Parent Beliefs about Technology: A Comparison of Homeschool and Formal Education Families

The purpose of this study was to gain information about how technology is used by parents to assist school learning as well as their opinions and beliefs about the role of technology in the learning process. Specifically, using homeschool and educational networks as well as social media for distribution of a digital questionnaire, this study sought to gauge parents’ experience with, as well as responses to, attitudes, and values towards the use of technology in homeschool and classroom education. Sixty-five parents of children who are studying at the elementary grade levels participated in this study. Twenty of these were parents of children enrolled in formal education settings, e.g., public/ private schools, and forty-five were parents of children being homeschooled. Demographic information was used to segment the data into homeschool and formal schooling groups. The study found that although homeschooled children do receive more exposure to technology than formal schooled children, homeschooled children are much less likely to be encouraged to use technology than formal schooled children

An Empirical Assessment of Senior Citizens’ Cybersecurity Awareness, Computer Self-Efficacy, Perceived Risk of Identity Theft, Attitude, and Motivation to Acquire Cybersecurity Skills

Cyber-attacks on Internet users have caused billions of dollars in losses annually. Cybercriminals launch attacks via threat vectors such as unsecured wireless networks and phishing attacks on Internet users who are usually not aware of such attacks. Senior citizens are one of the most vulnerable groups who are prone to cyber-attacks, and this is largely due to their limited cybersecurity awareness and skills. Within the last decade, there has been a significant increase in Internet usage among senior citizens. It was documented that senior citizens had the greatest rate of increase in Internet usage over all the other age groups during the past decade. However, whenever senior citizens use the Internet, they are being targeted and exploited particularly for financial crimes, with estimation that one in five becoming a victim of financial fraud, costing more than $2.6 billion per year. Increasing the cybersecurity awareness and skills levels of Internet users have been recommended to mitigate the effects of cyber-attacks. However, it is unclear what motivates Internet users, particularly senior citizens, to acquire cybersecurity skills so that they can identify as well as mitigate the effects of the cyber-attacks. It is also not known how effective cybersecurity awareness training are on the cybersecurity skill level of senior citizens. Therefore, the main goal of this quantitative study was to empirically investigate the factors that contributed to senior citizens’ motivation to acquire cybersecurity skills so that they would be able to identify and mitigate cyber-attacks, as well as assess their actual cybersecurity skills level. This was done by assessing a model of contributing factors identified in prior literature (senior citizens’ cybersecurity awareness, computer self-efficacy, perceived risk of identity theft, & older adults’ computer technology attitude) on the motivation of senior citizens to acquire cybersecurity skills. This study utilized a Web-based survey to measure the contributing factors and a hands-on scenarios-based iPad app called MyCyberSkills™ that was developed and empirically validated in prior research to measure the cybersecurity skills level of the senior citizens. All study measures were done before and after cybersecurity awareness training (pre- & post-test) to uncover if there were any differences on the assessed models and scores due to such treatment. The study included a sample of 254 senior citizens with a mean age of about 70 years. Path analyses using Smart PLS 3.0 were done to assess the pre- and post-test models to determine the contributions of each contributing factor to senior citizens’ motivation to acquire cybersecurity skills. Additionally, analysis of variance (ANOVA) and analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) using SPSS were done to determine significant mean difference between the pre-and post-test levels of the senior citizens’ cybersecurity skill level. The path analysis results indicate that while all paths on both models were significant, many of the paths had very low path coefficients, which in turn, indicated weak relationships among the assessed paths. However, although the path coefficients were lower than expected, the findings suggest that both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, along with antecedents such as senior citizens’ cybersecurity awareness, computer self-efficacy, perceived risk of identity theft, and older adults’ computer technology attitude significantly impact the cybersecurity skill levels of senior citizens. The analysis of variance results indicated that there was a significant increase in the mean cybersecurity skills scores from 59.67% to 64.51% (N=254) as a result of the cybersecurity awareness training. Hence, the cybersecurity awareness training was effective in increasing the cybersecurity skill level of the senior citizens, and empowered them with small but significant improvement in the requisite skills to take mitigating actions against cyberattacks. The analysis of covariance results indicated that, except for years using computers, all the other demographic indicators were not significant. Contributions from this study add to the body of knowledge by providing empirical results on the factors that motivate senior citizens to acquire cybersecurity skills, and thus, may help in reducing some of the billions of dollars in losses accrued to them because of cyber-attacks. Senior citizens will also benefit in that they will be better able to identify and mitigate the effects of cyber-attacks should they attend cybersecurity awareness trainings. Additionally, the recommendations from this study can be useful to law enforcement and other agencies that work with senior citizens in reducing the number of cases relating to cybersecurity issues amongst senior citizens, and thus, free up resources to fight other sources of cybercrime for law enforcement agencies

The use of UTAUT and Post Acceptance models to investigate the attitude towards a telepresence robot in an educational setting

(1) Background: In the last decade, various investigations into the field of robotics have created several opportunities for further innovation to be possible in student education. However, despite scientific evidence, there is still strong scepticism surrounding the use of robots in some social fields, such as personal care and education; (2) Methods: In this research, we present a new tool named: HANCON model that was developed merging and extending the constructs of two solid and proven models: the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) model to examine the factors that may influence the decision to use a telepresence robot as an instrument in educational practice, and the Post Acceptance Model to evaluate acceptability after the actual use of a telepresence robot. The new tool is implemented and used to study the acceptance of a Double telepresence robot by 112 pre-service teachers in an educational setting; (3) Results: The analysis of the experimental results predicts and demonstrate a positive attitude towards the use of telepresence robot in a school setting and confirm the applicability of the model in an educational context; (4) Conclusions: The constructs of the HANCON model could predict and explain the acceptance of social telepresence robots in social contexts

Health Profession Student’s Readiness Towards Online Learning as a Component of Blended Learning

Objectives: The objectives of this study were to identify the entry-level health profession students’ perception and readiness to adopt online learning as a component of blended learning (BL). Methods: A cross sectional survey using a structured questionnaire was administered using Google forms. Entry level Health professionals’ education (HPE) graduate students of a higher education institute in India completed the survey (N= 628). The questionnaire was developed from the literature and content validated by experts. Ethics clearance was obtained from the Institutional ethics committee. Results: Out of 628 responses, 603 fully completed questionnaires were included for analysis. Of the participants, 98 % owned a smartphone, whereas 67% possessed either a laptop or a stationary computer. 60 % of the respondents reported at least one hour of internet access per day for learning purposes. Most of the participants were comfortable in accessing online learning materials and interacting with peers. The majority of the participants (77.4%) were willing to spend 10 to 20 hours per week on online learning. Conclusion: Entry Level HPE graduate students were ready to adopt online learning as a component of BL. Providing necessary infrastructure and creating online learning materials needs to be considered

Influence of affective, cognitive and behavioral intention on customer attitude towards coffee shops in Norway: Comparative study of local and international branded coffee shop

Masteroppgave International Business and Marketing - Nord universitet 201

Social media for Indonesian and Philippines students

Background: The digital era has changed the behavior of students who are very responsive to technology, especially social media. However, social media has a different role and impact on their life. Purpose: This study aims to find out the interest of Indonesian and Philippines students in using social media, to find out their activities and their opinions about their social media usage. Method: This study used qualitative descriptive with purposive sampling resulting in eight people as informants spread across Indonesia and the Philippines. Results: This study found that almost all students use and have social media accounts. They use it to access education, and entertainment and to increase their local, national, and international knowledge, especially among those who participate in the Merdeka Learning program, while Philippines students participate in the international lecture program. With the existence of social media, they rarely watch television, radio, and newspaper, although there are some Indonesian informants who still like to read newspapers, there are differences in the interest in using social media by Indonesian and Philippines students. Indonesian students use social media such as Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Telegram, Meanwhile, Philippines students use Facebook more when interacting with their campus friends. The students see social media changed the pattern of their daily life, for example, the lack of direct social interaction and the increase of cybercrime, while the positive impact of social media is the ability to do storytelling on social media, making it easier to communicate. Conclusion: Philippines students use Facebook more than popular social media such as Instagram and Tiktok, in contrast to Indonesian students who primarily use Instagram and Tiktok. Implication: That both Filipino and Indonesian students utilize social media, but there are differences in their preferences and usage pattern

Information Technology (IT) Identity: A Conceptualization, Proposed Measures, and Research Agenda

With increasing embeddedness of information technologies (IT) in organizational processes, and services, individuals\u27 long-term IT use has become instrumental to business success. At the same time, IS research has illustrated that under-utilization by end-users often prevents organizations from realizing expected benefits from their technology investments. Because individual use is the critical link between technology investments and enhanced organizational performance through IT, in recent years, information systems researchers have begun to focus attention on the post-adoption phases of technology assimilation. The overarching goal of this relatively new research stream is to understand factors that influence individuals\u27 attempts to use IT to their fullest potential in the work setting. To advance research on post-adoption IT use, this three essay dissertation develops, operationalizes, and tests the new concept of information technology (IT) identity--defined as, the set of meanings an individual attaches to the self in relation to IT--as a product of individuals\u27 personal histories of interacting with IT, as well as a force that shapes their thinking and guides their IT use behaviors. The first essay builds the core concept through exploring whether young people\u27s individual self-concepts are tied to their interactions with mobile phones. The second essay draws on a rich repertoire of literature to formally theorize the domain and dimensions of IT identity, as well as its nomological net. By examining the processes by which IT identity is constructed and maintained, this essay offers IS researchers a new theoretical lens for examining individuals\u27 long-term IT use. The third essay develops an operational definition of IT identity and empirically tests the conditions under which the construct is a more or less salient predictor of individuals\u27 post-usage intentions and continued IT use than existing IS constructs. The results presented help delimit a role for IT identity in bridging the gap between current models of use and models that explain long term and richer IT use behaviors. Extending understanding of why and how individuals use IT in the long term may help provide a basis for designing managerial interventions that promote organizational assimilation of IT. Thus, by proposing and operationalizing IT identity as a core construct in explaining individual IT use, this research has the potential to advance theory and contribute to practice

Promoting Ecotourism to Millennials Through Social Media

This paper explores how coastal ecotourism marketers can utilize social media to effectively market to millennials. Coastal Tourism is one of four types of ecotourism identified by Honey and Krantz (2007) in their study Global Trends in Coastal Tourism sponsored by the World Wildlife Fund. An online survey of university students from the millennial generation was utilized. Findings indicate that millennials are interested in ecotourism and gather information about it from friends and social media. They check their accounts several times a day and usually from their smartphones. They would choose an ecotourism destination if money were not an issue. They believe it is a good cause and plan to visit an ecotourism destination within the next year. Millennials who are involved in ecotourism decisions and use social media to gather information also intend to visit an ecotourism destination. There is a need to build the literature base as few studies about social media and ecotourism exist. This study is exploratory but does provide a foundation for further research. Coastal ecotourism marketers should utilize a multi-platform approach; put out positive reviews via social media; consider budget-friendly options; and focus on the natural environment and animal conservation efforts. This study extends the literature by bringing together social media marketing, millennials, and ecotourism