This study seeks to explore what factors influence students’ ICT use and web technology competence. The objectives of this study are the following: (a) To what extent do certain elements of Rogers’ (2003) Diffusion of Innovations Theory (DOI) explain students’ ICT use, (b) To what extent do personality characteristics derived from the Big Five approach explain students’ ICT use, and (c) To what extent does motivation explain students’ ICT use. The research was conducted in Israel during the second semester of the academic year 2013-14, and included two groups of participants: a group of Educational Technology students (ET) and a group of Library and Information Science students (LIS). Findings add another dimension to the importance of Rogers’ DOI theory in the fields of Educational Technology and Library and Information Science. Further, findings confirm that personality characteristics as well as motivation affect ICT use. If instructors would like to enhance students’ ICT use, they should be aware of individual differences between students, and they should present to students the advantages and usefulness of ICT, thus increasing their motivation to use ICT, in the hopes that they will become innovators or early adopters.

Aim/Purpose: The research work investigated the information seeking process of undergraduates in a specialised university in Nigeria, in the course of a group assignment. Background: Kuhlthau’s Information Search Process (ISP) model is used as lens to reveal how students interact with information in the affective, cognitive and physical realms. Methodology: Qualitative research methods were employed. The entire seventy-seven third year students in the Department of Petroleum and Natural Gas and their course lecturer were the participants. Group assignment question was analysed using Bloom’s Taxonomy while the information seeking process of the students was garnered through dialogue journaling on WhatsApp Messenger. Contribution: The research explicates how students’ information seeking behaviour can be captured beyond the four walls of a classroom by using a Web 2.0 tool such as WhatsApp Messenger. Findings: The apparent level of uncertainty, optimism, and confusion/doubt common in the initiation, selection, and exploration phases of the ISP model and low confidence levels were not markedly evident in the students. Consequently, Kuhlthau’s ISP model could not be applied in its entirety to the study’s particular context of teaching and learning due to the nature of the assignment. Recommendations for Practitioners: The study recommends that the Academic Planning Unit (APU) should set a benchmark for all faculties and, by extension, the departments in terms of the type/scope and number of assignments per semester, including learning outcomes. Recommendation for Researchers: Where elements of a guided approach to learning are missing, Kuhlthau’s ISP may not be employed. Therefore, alternative theory, such as Theory of Change could explain the poor quality of education and the type of intervention that could enhance students’ learning. Impact on Society: The ability to use emerging technologies is a form of literacy that is required by the 21st century work place. Hence, the study demonstrates students’ adaptation to emerging technology. Future Research: The study is limited to only one case site. It would be more helpful to the Nigerian society to have this study extended to other universities for the purpose of generalisation and appropriate intervention.

Aim/Purpose: This study examines differences in credit and noncredit users’ learning and usage of the Plant Sciences E-Library (PASSEL, http://passel.unl.edu), a large international, open-source multidisciplinary learning object repository. Background: Advances in online education are helping educators to meet the needs of formal academic credit students, as well as informal noncredit learners. Since online learning attracts learners with a wide variety of backgrounds and intentions, it is important understand learner behavior so that instructional resources can be designed to meet the diversity of learner motivations and needs. Methodology: This research uses both descriptive statistics and cluster analysis. The descriptive statistics address the research question of how credit learners differ from noncredit learners in using an international e-library of learning objects. Cluster analysis identifies high and low credit/noncredit students based on their quiz scores and follow-up descriptive statistics to (a) differentiate their usage patterns and (b) help describe possible learning approaches (deep, surface, and strategic). Contribution: This research is unique in its use of objective, web-tracking data and its novel use of clustering and descriptive analytic approaches to compare credit and noncredit learners’ online behavior of the same educational materials. It is also one of the first to begin to identify learning approaches of the noncredit learner. Findings: Results showed that credit users scored higher on quizzes and spent more time on the online quizzes and lessons than did noncredit learners, suggesting their academic orientation. Similarly, high credit scorers spent more time on individual lessons and quizzes than did the low scorers. The most striking difference among noncredit learners was in session times, with the low scorers spending more time in a session, suggesting more browsing behavior. Results were used to develop learner profiles for the four groups (high/low quiz scorers x credit/noncredit). Recommendations for Practitioners: These results provide preliminary insight for instructors or instructional designers. For example, low scoring credit students are spending a reasonable amount of time on a lesson but still score low on the quiz. Results suggest that they may need more online scaffolding or auto-generated guidance, such as the availability of relevant animations or the need to review certain parts of a lesson based on questions missed. Recommendation for Researchers: The study showed the value of objective, web-tracking data and novel use of clustering and descriptive analytic approaches to compare different types of learners. One conclusion of the study was that this web-tracking data be combined with student self-report data to provide more validation of results. Another conclusion was that demographic data from noncredit learners could be instrumental in further refining learning approaches for noncredit learners. Impact on Society: Learning object repositories, online courses, blended courses, and MOOCs often provide learners the option of moving freely among educational content, choosing not only topics of interest but also formats of material they feel will advance their learning. Since online learning is becoming more prolific and attracts learners with a wide variety of backgrounds and intentions, these results show the importance of understanding learner behavior so that e-learning instructional resources can be designed to meet the diversity of learner motivations and needs. Future Research: Future research should combine web-tracking data with student self-report to provide more validation of results. In addition, collection of demographic data and disaggregation of noncredit student usage motivations would help further refining learning approaches for this growing population of online users.

Aim/Purpose: This study examines the influence of Performance Expectancy (PE), Effort Expectancy (EE), and Facilitating Conditions (FC) on the use of smart phones for mobile learning by postgraduate students in University of Ibadan, Nigeria. Background: Due to the low level of mobile learning adoption by students in Nigeria, three base constructs of the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) model were used as factors to determine smart phone use for mobile learning by the postgraduate students in the University of Ibadan. Methodology: The study adopted a descriptive survey research design of the correlational type, the two-stage random sampling technique was used to select a sample size of 217 respondents, and a questionnaire was used to collect data. Descriptive statistics (frequency counts, percentages, mean, and standard deviation), test of norm, and inferential statistics (correlation and regression analysis) were used to analyze the data collected. Contribution: The study empirically validated the UTAUT model as a model useful in predicting smart phone use for mobile learning by postgraduate students in developing countries. Findings: The study revealed that a significant number of postgraduate students used their smart phones for mobile learning on a weekly basis. Findings also revealed a moderate level of Performance Expectancy (???? =16.97), Effort Expectancy (???? =12.57) and Facilitating Conditions (???? =15.39) towards the use of smart phones for mobile learning. Results showed a significant positive relationship between all the independent variables and use of smart phones for mobile learning (PE, r=.527*; EE, r=.724*; and FCs, r=.514*). Out of the independent variables, PE was the strongest predictor of smart phone use for mobile learning (β =.189). Recommendations for Practitioners: Librarians in the university library should organize periodic workshops for postgraduate students in order to expose them to the various ways of using their smart phones to access electronic databases. Recommendation for Researchers: There is a need for extensive studies on the factors influencing mobile technologies adoption and use in learning in developing countries. Impact on Society: Nowadays, mobile learning is increasingly being adopted over conventional learning systems due to its numerous benefits. Thus, this study provides an insight into the issues influencing the use of smart phones for mobile learning by postgraduate students from developing countries. Future Research: This study utilized the base constructs of the UTAUT model to determine smart phone use for mobile learning by postgraduate students in a Nigerian university. Subsequent research should focus on other theories to ascertain factors influencing Information Technology adoption and usage by students in developing countries.

Aim/Purpose: The digital divide and educational inequalities remain a significant societal problem in the United States, and elsewhere, impacting low income, first-generation, and minority learners. Accordingly, institutions of higher education are challenged to meet the needs of students with varying levels of technological readiness with deficiencies in information and digital literacy shown to be a hindrance to student success. This paper documents the efforts of a mid-Atlantic minority-serving institution as it seeks to assess, and address, the digital and information literacy skills of underserved students Background: A number of years ago, a historically Black university in Maryland developed an institutional commitment to the digital and information literacy of their students. These efforts have included adoption of an international certification exam used as a placement test for incoming freshmen; creation of a Center for Student Technology Certification and Training; course redesign, pre and post testing in computer applications courses; and a student perception survey. Methodology: A multi-methodological approach was applied in this study which relied on survey results, pre and post testing of students enrolled in introductory and intermediate computer applications courses, and scores from five years of placement testing. Student pre and post test scores were compared in order to examine degree of change, and post test scores were also assessed against five years of scores from the same test used as a placement for incoming freshmen. Finally, a student perception and satisfaction survey was administered to all students enrolled in the courses under consideration. The survey included a combination of dichotomous, Likert-scaled, and ranking questions and was administered electronically. The data was subsequently exported to Microsoft Excel and SPSS where descriptive statistical analyses were conducted. Contribution: This study provides research on a population (first-generation minority college students) that is expanding in numbers in higher education and that the literature reports as being under-prepared for academic success. Unfortunately, there is a paucity of current studies examining the information and technological readiness of students specifically enrolled at minority serving institutions. As such, this paper is timely and relevant and helps to extend our discourse on the digital divide and technological readiness as it impacts higher education. The students included in this study are representative of those enrolled in Historically Black Colleges or Universities (HBCUs) in the United States, giving this paper broad implications across the country. Internationally, most countries have populations of first-generation college students from under-served populations for whom a lack of digital readiness is an also an issue therefore giving this study a global relevance. Findings: The digital divide is a serious concern for higher education, especially as schools seek to increasingly reach out to underserved populations. In particular, the results of this study show that students attending a minority serving institution do not come to college with the technology skills needed for academic success. Pre and post testing of students, as well as responses to survey questions, have proven the efficacy of computer applications courses at building the technology skills of students. These courses are viewed overwhelmingly positive by students with respondents reporting that they are a necessary part of the college experience that benefits them academically and professionally. Use of an online simulated learning and assessment system with immediate automated feedback and remediation was also found to be particularly effective at building the computer and information literacy skills of students. The total sample size for this study was over 2,800 individuals as data from 2690 IC3 tests administered over a five year period were considered, as well as 160 completed surveys, and pre and post testing of 103 students. Recommendations for Practitioners: Institutions of higher education should invest in a thorough examination of the information and technology literacy skills, needs, and perceptions of students both coming into the institution as well as following course completion. Recommendation for Researchers: This research should be expanded to more minority serving institutions across the United States as well as abroad. This particular research protocol is easily replicated and can be duplicated at both minority and majority serving institutions enabling greater comparisons across groups. Impact on Society: The results of this research help to shed light on a problem that desperately needs to be addressed by institutions of higher education, which is the realities of the digital divide and the under preparedness of entering college students in particular those who are from low income, first generation, and minority groups Future Research: A detailed quantitative survey study is being conducted that seeks to examine the technology uses, backgrounds, needs, interests, career goals, and professional expectations with respect to a range of currently relevant technologies.

Aim/Purpose: To examine how positive/negative message framing – based on peripheral cues (regarding popularity, source, visuals, and hyperlink) – affects perceptions of credibility of scientific information posted on social networking sites (in this case, Facebook), while exploring the mechanisms of viewing the different components. Background: Credibility assessment of information is a key skill in today's information society. However, it is a demanding cognitive task, which is impossible to perform for every piece of online information. Additionally, message framing — that is, the context and approach used to construct information— may impact perceptions of credibility. In practice, people rely on various cues and cognitive heuristics to determine whether they think a piece of content is true or not. In social networking sites, content is usually enriched by additional information (e.g., popularity), which may impact the users' perceived credibility of the content. Methodology: A quantitative controlled experiment was designed (N=19 undergraduate students), collecting fine grained data with an eye tracking camera, while analyzing it using transition graphs. Contribution: The findings on the mechanisms of that process, enabled by the use of eye tracking data, point to the different roles of specific peripheral cues, when the message is overall peripherally positive or negative. It also contributes to the theoretical literature on framing effects in science communication, as it highlights the peripheral cues that make a strong frame. Findings: The positively framed status was perceived, as expected from the Elaboration Likelihood Model, more credible than the negatively framed status, demonstrating the effects of the visual framing. Differences in participants' mechanisms of assessing credibility between the two scenarios were evident in the specific ways the participants examined the various status components. Recommendations for Practitioners: As part of digital literacy education, major focus should be given to the role of peripheral cues on credibility assessment in social networking sites. Educators should emphasize the mechanisms by which these cues interact with message framing, so Internet users would be encouraged to reflect upon their own credibility assessment skills, and eventually improve them. Recommendation for Researchers: The use of eye tracking data may help in collecting and analyzing fine grained data on credibility assessment processes, and on Internet behavior at large. The data shown here may shed new light on previously studied phenomena, enabling a more nuanced understanding of them. Impact on Society: In an era when Internet users are flooded with information that can be created by virtually anyone, credibility assessment skills have become ever more important, hence the prominence of this skill. Improving citizens' assessment of information credibility — to which we believe this study contributes — results on a greater impact on society. Future Research: The role of peripheral cues and of message framing should be studied in other contexts (not just scientific news) and in other platforms. Additional peripheral cues not tested here should be also taken into consideration (e.g., connections between the information consumer and the information sharer, or the type of the leading image).