The purpose of this study is to determine the status of computer usage and the attitudes toward computers of prospective preschool teachers and to investigate several variables on their attitudes. For this purpose, “Computer Usage Information Form” and “Computer Attitude Scale” were applied to 126 prospective preschool teachers. This study is conducted with survey methods. The data are analyzed through standard deviation, mean value as well as t-test and one way ANOVA for group comparison, besides to find which group causes the difference in the group comparison, a PostHoc Tukey HSD test is employed. At the end of the study it is determined that the prospective preschool teachers use computers more at home and internet cafes and their levels of using computer programme are intermediate or upper. It is also determined that there is a significant difference according to the variables of taking computer course, computer ownership, level of using computer program, frequency of computer usage, computer experience and class of the scores of attitudes toward computers. On the other hand, there is no significant difference according to the gender. It is recommended that future studies focus on investigating academicians’ level of usage of computer program and attitudes toward computer technologies.

ATutor is an open source web-based learning management software which has been designed for institutional e-learning management including content creation, learner’s activity management and tracking learning objectives in a social networking environment, using various online communicative tools. This paper describes how this software is used in a medical university, explaining boundaries and challenges. This is a case-study focusing on preparation of content for students of higher education institutions in Medical Sciences. The focus is on supplementary resources for students and continuous medical education. Despite the initial resistance and challenges of using open source software without technical supports, the process was progressive and lead to development of education. Many conflicts and challenges were resolved in the first year of the study while some features of the software proved to be incapable for medical education learning material and usability rate in some tools was very low. Despite boundaries and difficulties in moving toward electronic learning for medical education, using open source softwares such as Atutor is possible and beneficial. Customizing the software, preparation of IT infrastructure and access to a technical team to develop and manage the virtual environment of e-Learning is essential. Otherwise the system would not widely be accepted by users, this raises problems that lead to strongly negative feedback from tutors and learners.

The purpose of the study is to examine the opinions of the primary school students on the Internet awareness with reference to some variables. Total 2911 participants from fourth to eighth grades in three public primary schools, which have middle socio-economic status participated in the study. The data were gathered through questionnaire and analyzed through descriptive statistics such as frequency, percentages and chi-square. The findings revealed that the Internet awareness of the participants show significant difference in terms of their gender, grade levels, having Internet access at home, the location of Internet access, the purpose of the Internet use, the occupations, and educational backgrounds of the parents. It was observed that while male students focused more on the positive aspects of the Internet, female students focused more on the unfavorable aspects of the Internet. Likewise, it was found that the Internet awareness of the participants increased when their grade levels get higher. It was also found that the Internet use purposes of the male students were mostly playing games whereas female students mostly use the Internet for the purpose of watching filmThe Internet awareness of the participants who have Internet access at their home and who use it at home is higher than that of other participants, who do not have Internet access at their home. The findings of the present study revealed that the participants, whose mothers were housewife and the participants whose fathers were tradesmen, civil servant and labors, as well as the participants whose parents have a higher educational background have higher Internet awareness than that of other participants. With reference to the findings, it can be suggested that some training activities on the Internet awareness for the mothers, who are housewives, can be handled within the school-parent relationship activities.

The purpose of this study was to compare computer anxiety among Indian and Iranian university students in relation to country, faculty and gender. A total of 800 post–graduate students of different faculties and departments of Panjab University (India) and University of Tehran (Iran) were the subjects of the present study. The data were collected through computer anxiety rating scale (CARS) validated by Embi (2007). 2x2x2 ANOVA design was employed to study computer anxiety of Indian &Iranian male & female university students belonging to different faculties. The results indicated that country type, faculty type and interaction between country and faculty had significant effect on university students’ computer anxiety scores.

The main aim of this research is behaviors and motivations of the students on the instructor’s social, physical and instructional attractiveness. This research is a descriptive work. 258 students (133 female and 125 male) who studied in 2008-2009 term at Anadolu University Communication Sciences Faculties Journalism, Cinema and Television, Public Relations, Advertising and Communication departments participated in the research. The instructor’s social, physical and instructional attractions and motivations were determined by using 5-point Likert scale. The findings of this research will be additions for determining and arguing the instructor’s responsibilities, besides educational ones as a communication director, for taking the students’ participation and success levels to a higher degree. Existing perceptions of the students on interpersonal attraction will be introduced in this research. The participants are students enrolled in the courses of two professors, two associate professors, two assistant professors and two lecturers who are the staff of Communication Sciences Faculties and in both genders.

This study was focused on high school principals’ happiness and effective instructional management and also the relation between them. The methodology of this research was descriptive and correlative. The two questionnaires employed here were “The Oxford Happiness Questionnaire” and “Principal Effectiveness Measures” with five component measures of effective principal. SPSS 15 was used to produce Mean, Standard Deviations, Pearson Product Moment Correlation (r), t-test, and ANOVA. The results of the study showed that the high school principals described their happiness in high level and also in overall marked high scores on effective instructional management and components of effective management: Organizational Commitment (OC), Sense of Community (SoC), Productivity and Effort (PaE), Job Satisfaction (JS), and Employee Morale (EM). There was relatively high positive correlation between principals’ happiness and effective instructional management and components of effective management. The analysis of data showed that there were no significant differences on principals’ happiness and effective instructional management in terms of their background, such as age, sex, marital status, teaching and management experiences.

The purpose of this study is to assess the potential of computer-mediated feedback for improving second language (L2) reading comprehension. To fulfill the purpose of the study, 60 upper-intermediate learners of English were randomly divided into two groups as experimental and control groups. The subjects of the experimental group were asked to read 8 prose passages, which ranged between 280 and 310 words in length, and answer multiple-choice questions after they have read each passage. Participants received immediate feedback in the form of Answer-Until-Correct (AUC) feedback for multiple-choice items. Results indicated that the students who received the computer-mediated feedback improved their reading comprehension significantly compared to their peers in the control group who did not receive feedback.

The research article deals with the evaluation of the role of assignments in learning through distance and nonformal mode of education. The study was delimited to the students enrolled in M. Ed and M. A. Education programs (with the specialization of Teacher education, Distance and non-formal education, Science education, and Special Education) during semesters, spring 2006 to spring 2008 in Rawalpindi region of Allama Iqbal Open University Islamabad, Pakistan. The sample of the study consisted of 300 students of Rawalpindi district. A fivepoint Likert type rating scale was administered to collect the views about the role of assignments in learning through Open Distance Learning System. The four parts (22 items) of the instruments focused on learning through assignment work, beforehand instruction regarding assignments, evaluation and checking of assignments, provision of proper guidelines for writing the assignments by the tutors or the university. The data were analyzed with mean score and SD, and the recommendations were made from the findings of the study. The study shows the dissatisfactory performance of tutors in most of the aspects. For the purpose it looks imperative to introduce a separate new course entitled “Study skills” containing different units on study, reading, writing, evaluation skills etc. by the University which may be compulsory but non-credit for all levels of distance learning. It should be offered in the first semester of the program and all tutors should be bound to study and qualify the same course with all respects by writing the assignments and passing the exams etc. before getting the appointment as part time tutors.