Technology Appliance in Saudi Arabic Education Term Paper

Technology Appliance in Saudi Arabic Education - Term Paper Example This finding is relevant for the context in which Kay (1990) and Mackowiak (1989) have found out that cognitive attitude and experience are the best predictors for the commitment to the use of computers. Gardner (1985) has also drawn attention to the importance of attitudes in the learning process. Though the students seem to be greatly excited by the task of making instructional materials, they are found to be more interested in the practical part of it rather than going deep into the wider theoretical aspect which can be attained from sources like books. As this study has been conducted among students of a teacher's college, it has shown that the coming generations of teachers are very much aware of the utility value of instructional technologies which was also been proven by researchers like Brooks and Koop (1990), Hmissat (1997) and Hamdi (1991). Another very interesting finding has been that the students are getting more aware of the importance of instructional technology and co mputers in education, as they move ahead in their academic learning. It has also been shown that the students, in general, have been getting more confident with the use of instructional technology and computers in their learning process and that they are overcoming the fear of the new gadgets involved, very fast. This is evident from the lower mean obtained in the responses to item 33. But the findings have also revealed that a gap exists between realizing the usefulness of instructional technology and really using it in education in Saudi Arabia. This study has thus shown that the application of instructional technology in education has been lagging behind the actual preparedness of the students to use it in education in this country. The lack of any difference in responses of students who own computer and who do not, and students who use the Internet and who do not, cannot be fully explained by the findings of this study alone. This phenomenon has to be analyzed by way of further research. Again, this study has proven that students irrespective of their age and academic specialization area, realize the significance of instructional technology. This finding, again indicates that the student community as a whole is getting all relevant information about instructional technology simultaneously with their attaining a certain age and maturity. In this study, the respondents were students having age between 19 and 29, this inference can be strongly drawn.