1. Article Review
Name of the Journal Student Attitudes Toward Wed-Enhanced Instruction in an
Educational Technology Course
Issue Sept 2006
Volume 40, 3
Page No. Pg. 620
Prepared for Dr. Johan Eddy Luaran
Prepared by Amira binti Ahmad Mahmud - 2013146821
1. Overview of the study.
This article is about a study on investigating students’ attitudes toward
Web-enhanced instruction in an educational technology course taught in the
College of Education at the United Arab Emirates University. The study
emphasized on to incorporate computer-based technology as pedagogical tools.
According to the researcher, there are benefits by using internet for instruction,
such as convenience, speed of communication, quick and remote access to
information, instant feedback, and cost saving.
There are advantages that identified by researchers on electronic discussion frame.
The students can share their understanding on course content and also feel a greater
sense of remoteness. In electronic discussion, opinions and reflection are submitted
in written form, so the students can be more effective in writing their own
responses. This advancement encourage college faculty to find ways to incorporate
technology into the curriculum.

2. The researchers found gender, age, and prior computer experience as a variable that
influence students’ attitude toward computers. It is important to know about the
students’ attitude because it influence over the future use of web-launched
instructional material. Some of the studies have concluded that providing useful
information appropriate to the course being taught and the positive correlation
between instructor’s use of web-based training materials and students’ participation
is the important indicator of future web use.
According to the author, this study which investigates students’ attitudes toward
web-enhanced instruction would provide useful information. It also contributes to
world researchers’ efforts in clarifying issues related to adding web components to
face-to-face instructions.

3. 2. Description of the Methodology.
The research consist 66 participants of female students enrolled in three sections of
an educational technology course at the college of Education, United Arab Emirates
University with the same instructor. The students’ age ranged between 19 and 21
years old.
The students taken as the respondents are from The Educational Technology
course. This course is delivered with the use of Blackboard System. Blackboard is
the website template that allows the faculty members to post announcements for
their students, publish class materials, posting class calendar, course documents,
staff information, assignments, discussing board, online assessments, and posting
grades.
The purpose of the study is to investigate female students’ attitudes toward
web-enhanced instruction in an educational technology course. The study aims is at
answering the following research questions:
i. What attitudes do female students have toward web-enhanced instructions?
ii. Do learning preferences affect students’ attitude toward web-enhanced
instruction?
iii. Does prior experience with web-enhanced instruction have effect on students’
attitude toward it?
iv. What are the advantages of web-enhanced instruction as seen by female students?
v. What are the obstacles to web-enhanced instruction as seen by female students?

4. The instruments used in this study were a researcher modified version of the
Web-Based Instruction Scale developed by Sanders and Morrison-Shetlar (2001).
The modified version consisted of 20 items.
i. Four items were demographic in nature, computer experience or owning a
computer, reading preference (screen/paper) and age.
ii. Fourteen items used a Likert-type response scaling asking participants to
specify the degree of agreement or disagreement with items about their
attitude toward web-enhanced instruction.
iii. Two items were free-response questions. (1) Advantages they find in a
web-enhanced instruction. (2) Obstacles associated with web-enhanced
instruction.
To establish content validity of the instrument, it was reviewed and modified by
experts in the field of educational technology (university instructors).
The procedure starts with the first meeting of the course, instructor introduced the
female students to Blackboard and make sure that all of them can use it. In the final
class meeting at the end of the semester, they are asked to complete the survey. All
students completed the questionnaire including the open-ended questions. This
study dealt with the following issues:
i. Student attitude toward web-enhanced instructions.
ii. The effect of learning preference on attitude toward web-enhanced instruction.
iii. Effect of previous experience with web-enhanced instruction on attitude.
iv. Advantages of web-enhanced instruction a seen by female students.
v. Obstacles to web-enhanced instruction as seen by female students.
The data collected from the respondents, and the result from questionnaire was used
to investigate the student attitudes toward web-enhanced instruction in an
educational technology course.

5. 3. Evaluation of the Study.
1. The author has succeeded in finding factors adequately about the issues in
investigating the student attitudes toward web-enhanced instruction in an
educational technology course through the research that been conducted.
2. The data collected based on the factors that might influence the student
attitudes toward web-enhanced instruction in an educational technology course.
The results of this study revealed that female students had positive attitude
toward the web instruction component added to the conventional face-to-face
classroom.
3. Based on the research conducted, it can be concluded that the web-enhanced
instruction is positively viewed by students and it seems to enrich the
conventional face-to-face classroom environment. The result of the research
shows that the methods of data collection and analysis that been used in this
study is reasonable and relevant with the study’s conclusion.
4. The study did no confront with any significant methodological weakness
throughout the research is been conducted.
5. The study conducted was done in ethically way where the researcher
mentioning the respondents, subjects, and population generally.
6. In my opinion, the methodology used by the researcher is a good approach in
collecting data. But, it might be better if the researcher also do some interview
session with the respondents in order to get more findings in this study.

6. 4. Discussion of implications of the study.
According to the researcher, the use of the internet has identified a number of
benefits in using it for instruction such as convenience, speed of communication,
quick and remote access to information, instant feedback, and cost saving.
Based on the advancement in technology and internet, the college authorities start
to find new ways to incorporate technology into the curriculum. According to the
issue, the researchers were driven to assess students’ overall attitudes toward
computers. This is important because student attitudes towards computer influence
the future use computers in instruction.
The methodology used in collecting data is a good approach in order to get the
research findings. But, in my opinion, the author should do some interview session
with the respondents to know more about the factors that might influence the
student attitudes toward the web-enhanced instruction in an educational technology
course. Furthermore, the author also can see directly the response of the respondent
and the condition at the new learning environment. By the interview session, the
results of the research may be more accurate.
This article clearly shows that the use of web-based resource is educationally
beneficial for students. The author had briefly explained the factors that influence
the student attitude toward the web-enhanced instruction in an educational
technology course plays the important role in future use of computers in instruction.
But, to ensure this planning is success in the future, it needs planning professional
development programmes that address critical issues, improving the internet
access, and provide the proper technical support.