Influence of personal and institutional factors on attitude of secondary school students toward computer

Abstract

Computers have been used in education for more than four decades and they have now been accepted unconditionally as an integral part of our entire educational system. The computer technology has a deep impact on education and the uses of computer are manifold. The advances in computer technology have caught the attention of many educators and researchers and they have found that it affects learner capabilities in positive way. Many psychological and educational researches have drawn attention to the crucial influence that computer attitude may have on children and adults to utilize opportunities of computer technology. Therefore, it is possible to suggest that to gain maximum benefit of computer technology, institutions should be aware of, explore, and monitor students attitudes toward computer. Mastering computer technology and harnessing it for widespread and comprehensive use among the students is not an easy task. This becomes even more challenging when this technology is progressing and changing rapidly. Students need to have the right kind of attitudes to be able to keep-up todate with the rapid changes that occur in computer technologies. newlineDeveloping positive attitudes among the students is more critical than merely increasing students computer skills because positive attitudes will automatically lead to the learning of computer skills (Divine and Wilson, 1997). Students attitudes toward computers must be clearly identified so that recommendations can be made to the relevant parties, such as, teachers, school administrators, administrators at the educational department level and also curriculum planning groups.The information will allow them to gain insights on best approaches to integrate computer technologies for teaching and learning. Consequently, Nash and Moroz (1997) supported the view that evaluation of computer attitudes is an important technique in response to the trend of computers becoming more centralized in education through integration.