TK), Technological Pedagogical Knowledge (TPK) , and Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) according to department and Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) according to in-service training. There was no change according to ranking. Keywords: TPACK, Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge, Perceived Knowledge of TPACK
Evaluation of Students’ Attitude Towards ICT for Learning Purpose: Case Study of EMU IT Students
ICT use and usefulness is largely adopted now as a trend globally and in institutions, especially for administrative, managerial and learning purposes. The main aim of this research work is to evaluate the attitude of EMU IT students towards ICT for learning purposes. This research work also focuses on deriving the significant differences and finding out the level of positivity or negativity of students’ attitudes towards the ICT tools for learning purposes. The significant differences of this investigation were based on the students’ age, class level and gender to determine the differences in attitudinal display of students regarding ICT adoption. Data for this research was gathered from 300 participants from IT department of EMU, through the use of questionnaire and interview questions. Responses of the respondents were analyzed adopting the SPSS instrument in other to derive the t-test, frequency, percentage, and ANOVA values. The findings of this research showed that majority of EMU IT students possessed generally high attitudinal acceptability level towards ICT for learning purposes. Results also showed that students are highly and positively motivated and also have high receptive attitude towards the usage of ICT and its importance to their entire and general academic purposes. The study further show that the significant difference based on age, gender and class of students. This obtained results showed that no major significant difference between male and female display of attitudes towards ICT for learning purpose, because it was clearly found that male and female EMU IT students had different views on few cases relating to ICT importance to learning, but majority of the total responses obtained from both male and female EMU IT students proved that there is no significance difference on attitude towards ICT in learning. Keywords: Instructional Technology, Information Communication Technology, Attitude.
Assessment of Computational Thinking Skills of IT Students: Case Study of EMU-IT
Computational theories and perspectives are important components of modern day skills that are omnipresent and may be used across a variety of industries. Individuals in the digital age are anticipated to have computational thinking skills in different disciplines, but there is still no evidence as to what extent they have these skills and if they are at a sufficient level. This study focuses on exploring the level of computational thinking skills, and differences according to gender, age and years of study. The study was conducted on Information Technology undergraduate students who were studying in the 2017-2018 academic year spring semester at Eastern Mediterranean University. In this study a mixed method (convergent parallel design) is used to obtain the result in a more consistent manner. The data was collected from 197 participants by means of a questionnaire “Computational Thinking Skills Scale” in addition to conducting semi-interviews with 23 students to explore the attitudes and skills that they used to solve problem. The findings of the study indicate that EMU undergraduate IT students at sufficient level of computational thinking skills, however, student’s skills of algorithmic thinking and problem solving were a slightly low level of compared with creativity, cooperativity and critical skills which are the construct of computational thinking skills. In addition, the findings showed that, there were no significant differences in their computational thinking skills based on gender and age variables. However, significant differences exist in years of study variable. This is possibly due to the nature of course being studied in the school. So a future study could explore the emergence of computational thinking process in a non-problem based learning environment such as lecture-based courses where computational thinking activities are occasionally provided to the students after their lectures have been completed during the course period. Keywords: computational thinking skills, assessment methodologies, students’ attitudes.