New information and communication technologies (ICTs) provide educators and learners with an innovative learning environment to stimulate and enhance the teaching and learning process In this context, novel educational concepts such as blended learning are being developed In the present paper, we present the results obtained from a blended learning experience carried out at the University of Granada A total of 17 groups took part, with 1431 students registered for the 2009-2010 academic year In this study, we use objective outcomes and the students' perceptions regarding the blended learning activities performed The study shows that the use of blended learning has a positive effect in reducing dropout rates and in improving exam marks Moreover, the students' perceptions on blended learning are interrelated, with their final marks depending on the blended learning activities, and on the students' age, background and class attendance rate

Blended learning in higher education: Students' perceptions and their relation to outcomes

Gender difference in the attitude toward technology use has long been a concern in education. The last meta-analysis on this issue covered the empirical studies up to about 20 years ago. Since then, technology use has increased exponentially, and many more empirical studies have examined this issue, but showed inconsistent findings. As a result, there is a lack of clear understanding about if such gender difference still persists. The purpose of this research is to re-examine this issue by meta-analyzing the empirical research studies on this issue in the last two decades, and to examine the potential moderators that may have contributed to the heterogeneity of the research findings. A total of 50 articles from 1997 to 2014 were identified and used in this meta-analysis. The findings indicated that males still hold more favorable attitudes toward technology use than females, but such different would be characterized as small effect sizes. The comparison between this study and the last meta-analysis of about two decades ago suggested that there was only minimal reduction in the gender attitudinal gap in general. But when the general attitude was broken down to different dimensions of attitude, the present study showed a reduction of gender difference in the dimension of Affect and Self-efficacy , but not in the dimension of Belief . The limitations of the study were noted, and the implications and future research directions were discussed.

Gender and attitudes toward technology use: A meta-analysis

With the diffusion of easy-to-use Web 2.0 tools, such as podcasts, blogs and wikis, e-learning has become a popular mechanism for individual training. While individuals use these tools in the hope that their training will improve their performance, this relationship is not a given. This paper proposes that an individual's level of digital literacy affects her performance through its impact on her performance and effort expectations. To explain the influence of digital literacy on the intention of individuals to continue using e-learning and their performance, we integrate the concept of digital literacy with the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) and test our model using survey data from New Zealand accountants working in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The results indicate that these relationships were significant: digital literacy on users' performance and effort expectations, performance expectations on users' intentions to continue using Web 2.0 tools, and continuance intention on performance. These findings suggest that individual digital literacy facilitates the use of e-learning, and should be considered when examining the impact of the latter on performance. We study how digital literacy affects e-learning use for professional development.The study asks New Zealand accountants about their Web 2.0 use.Digital literacy has an impact on users' performance and effort expectations.Performance expectations affect continuance intention, which affects performance.Organizational support does not support individual intention to continue using IT.

Understanding the effect of e-learning on individual performance

The concept of e-learning is a technology-mediated learning approach of great potential from the educational perspective and it has been one of the main research lines of Educational Technology in the last decades The aim of the present systematic literature review (SLR) was to identify (a) the research topics; (b) the most relevant theories; (c) the most researched modalities; and (d) the research methodologies used To this end, the PRISMA protocol was followed, and different tools were used for the bibliographic management and text-mining The literature selection was carried out in three first-quartile journals indexed in JCR-SSCI specialized in Educational Technology A total of 248 articles composed the final sample The analysis of the texts identified three main nodes: (a) online students; (b) online teachers; and (c) curriculum-interactive learning environments It was revealed that MOOC was the most researched e-learning modality The Community of Inquiry and the Technological Acceptance Model, were the most used theories in the analyzed studies The most frequent methodology was case study Finally, the conclusions regarding the objectives of our SRL are presented: Main themes and research sub-themes, most researched e-learning modality, most relevant theoretical frameworks on e-learning, and typologies of research methodologies

Trends in Educational Research about e-Learning: A Systematic Literature Review (2009–2018)

Student learning skills differ depending on gender. The importance of studying this situation in the classroom is that recommendations can be made taking gender into consideration. In e-learning, the roles of students and teachers change. In line with recent research, the question this paper raises is whether or not gender differences also exist in e-learning. The main contribution this research makes to the literature is to provide evidence on the issues male and female students consider important in their assessment of e-subjects. This study is based on a sample of 1185 students who are doing on-line courses at the Universidad de Granada in Spain. The main conclusion is that female students are more satisfied than male students with the e-learning subjects that make up the sample. Furthermore, we find that female students assign more importance to the planning of learning, as well as to being able to contact the teacher in various ways.

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Gender differences in e-learning satisfaction

This study investigated the impact of contingent variables on the relationship between four predictors and students' satisfaction with e-learning. Five hundred and twenty-two university students from 10 intact classes engaging in online instruction were asked to answer questionnaires about their learning styles, perceptions of the quality of the proposed predictors and satisfaction with e-learning systems. The results of analysis of variance and structural equation modelling analyses showed that two contingent variables, gender and job status, significantly influenced the perceptions of predictors and students' satisfaction with the e-learning system. This study also found a statistically significant moderating effect of two contingent variables, student job status and learning styles, on the relationship between predictors and e-learning system satisfaction. The results suggest that a serious consideration of contingent variables is crucial for improving e-learning system satisfaction. The implications of these results for the management of e-learning systems are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ming-Jen Chiou

Papers

The impact of individual differences on e‐learning system satisfaction: A contingency approach