What Students Know

Jamal Mansour

Introductory Psychology Student Access to, Use of, and Attitudes Towards, Instructional Technology

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Introduction

What is instructional technology?

What is the purpose of the ITRL?

Are students learning to think like psychologists in PSYCO 104/105?

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Rationale

Want to develop instructional materials for large enrollment classes

Need to know What skills students need to complete their degree

• Students who take PSYCO 104/105

What students can and will do

Targeting first year students from a variety of faculties

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Rationale – Enrollment

Fall 2002 – Summer 2003PSYCO 104 = 2513 students

PSYCO 105 = 1164 students

Total enrollment = 3677 students

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Purpose

Need to assess the needs of the students we develop IT for

Will they be capable/comfortable using the instructional medium we choose

Must ensure the content is useful

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Research Question

What kind of access to, use of, and attitudes towards, instructional technology do first year University of Alberta students have?

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Related ResearchStudents must learn critical thinking tools for research and communication

UofA Faculty of Arts (http://www.registrar.ualberta.ca/calendar/Arts/40.1.html#40 )

Principles of a Quality Undergraduate Education

Specifically, for psychology…. Intro Psych instructors want students to be able to think like psychologists

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Related ResearchThink critically, analytically, practically, creatively

Judge the validity and credibility of research

Understand field as dynamic and integrated

Have a base of knowledge about the field

Apply knowledge to everyday life

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Related Research

How can we achieve these goals?Actively engaging students

Research shows we can teach effectively in large enrollment classes

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MethodParticipants

1340 PSYCO 104/105 students participating in mass testing

Term enrollment (Winter 2002) = 1581 students

MaterialsPaper questionnaire

• Included my questions plus additional ones

Two multiple choice questions

One 7-point Likert Scale question

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Method

ProcedureHeard a summary of what they would be doing

Received our questionnaire as part of a package of a number of questionnaires

Received a paper debriefing

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Questionnaire

How comfortable do you feel working with computers?

a) Not at all

b) Slightly

c) Somewhat

d) Comfortable

e) Very

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Questionnaire

Word processing

Email

Using the Web

Games

Searching the library for print resources (e.g., books)

Searching the online library databases

Searching the Web

Reading an essay for English

Writing an essay for English

Reading a Psychology

journal article

Writing a summary of a

Psychology journal article

Writing a Psychology paper

How would you assess your skill level in each of the following:

Participants chose from: None, Poor, Fair, Good, Excellent

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Questionnaire

a) Relevancy of the information

b) Credibility of the source

c) Credentials of the authors

d) Recency of publication

e) Source of the information (i.e., journal article, Web site, newspaper article)

f) Findings supported by other research

g) Findings contradicted by other research

Which of the following would you use to decide if you should use certain information in a Psychology research assignment? (Circle all that apply)

h) Ease of finding information

i) Clarity of information

j) Number of references

k) Legibility

l) Frequency with which the information is cited by other sources

m) Ease of accessing the information

n) Conciseness of the information

o) Availability of the information

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Results – Demographics

Faculty 40% Arts 46% Science 14% Other faculties

Year of Study 59% First 27% Second 8% Third4% Fourth2% Other

Age84% ≤ 20 years

Sex63% Female37% Male

Fluency with English98% considered themselves fluent

Questioned 1340 of 1581 students

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Results – Perceived Proficiency

Collapsed across all demographic categories

Introductory Psychology Students' Perceived Proficiency with Computers

(2002)

Not at all1%

Slightly5%

Somewhat19%

Comfortable47%

Very28%

Introductory Psychology Students' Perceived Proficiency with Computers

(1997)

Not at all5%

Slightly15%

Somewhat28%

Comfortable32% Very

20%

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Results – Perceived Proficiency

Most students rated their skills as good or excellent

Email (93%)

Using Web (85%)

Word processing (85%)

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Results – Perceived Proficiency Word Processing (2002)

85%

15%

Using the Web (2002)

85%

15%

Word Processing (1997)

72%

28%

Using the Web (1997)

51%49%

Email (2002)

93%

7%

Good or Excellent Other

Email (1997)

49%51%

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Results – Perceived Proficiency

Fewer students rated their skill as good or excellent with other important research skills

Searching the library for print resources (47%)

Searching the online library databases (46%)

Searching the Library for print resources

Good or Excellent

47%Other53%

Searching the online Library databases

Other54%

Good or Excellent

46%

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Writing a Summary of a Psychology Journal Article

Good or Excellent

46%Other54%

Writing a Psychology Paper

Good or Excellent

37%

Other63%

Results – Perceived Proficiency

Ratings tended to be lower for writing skills

Writing a summary of a psychology journal article

Writing a psychology paper

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Writing a Summary of a Psychology Journal Article

Good or Excellent

46%Other54%

Writing a Psychology Paper

Good or Excellent

37%

Other63%

Results – Perceived Proficiency

Ratings tended to be lower for writing skills

Writing a summary of a psychology journal article

Writing a psychology paper

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Good or Excellent Other

Results – Perceived Proficiency

Ratings of skill with non-psychology writing were higher than for psychology-related tasks

Writing a Summary of a Psychology Journal Article

46%54%

Writing a Psychology Paper

37%

63%

Writing an Essay for English

60%40%

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Results – Perceived Proficiency

Ratings of skill with non-psychology reading were higher than for psychology-related tasks

Reading an Essay for English

Good or Excellent

74%

Other26%

Reading a Psychology Journal Article

Good or Excellent

58%

Other42%

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Results – Informational Resources

Most likely material/information for determining use

Relevance (86%)

Credibility (80%)

Clarity of information (73%)

Least likelyAuthor credentials (31%)

Frequency with which others cite the work (20%)

Number of references (19%)

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Discussion

Introductory psychology students areComfortable with computers, so Web-based instructional technologies can be explored as a way to support learning

• Likely related to increased availability and use of computers

Comfortable with some of the tools of the field

• English language• Email

• The Web• Word processing

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Discussion

Introductory psychology students areLess comfortable using research and psychology-specific applications requiring skill with the Web

• Online databases• Library searches

Less comfortable• Reading and writing Psychology papers than

English papers

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Discussion

Introductory psychology studentsAre aware of factors affecting the usefulness of information

May not know how to critically appraise these factors

Items from our questionnaire were considered important to critical appraisal by expert researchers

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Conclusions

First year students are Not intimidated by computers

Confident using the Web

Not very confident using library resources

Not skilled with resources and tools specific to psychology

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ImplicationsIntro Psych students have the foundational skills to learn how to use psychology-related resources

Large Enrollment InitiativeWeb Searching module

Critical Appraisal module

Using PsycINFO module

The modules are being evaluated

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AcknowledgementsConnie VarnhagenBrad Arkinson, Jason Daniels, Peggy McFall, Sylvia Peske, Tara Peters, Bonnie Sadler-TakachTom JohnsonFunding provided by the Alberta Learning Learning Enhancement Envelope (LEE) 4 and the Faculty of Science (UofA)

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ReferencesMcGovern, TV. (Ed.). (1993). Handbook for Enhancing Undergraduate Education in

Psychology. Washington: American Psychology Association.

Morris, CG. (1997). Still Giving Psychology Away After All These Years. In RJ. Sternberg. (Ed.), Teaching Introductory Psychology: Survival Tips from the Experts (pp. 91-106). Washington: American Psychology Association.

Sternberg, RJ. (1997). Teaching Students to Think as Psychologists. In RJ. Sternberg (Ed.), Teaching Introductory Psychology: Survival Tips from the Experts (pp. 137-147). Washington: American Psychology Association.

Wade, CE. (1997). Thinking About Psychology. In RJ. Sternberg (Ed.), Teaching Introductory Psychology: Survival Tips from the Experts (pp. 151-162). Publisher: City.

Bernstein, DA. (1997). Reflections on Teaching Introductory Psychology. In RJ. Sternberg (Ed.), Teaching Introductory Psychology: Survival Tips from the Experts (pp. 35-47). Washington: American Psychology Association.

Varnhagen, CK.  (1999, June). Developing and delivering effective instructional technology. Presentation to the Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, Calgary, AB.

Varnhagen, CK. (2002). Making Sense of Psychology on the Web. New York: Worth.