Student Responses to Computers: A Longitudinal Study

Abstract

The results of this study support critiques of the methodological limitations of the dominant approach to the study of computer effects in learning environments. That is, reports of short-term experimental applications of the technology have led to misleading generalizations about the computer's instructional potential. Using Clark's concept of media attributions, this study examines the evolution of students' (fourth through tenth grade) perceptions about computers on three dependent variables—preference, perceived learning, and perceived difficulty—over the course of three years. The findings demonstrate clear evidence of novelty effects. Students' judgments regarding preferences for computers declined significantly as did their perceptions of learning from the technology during the three years. Perceived difficulty of using computers, which was expected to decline, remained stable. In addition, both gender and age proved to be significantly related to all three dependent variables. Other students were consistently more skeptical about the technology than were younger students, and boys were consistently more positive than girls. These relationships showed no evidence of change over the course of three years.