Effects of intensive use of computers in secondary school on gender differences in attitudes towards ICT: A systematic review

Abstract

There is a wealth of interventions focusing on the intensive use of computers in secondary schools, largely aiming at improving students' performance. However, global evidence on the effects of the use of computers on attitudinal outcomes has not been synthesised so far. Feldfunktion geändertTaking into account that the differences in the attitudes of boys and girls regarding the use of computers are one of the factors described as causes of the low number of girls following ICT studies, the aim of this article is to review the evidence on the effects of intensive use of computers in schools on gender differences in attitudes outcomes: anxiety, enjoyment, self-confidence and self-efficacy. Searches generated a total of 740 citations of which 59 were identified as relevant and nine were finally included.The methodological quality of included studies was poor to moderate. The results suggest that despite the intensive use of computers, boys are favoured in computer anxiety, self-confidence and self-efficacy; and suggest no differences in computer enjoyment.There is no evidence that intensive use of computers reduce gender differences in these outcomes. Further policy recommendations should be rooted on robust evaluations, which take into account implementations parameters, as well.

The Relation Between ICT and Science in PISA 2015 for Bulgarian and Finnish Students

“…Both parents and teachers recognize this change and support the incorporation of ICT in school learning, as they believe it will improve learning and the students' chances to be employable (European Union, 2019a). The current employment environment reflects the need for technology-capable workers who will stay relevant in the digital 21 st century (Cussó-Calabuig, Farran, & Bosch-Capblanch, 2018;ICTC, 2016;Nordicity, 2017;Yeganehfar, Zarei, Isfandyari-Mogghadam, & Famil-Rouhani, 2018).…”

Evaluating the efficiency of two programming environments in shaping novices' attitudes, perceptions, beliefs and knowledge in programming: a comparison between Scratch and App Inventor

“…At the same time, across the EU-28, the vast majority of jobs for ICT specialists in 2016 were held by men; the share of ICT specialists that were women was 16.7%, some 5.8 percentage points less than a decade before (Eurostat, 2018). Furthermore, the low presence of women in jobs related to ICT is partially the result of this low enrolment in technological careers (Cussó-Calabuig et al, 2018). On 10 June 2016, the European Commission published a new skills agenda for Europe, highlighted the fact that the spread of digital is having a massive impact on the labour market and the type of skills needed in the economy and society.…”

“…Another factor that may affect students' attitudes towards to a learning object as well as their greater motivation, and more active task engagement with the learning process, is whether they consider it useful and important (Lau and Woods, 2008;Wlodkowski, 2011). Also, personal attitudes may be responsible for gender imbalances in the way boys and girls face the use of ICT or consider following computer-related course and careers (Cussó-Calabuig et al, 2018). By motivation, we mean the reasons that cause an individual to try hard to accomplish a certain task (Mitchell, 1982).…”

“…The questionnaire was adapted on the basis of computer attitude scale (CAS) (Loyd and Gressard, 1984). The CAS is one of the most used in the literature and it has been validated in different settings (Cussó-Calabuig et al, 2018). Additionally, we took multiple research findings into consideration in order to measure student's knowledge of the basic programming structures (Butler and Morgan, 2007;Kleinschmager and Hanenberg, 2011;Renumol et al, 2009).…”

“…Evidence from the United States and Europe confirms that an increasing number of students are opting not to attend courses or lectures relating to programming in both secondary and tertiary education (Papadakis et al, 2014). Another problem is that the number of girls enrolled in technological fields is much less than the number of boys (Cussó-Calabuig et al, 2018;.…”