This study aims to examine the variables that influence Serbian pre-service teachers' intention to use technology to teach mathematics. Using the technology acceptance model (TAM) as the framework, we developed a research model to include subjective norm, knowledge of mathematics, and facilitating conditions as external variables to the TAM. In addition, we investigated the influence of gender and age on the behavioural intention to use technology. With data gathered from 313 participants using a survey questionnaire, structural equation modelling (SEM) analysis revealed that the proposed model in this study has a good fit and accounted for 5.4% of the variance in the behavioural intention to use technology. Pre-service teachers' attitudes towards computers were found to be the only factor with direct influence on the intention to use technology. All other factors were found to have an indirect influence. Using multiple indicators, multiple causes (MIMIC) modelling, pre-service teachers' intention to use technology was not found to be significantly different by age and gender. Various contributions to research and implications for teacher training are discussed. IntroductionIn today's world, when society is shifting from an industrial towards an information or knowledge society, it is important for students to develop lifelong learning skills, often referred to as a capacity of "learning to learn" (Anderson, 2008, p. 19 Education, 2007). In preparing for these skills, the appropriate use of technology by teachers in education is crucial.Despite the strong presence of information and communication technology (ICT) in classrooms all over the world, studies have shown that ICT is underused (Mueller, Wood, Willoughby, Ross, & Specht, 2008;Ruthven, 2009). In Serbia, one reason for the low ICT usage for teaching and learning is teachers' lack of sophisticated knowledge to support effective technology integration (Kadijevich, 2012). However, this situation is mitigated by younger teachers, who have demonstrated their attempts at teaching mathematics in primary and secondary schools in Serbia (Dimitrijević, Popović, & Stanić, 2012).Serbia is a south-eastern developing country in Europe with a population of 7.12 million. Free education is provided for children between ages 7 and 15 (grades 1-8) and those between ages 15 and 19 to attend elementary and secondary schools, respectively, although the latter is not compulsory by law. Depending on the grade level and subject, elementary and secondary school teachers receive their training at the relevant faculties in universities (UNESCO, 2011). All teachers have to complete their training in pedagogy and subject content at master's level before taking up appointments in schools. Among the goals of Serbian education are that students across all levels should be provided with opportunities to acquire high quality knowledge and skills and attitudes, including linguistic, mathematical, scientific, artistic, cultural, technical, and computer literacy skills necessary for life in ...
This study examined pre-service teachers' intentions to use computers in traditional and innovative teaching practices in primary mathematics classrooms. It extended the technology acceptance model (TAM) by adding as external variables pre-service teachers' experience with computers and their technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPCK). Data collected from 226 participants revealed that the proposed model had a good fit for both traditional and innovative uses of computers. Structural equation modelling suggested that the established TAM variables, together with TPCK and experience, were significant determinants of pre-service teachers' intentions to use computers in teaching mathematics at both levels. The most dominant determinant of behavioural intention was TPCK, followed by attitude. The proposed model explained 22.7% of the variance in the use of computers in traditional teaching practices and 27.6% of the variance in the use of computers in innovative teaching practices. The implications for mathematics teaching are discussed in the final section.
Many seem to believe that today’s pre-service teachers as born after 1980 are digital natives, or that they are “native speakers” of the digital language. Nevertheless, there is no evidence that their digital native characteristics determine whether or not they would use technology in the classroom. Although not widely evaluated, the four-factor, 21-item Digital Nativity Assessment Scale (DNAS) was one of the first instruments to assess digital nativeness (DN). This study aim is to explore the influence of pre-service teachers’ DN on their intention to use technology in the future classroom in Serbia, by evaluating the DNAS on Serbian sample and using it for measuring the DN. Six variables were incorporated to examine their mutual relationships based on technology acceptance model: digital nativeness, behavioral intention (BI), perceived usefulness (PU), perceived ease of use (PEU), subjective norm (SN), and technological complexity (TC). Data were collected from 688 pre-service teachers in Serbia. Exploratory factor analysis confirmed a four-factor model for the DNAS, and Serbian pre-service teachers demonstrated a high level of DN. To evaluate the hypothesized model structural equation modeling was utilized. The suggested model had a good fit for describing the BI of Serbian pre-service teachers, accounting for 27.1% of the variance in BI. It was found that direct dominant predictors of BI are digital native traits, perceived usefulness, and perceived ease of use. Significant influence of digital native traits on all other variables in the model was also confirmed. The implications for theory and practice are discussed.
Innovative computer use enables the strengthening and transformation of teaching practice. Notwithstanding, numerous studies have indicated that teachers do not use computers in teaching mathematics to a sufficient extent. This study was aimed at exploring the reasons for insufficient computer use by teachers, i.e. at examining the variables which may affect the acceptance of innovative computer use in teaching mathematics. Hence, the intention to use computers in teaching mathematics in primary school was explored on the sample of 455 pre-service class teachers and mathematics teachers from Serbia. The technology acceptance model was extended by external variables and the following were observed as the predictors of intention to use computers in teaching mathematics: students? attitudes towards computers, their perception of usefulness of computers in teaching mathematics, perceived ease of use, technological pedagogical content knowledge in mathematics, experience with use, subjective norms, technological complexity and content knowledge in mathematics. Structural equation modelling has shown that the proposed model had a good fit and that the selected variables were significant predictors of the intention to use computers. The proposed model explained 23.7% of variance in the intention to use computers. It has been shown that the intention to use computers is directly predicted by dominant technological pedagogical content knowledge in mathematics, students? attitudes towards computers and their experience, while it is indirectly predicted by perceived usefulness, subjective norm, technological complexity and content knowledge in mathematics. In accordance with the presented findings, the final part provides recommendations that may be beneficial for advancing the education of pre-service class teachers and mathematics teachers.
This paper's frame of reference is tourism marketing, evaluating the image of targeted travel destination from the gender standpoint. For emerging destinations in southeastern Europe like Serbia, latent connections between destination image and gender are therefore of particular interest for exploration. The International Travel Trade in Berlin (ITB) was the venue for the research. The connections between ITB visitors' gender and the image they perceived about Serbia were assessed, crossed with their socio-demographic attributes, annual travel spending, information sources, association and awareness of Serbia. In this way, the authors wanted to observe and explain the perception of this target group of Serbia's image. The findings suggest that men and women do not differ in attitudes related to the country's image. On the other hand, there is a difference in image scores for positive, negative and no associations of Serbia. The research results could help in modifying tourism strategies for Serbia.
A number of studies has shown that attitudes are one of the most significant and influential factors that determine success in learning a foreign language. The paper investigates university students' attitudes towards learning grammar of the English language and towards the use of multimedia teaching tools in grammar instruction, and how these attitudes influence success in learning grammar. Our experimental study involved two groups of university students studying English as a foreign language, a control and an experimental group, in the course of a full academic year. The control group was taught using only the traditional tools, while grammar instruction for the experimental group was conducted in a multimedia-enriched environment, i.e. in addition to the traditional tools, the students were also exposed to educational video games and video clips in the form of film segments and music videos that were not part of a coursebook material, but were closely connected to the topic of the unit in the coursebook. It was hypothesised that positive attitudes towards learning grammar would affect achievements in learning grammar, and that the students exposed to the multimedia tools would be more inclined to view grammar in a positive light. The instruments applied in the study were an attitude questionnaire and a grammar test that yielded quantitative data for the statistical analysis. The results indicated that university students' success in learning grammar was affected by their attitudes towards learning grammar, and that a multimedia-enriched environment contributed to the development of positive attitudes towards grammar. It can be concluded that positive attitudes towards multimedia-enriched environment in learning grammar resulted from the participants' experience of purposeful application of multimedia in the language classroom, and that positive attitudes indirectly contributed to the participants' success in the grammar test. These findings have significant implications for teaching grammar at a university level and can be used for improving the conditions for grammar teaching, enhancing motivation for learning grammar, and eventually for achieving better results in learning grammar in a foreign language classroom.
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