Web 2.0 and Transfer: Trainers' Use of Technology to Support Employees' Learning Transfer on the Job

We steer transfer research in a new direction by examining the use of Web 2.0 technologies for supporting learning transfer resulting from formal training. We report survey results from training professionals (N = 83) on how their organization uses such methods to cue and support workers’ application of learned knowledge and skills on the job. Guided by the technology acceptance model (TAM) theory, we examined predictor variables found to influence technology use based on empirical and theoretical support in the information technology (IT) literature. Results indicate that trainers are influenced by several individual factors (computer experience, computer anxiety, and computer self‐efficacy), as well as their organization's learning climate, to use Web 2.0 tools to support transfer of learning. Trainers also prefer to use social media, networking applications, and visual media to support transfer among learners. We discuss implications for using Web 2.0 technologies in support of learning transfer and provide directions for future workplace learning research.     

Test Anxiety Interventions for Children and Adolescents: A Systematic Review of Treatment Studies from 2000–2010

High‐stakes tests have played an increasingly important role in how student achievement and school effectiveness are measured. Test anxiety has risen with the use of tests in educational decision making. Students with high test anxiety perform poorly on tests when compared to students with low test anxiety. School psychologists can play an important role as experts both in tests and measurement and mental health in providing consultation and treatment for students with test anxiety. This article describes the results of a systematic literature review of the last 10 years of test‐anxiety interventions. Results indicate that there are few studies that have examined test‐anxiety interventions with elementary and secondary school students. However, techniques including biofeedback, behavior therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, priming competency, and mixed approaches have demonstrated promising results. Suggestions are made for school psychologists for the delivery of evidenced‐based test anxiety interventions.     

SELF‐ACTUALIZATION IN GIFTED AND AGGRESSIVE YOUNG PEOPLE

A total of 80 students aged seventeen and eighteen (40 in each group) selected from several secondary schools took part in the study. It was assumed that the intensity of self‐acceptance among gifted young people is positively influenced by intellectual success, as well as by the following personality traits: internal locus of control, average or low level of anxiety, strong sensation seeking. There was a trend towards higher self‐actualization among gifted students (although statistically insignificant), while self‐actualizing students had an internal locus of control and a need for stimulation and varied experience. The assumption that lower anxiety and higher self‐acceptance are characteristic of young people with higher self‐actualization was not confirmed, which suggests that there is a need to intensify parents' and teachers' support for students coping with difficulties.     

Examining the Relations Between Spatial Skills,Spatial Anxiety,and K‐12 Teacher Practice

Spatial skills are important for student success in STEM disciplines at the K‐12 educational level. Teachers' spatial skills and feelings about completing spatial tasks influence their teaching as well as their students' spatial learning. However, the relation between teachers' spatial skills and their spatial anxiety is not well understood. Here we investigated if teachers' spatial skills influence two kinds of small‐scale spatial anxiety: (a) anxiety for tasks involving visual imagery and (b) anxiety for tasks involving mental manipulations. In addition, we investigated if teachers' spatial skills in conjunction with their small‐scale spatial anxiety influence the integration of spatial practices, such as gestures and diagrams, into their teaching. Eighty‐two K‐12 teachers completed two subscales of small‐scale spatial anxiety, a measure of spatial skills, and a teaching activities questionnaire. Results indicate that teachers' spatial skills are negatively associated with their spatial anxiety for mental manipulation tasks, and positively associated with their use of spatial practices. These findings highlight the need to account for teachers' spatial skills when considering how to improve students' spatial learning.     

Social anxiety with peers in 9- to 14-year-olds. Developmental process and relations with self-counsciousness and perceived peer acceptance

Social anxiety in the peer groups is currently viewed as typical of early adolescence. This awkwardness with peers is supposedly a consequence of the of the multiple changes occuring during this period. Nevertheless, empirical evidence regarding the development of social anxiety with peers, as well as its psychological correlates, is scarce. To shed light on these issues, a total of 508 French fourth-to-ninth-graders completed questionnaires assessing their perception of social anxiety with peers. They assessed also various aspects of their self-consciousness and perceived peer acceptance, because we hypothesized that these two social cognitive dimensions were correlated — positively and negatively respectively — with social anxiety. Within each of these three general domains, several more specific variables were considered. Specifically, inward and outward self-consciousness were distinguished. Overall, a decreasing tendency with age was observed for social anxiety and inward self-consciousness, although the participants increasingly perceived thewselves to be neglected by their peers. Correlational analyses suggested that inward self-consciousness, outward self-consciousness, and perceived peer acceptance contribute independently to social anxiety.     

Interplay of motivational and cognitive strategies in predicting self‐efficacy and anxiety

The purpose of the present study was to test a model explaining self‐efficacy and anxiety by the interrelationships with task value, cognitive strategies (rehearsal, elaboration and organisation) and metacognitive self‐regulation in the domain of chemistry. Data were collected from 518 college students in Turkey. Findings of structural equation modelling indicated that chemistry self‐efficacy and anxiety were predicted as a function of task value, cognitive strategies and metacognitive self‐regulation, supporting the proposed model. That is, students with high levels of task value tended to use more learning strategies which promoted the use of regulatory strategies. In turn, these students may decrease their chemistry anxiety, leading to an increase in chemistry self‐efficacy indirectly.     

Commitment and Relatedness: How College Students Use Religious Coping to Manage Anxiety

Anxiety is a common symptom among college counseling clients. Perhaps because of the unique developmental tasks they face, many later adolescents (ages 18–24 years) use religious coping to manage anxiety. Many counselors are uncertain about how to address religious themes in therapy, if at all. However, most clients of faith do not want counselors to ignore their religious beliefs. In fact, later adolescents may use faith‐based coping mechanisms to navigate the challenges of their developmental stage.     

A Canadian Perspective on Portfolio Use in Student Assessment

Portfolios can serve as a means of collecting information that can be seen as evidence for evaluating the achievement of students in classrooms. The use of portfolios has a long history although their general use in classroom assessment is a recent phenomenon. Portfolios are not widely used in large‐scale assessments; they are a classroom‐based phenomenon in Canadian schools. In this paper, we explore three themes related to portfolio use in the Canadian context. First, we consider examples of policies and procedures as recommended by Ministries of Education to illustrate the range of statements provided. Next, we review surveys of portfolio use and acceptance by teachers and, to a lesser degree, administrators. Finally, we describe and discuss three studies that have begun to investigate the use and interpretation of portfolios.     

University students' behavioral intention to use mobile learning: Evaluating the technology acceptance model

As many Korean universities have recommended the implementation of mobile learning (m‐learning) for various reasons, the number of such tertiary learning opportunities has steadily grown. However, little research has investigated the factors affecting university students' adoption and use of m‐learning. A sample of 288 Konkuk university students participated in the research. The process by which students adopt m‐learning was explained using structural equation modeling technique and the Linear Structural Relationship (LISREL) program. The general structural model based on the technology acceptance model included m‐learning self‐efficacy, relevance for students' major (MR), system accessibility, subjective norm (SN), perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, attitude (AT), and behavioral intention to use m‐learning. The study results confirmed the acceptability of the model to explain students' acceptance of m‐learning. M‐learning AT was the most important construct in explaining the causal process in the model, followed by students' MR and SN.     

The relationship between language teachers' attitudes and the state‐trait anxiety of adolescents with dyslexia

The aim of the present study was to investigate the role anxiety plays in the lives of adolescents with dyslexia by including a school perspective with special emphasis on the role of the teacher. The state‐trait anxiety of 68 adolescents with dyslexia and their language teachers' attitudes towards them were compared with an equal number of matched controls. State‐trait anxiety was measured by the Greek adaptation ( Psychountaki, 1995 ) of Spielberger's State‐Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children ( Spielberger, Edwards, Lushene et al, 1973 ). The Teacher's Questionnaire, designed specifically for the needs of this study, was used for the measurement of the language teachers' attitudes. Interviews were conducted with the adolescents with dyslexia who exhibited the highest and lowest state (reading) anxiety. They reported significantly higher reading anxiety and lower trait anxiety in comparison with the control group. The language teachers of the adolescents with dyslexia expressed more positive attitudes than the controls. Reading anxiety was related to trait anxiety, especially when the language teachers expressed low irritability, which was one of the teachers' attitudes measured. In the interviews, the high‐anxiety adolescents reported behaviours associated with learned helplessness, use of emotion‐focused defence mechanisms and high, ambiguous and conflicting expectations expressed by their language teachers with regard to academic achievement. The application of anxiety‐reducing methods together with the specialised educational interventions may contribute to the psychological well being of adolescents with dyslexia.     

The Effect of Mobile Support Devices on the Anxiety and Self‐Efficacy of Hospital Float Staff

Floating is the act of staff moving from one unit to another based on the needs of the patients in a hospital. Many staff who float to different units express negative feelings, including anxiety and lack of self‐efficacy. However, floating is an economical and efficient method to use staff across the hospital, especially with current staffing shortages in the United States. This study investigated how the use of mobile performance support devices may help reduce anxiety and increase self‐efficacy for staff who float to different units. With access to multiple resources available on mobile devices, Bandura's social learning theory and self‐efficacy concept set the framework through modeling, observing, and imitating others in order to reproduce certain behaviors and tasks and believe in one's capability to perform. A quantitative study incorporating the retrospective pretest‐posttest design was conducted using the population of float staff, both nurses and respiratory therapists, from Children's Medical Center of Dallas. Both the State‐Trait Anxiety Inventory and General Self‐Efficacy Scale, along with a basic demographic tool, were used to explore anxiety and self‐efficacy in relation to the use of mobile performance support devices. Findings can be used to alleviate the negative feelings of staff toward the idea of floating.     

Effects of Mindfulness‐Based Versus Interpersonal Process Group Intervention on Psychological Well‐Being With a Clinical University Population

This quasi‐experimental study compared a group mindfulness‐based intervention (MI) with an interpersonal process (IP) group intervention and a no‐treatment (NT) control condition in reducing psychological distress among 112 students at 2 universities. At postintervention, IP and MI group participants exhibited significant reductions in anxiety, depression, and interpersonal problems compared with the NT group. At the 6‐month follow‐up, only MI participants maintained the reduction in anxiety, depression, and academic problems; conversely, only IP participants maintained reductions in interpersonal problems.     

Humour as a Coping Strategy in the Transition from Tradesperson to Teacher

This article focuses on aspects of how a group of adult tradespeople, while becoming secondary school teachers, coped with a challenge to their prior occupational self‐identity. Immediately upon entering a teachers’ college and beginning teaching as part of an internship model of teacher education, they perceived that as far as the credentialling authority was concerned, becoming a teacher meant discarding the idea that they were tradespersons. Initially this created a feeling of astonishment and shock followed by anger and anxiety, then denial of the challenge. Their expectation of the teaching role (narrow vocationalism) was under question, an uneasy and reluctant acceptance followed and this remained their perception for the rest of the two‐year course. They sustained intense anger at the teachers’ college for the duration of the course and attempted to cope as best they could. The central purpose of this article is to examine how the cohort used humour as a coping strategy when faced with a substantial threat to their occupational self‐identity.     

THE ROLE OF LONELINESS IN THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ANXIETY AND DEPRESSION IN CLINICAL AND SCHOOL‐BASED YOUTH

Identifying mechanisms that explain the relationship between anxiety and depression are needed. The Tripartite Model is one model that has been proposed to help explain the association between these two problems, positing a shared component called negative affect. The objective of the present study was to examine the role of loneliness in relation to anxiety and depression. A total of 10,891 school‐based youth (Grades 2–12) and 254 clinical children and adolescents receiving residential treatment (Grades 2–12) completed measures of loneliness, anxiety, depression, and negative affect. The relationships among loneliness, anxiety, depression, and negative affect were examined, including whether loneliness was a significant intervening variable. Various mediational tests converged showing that loneliness was a significant mediator in the relationship between anxiety and depression. This effect was found across children (Grades 2–6) and adolescent (Grades 7–12) school‐based youth. In the clinical sample, loneliness was found to be a significant mediator between anxiety and depression, even after introducing negative affect based on the Tripartite Model. Results supported loneliness as a significant risk factor in youths' lives that may result from anxiety and place youth at risk for subsequent depression. Implications related to intervention and prevention in school settings are also discussed.     

On the use of extended TAM to assess students' acceptance and intent to use third‐generation learning management systems

Service‐oriented e‐learning platforms can be considered as a third generation of learning management systems (LMSs). As opposed to the previous generations, consisting of ad hoc solutions and traditional LMS, this new technology contemplates e‐learning systems as services that can be integrated into different learning scenarios. This paper shows that the flexibility of these systems allows building personal learning environments and proposes the use of an extended technology acceptance model (TAM) to assess the acceptance and intention to use a third generation of LMS. To fit and validate the service‐oriented e‐learning platforms acceptance model, structural equation modeling and path analysis have been implemented. The results point out that the intention to use this third‐generation LMS is determined by the gadgets and container design, both of which are structural elements of this technology. Finally, it is also shown that previous experience does not determine the use intention of this technology.     

The Effect of Social Anxiety and Self‐Esteem on College Adjustment,Academics, and Retention

In a survey of 271 undergraduates conducted during the 2nd and 11th week of their 1st semester of college, the authors found that self‐esteem mediated relations between social anxiety and academic, social, and institutional adjustment. Implications for 1st‐year college students with social anxiety are discussed, with an emphasis on early identification and recommendations for counselors to adapt cognitive behavior therapy interventions for use with college populations.     

Perceptions of instructional quality: impact on acceptance and use of an online learning environment

ABSTRACT

Given the growing use of online learning environments in higher education, it is important to further unravel how students’ use is influenced by their perceptions towards these learning environments. This study includes the perceived quality of the instructional design based on the First Principles of Instruction of Merrill and students’ acceptance based on the constructs perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use of the technology acceptance model (TAM). The aim of this study is twofold: a first aim is to investigate the influence of the perceived instructional quality on students’ acceptance and the second aim is to investigate the impact of students’ acceptance and the perceived instructional quality on the quantity (i.e. course activity) and quality (i.e. course performance) of use. In this study, a Moodle-based online learning environment for learning French as a foreign language was studied. Participants were 161 university students. Structural equation modeling (SEM) indicates that the perceived instructional quality has a significant positive influence on students’ acceptance. Furthermore, students’ perceived instructional quality has a positive influence on the quality, but not on the quantity of use, whereas students’ acceptance of the online learning environment has no impact on the use of the learning environment.     

Students' acceptance of tablet PCs in Italian high schools: Profiles and differences

The tablet PC represents a very popular mobile computing device, and together with other technologies it is changing the world of education. This study aimed to explore the acceptance of tablet PC of Italian high school students in order to outline the typical students' profiles and to compare the acceptance conveyed in two types of use (learning and communicative activities at school). Data were collected using an online survey that was filled out by students at home. Two hundred and ninety‐six students from six public high schools in Milan and surrounding suburbs voluntarily accepted to participate in the study. The results show a varied situation in the Italian schools despite the availability of and funding for the technology. Three clusters were identified with high, moderate and low acceptance of tablet PC and a comparison between such clusters revealed significant differences in gender, grade level and usage frequency. The groups showed also significant differences in relation to the uses of tablet PC at school that appeared coherent with their level of acceptance: students who have higher level of acceptance are those who use the tool more both for learning and communicative purposes. To conclude, students with lower acceptance probably need to better understand the opportunities offered by this technology and how to use it. Based on examining the data from the survey, preliminary recommendations are made.     

The Impact of Emotions on Student Achievement in Synchronous Hybrid Business and Public Administration Programs: A Longitudinal Test of Control‐Value Theory*

Synchronous hybrid delivery (simultaneously teaching on‐campus and online students using Web conferencing) is becoming more common in higher education. However, little is known about students’ emotions in these environments. Although often overlooked, emotions are fundamental antecedents of success. This study longitudinally examined the role of students’ emotions (enjoyment, anxiety, and boredom), perceptions of control, value, and success in synchronous hybrid learning environments. In particular, the investigation assessed students’ self‐reported enjoyment, anxiety, and boredom as predictors of their program achievement and successful technology use. Students were recruited from synchronous hybrid MBA and MPA programs. Control‐value theory of emotions was used as the theoretical framework. Paired samples t‐tests revealed that the achievement domain, compared to the technology domain, yielded higher mean scores for control, value, enjoyment, anxiety, and boredom. In addition, mixed ANOVAs indicated an interaction effect in which group means for program boredom were significantly higher for on‐campus students than for online students. Intercorrelations in each domain showed that perceived success was positively related to enjoyment and negatively related to anxiety and boredom. Technology‐related anxiety was also found to fully mediate the positive effect of control on perceived success in using technology.