Asynchronous conferencing and learners' motivation in a blended learning context

This study investigated the perceptions of 48 students in their first year in a UAE university as they pursued a blended learning course during the 2004 autumn semester. All of the students engaged in asynchronous conferencing to extend classroom activities using collaborative group discussions on the Blackboard Learning Management System. This study aimed to explore students' perceptions of online interaction and its impact on their motivation in relation to peer-to-peer interaction, instructor-to-peer interaction, sociocultural factors and other enabling and disabling motivational factors. The adopted research method was a case-study for which three sets of data were gathered via questionnaire, focus group interview and asynchronous transcripts. All three sets of data produced evidence to suggest a positive impact of peer-to-peer and instructor-to-student interaction on learners' motivation. From the findings, peers' active participation and contribution in asynchronous conferencing emerged as some of the important motivational factors. Participants' freedom to experiment with a new role that allowed them to be in control of their own learning was particularly noted. They felt that their participation in asynchronous conferencing could result in an improved performance and better grades in the final exams. Nonetheless, time pressure emerged as a constraining factor for the students

The effect of using mobile devices on students\u27 performance in writing

© 2016 by IGI Global. All rights reserved. The number of projects exploring the potential of mobile device-facilitated learning is steadily growing in higher education, prompted, in part, by the use of mobile technology in the work place. The use of mobile devices has expanded from short-term trials on a small scale to large-scale integration in educational settings from primary to higher education. With this increase, the use of textual-based communication has also increased. Hence, the mode of writing faces a new environment from printed text to the digital. However, there remains a lack of analysis that brings together the findings of the impact of using mobile devices on students\u27 performance in academic writing. Consequently, the aim of this chapter is to provide an overview of how mobile devices impact students\u27 performance in writing along with recommendations for possible future pedagogical uses of mobile technologies. The chapter builds on a pilot study conducted in spring 2014 at a university in Dubai, UAE, which explored the effect of using the iPad on learners\u27 writing performance

Behavioral intention to use mobile technology in language teaching: A qualitative analysis of a UAE case study

Copyright © 2020, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited. This study aimed to qualitatively investigate the factors that influence teachers\u27 behavioral intention to use mobile technology (BIU) for language teaching employing the original technology acceptance model (TAM) as a framework. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 28 Arabic and English teachers. The study results revealed that there were several external variables influencing teachers\u27 behavioral intention to use mobile technology. It was also found that participants had mixed levels of perceived ease of use (PEOU), perceived usefulness (PU), and attitude toward use (ATU). Moreover, it was concluded that ATU had a direct impact on BIU and PU was the responsible factor for participants who had a mixed ATU

Attitudes and perceptions towards summative e-assessment for free-text responses: A case study of a UAE university

© 2019, IGI Global. The key aim of this study is to provide an overview of students\u27 and instructors\u27 attitudes and perceptions towards the potential benefits and challenges of summative e-assessment for their writing courses at a UAE university. A mixed method of quantitative and qualitative analysis is used. The findings of the study revealed that a majority of student participants reported reasonable satisfaction with the e-assessment tool in terms of screen layout and background, interface design and ease of use and access. However, they indicated their preference to pen and paper exams. Instructor participants identified a number of challenges associated with using summative e-assessment in the writing courses, which would require educational institutions to make changes to promote the success of e-assessment