The effects of online social networking on retail consumer dynamics in the attractions industry: The case of ‘E-da’ theme park, Taiwan

Purpose of this study is to examine the trends in retail consumers’ consumption dynamics and patterns of purchase behavior within this new-technology-mediated environment. A behavioral purchase model was developed and tested to understand the ways social networks influence the decision making of individuals planning to visit a theme park. In particular, the proposed model delineates how online social networking (OSN) experience factors affect actual use (AU) of social media for purchasing of theme park services through an assessment of perceived usefulness (PU) and perceived ease of use (PEOU). An electronic survey was conducted with members of a theme park’s brand fan page on the Facebook social media site namely, the E-da World Theme park in the southern Taiwanese city of Kaohsiung. Smart PLS 3, a partial least squares analysis, was employed to examine a series of eleven research hypotheses. The findings revealed a series of statistically significant influences from five exogenous variables on PU and PEOU, as well as the mediating role of PU on the PEOU – AU relationship. The results also provide important practical implications both for academics and practitioners by shedding light on the way social media works to encourage and support online purchasing of amusement services.

Educators\u27 Perceptions of a 21st Century Digital Literacy Framework

The concept of literacy has expanded to include understanding and effective utilization of information, media, and technology. The Children\u27s Internet Protection Act requires school districts to teach proper online use and behavior. The lack of a technology requirement in a rural, public school district in Northeastern Pennsylvania that meets the needs of 21st century learners and the conditions of the Children\u27s Internet Protection Act was the rationale for the development of this project study. The study\u27s conceptual framework stemmed from theories related to new literacies, multimodality, computer education practices, and millennial learners. The research questions examined educators\u27 perceptions of topics and skills to include in a curricular framework that addressed the lack of a comprehensive technology requirement to improve 21st century digital literacy skills for all students. A qualitative case study design was selected and data from 40 open ended questionnaires, one 5-member focus group discussion, and two 6-member focus group discussions were open coded and thematically analyzed. Emergent themes relating to a digital literacy course framework included information access skills and the application of technology. Findings were validated through member checking and triangulated with 62 existing curricular documents. The project for this study consisted of a curricular framework for a 90 day 21st century digital literacy high school course that can be used by any school district to enhance the preparation of students for life after high school. Such use of the findings and culminating project may positively affect social change through a modern definition of literacy thus contributing towards the development of a positive and prepared 21st century citizenry

Evaluating multiple factors that can be used as skill predictors in software proficiency

In this ubiquitous computing society, most students are required to be proficient in computer skills to compete in today’s global job market. These computer skills usually include skills in business productivity applications. Assessing those skills is normally accomplished by hands-on skills exams, which can become onerous and costly. This study explored whether a combination of a computer self-efficacy (CSE) survey, cognitive questions, and skill-based questions could indeed be a valid alternative to a hands-on skills exam. The findings of this study indicate some types of questions may be better predictors of performance on the hands-on skills exam, and some combinations of survey items and questions may be viable alternatives to hands-on skills exams. As a result of this research, schools and companies could adapt these indirect and direct assessments to their situation to perform their own study or assess the skills of their students/employees

Computer anxiety : the development of tools to measure severity and type, and offer appropriate mitigation strategies

PhD ThesisComputer anxiety is a particular anxiety that manifests when the sufferer has to interact with a specific technology. It impacts on the performance and health of those who suffer from it. In spite of, or perhaps because of, the prevalence of computers and technology in the world today, computer anxiety is still presenting in about 25% of the surveyed populations. This work culminates in the presentation of a new instrument, which identifies the type of computer anxiety: operational, sociological or psychological, measures its severity and suggests a range of strategies in order to mitigate the effects of that anxiety, and that this will be the start point in conversations around that support. There are also suggestions for proactive strategies to be adopted by teachers or employers in order to reduce the personal impact, and help sufferers to develop their own mitigation strategies

Between 'technological obduracy' and 'academic resistance': concepts of use of blackboard and the experience of university teachers.

Until recently, Blackboard has been one of the most common forms of learning-management systems (LMSs) in use in Australian universities. However, it has been adopted and used by academics far less than its proponents had anticipated. The literature of academic use of learning-management systems paints a picture, either of a relatively straightforward understanding of adoption of new educational technologies as an informational problem, or alternatively, of problematic academics who ‘resist’ using Blackboard. Academics themselves can understand the technology of Blackboard to be obdurate, time consuming and difficult to use. Drawing on a combination of sensemaking theory, practice theory and the socio-technical theories of social construction of technology and actor network theory, I ask how academics have set about using Blackboard. I clarify how educational technology use in the literature is constructed from diverse perspectives and how users in practice negotiate their way through Blackboard at four levels of encounter: as material infrastructure; as a process of orientation to, and reading of, navigational and interface symbolism; as an individual sensemaking project about representing education; and as an organisational representation and a technical system. Each level contains capacities for disruption and rebuilding of former habits and sense. “Rebuilding” a new interpretation and an effective use of Blackboard by any individual academic is never certain, as at each level different strategies are required, but rebuilding a notion of technologised education by creating ”genres of use” explains some of the differential in approaches to Blackboard use. At a meta level, this process of creating “use” also elucidates theories of action, practice and social change in practice theory and to a lesser extent in social construction of technology and actor network theory, by adding the insights of sensemaking theory to show how academics build their own concepts of use in an LMS, that can appear obdurate and unwieldy to users. The theoretical purpose is to offer an essay in understanding the processes of socio-technical change where change is not necessarily fostered by technological ease or user self-motivation