Trends in Student Attitudes

Computing and Science Literacy

Students have used the following:	1995	1996	1997	1998
Mac	87.10%	79.3%	91.67%	83.33%
IBM PC or clone	83.87%	100%	100%	94.44%
Word Processing	80.65%	89.7%	100%	94.44%
Fortran, Basic, or C language	64.52%	65.5%	75%	61.11%
HTML language	16.13%	27.6%	54.17%	44.44%
Spreadsheets	67.74%	72.4%	91.67%	83.33%
E-mail	80.65%	93.1%	95.83%	100%
Internet	58.06%	79.3%	87.5%	100%
Mosaic	41.94%	69.0%	58.33%	50%
Gopher	39.71%	75.9%	50%	37.5%

(Response scale:	Strongly Agree: 5	Agree: 4	Undecided: 3	Disagree: 2	Strongly Disagree: 1)

Item	Mean
	1995	1996	1997	1998
Felt academically prepared for this course	4.25	4.21	4.16	4.06
Time required for this course is excessive	2.74	2.72	2.75	2.94
The level of science in this course should be lower	3.16	3.17	2.20	2.22
Felt comfortable moving through course materials over the Internet	3.71	4.24	3.83	3.78

Information Retrieval

(Response scale:	Strongly Agree: 5	Agree: 4	Undecided: 3	Disagree: 2	Strongly Disagree: 1)

Item	Mean
	1995	1996	1997	1998
Have received sufficient instruction on use of computers	3.81	3.82	3.46	3.44
More training is needed for using the WWW before first assignment	N/A	N/A	2.38	2.44
Availability of lecture transcripts is important	N/A	N/A	4.36	4.28
Comfortable using the WWW for assignments	N/A	N/A	4.08	4.56
Since beginning of course, have become more proficient at using the WWW	N/A	N/A	3.75	3.17
Finding information on the WWW is easy	N/A	N/A	3.75	4.00
Confident in ability to download MPEG or Quicktime movies	N/A	N/A	3.17	3.28
Confident in ability to troubleshoot problems in hardware and software when using the WWW	N/A	N/A	2.88	3.05
Comfortable using the electronic dialog	N/A	N/A	3.54	4.05
Reading and writing information on the Internet is more stressful than conventional obligations	2.58	2.76	2.75	2.72
Internet-based information is more difficult to use in preparing for exams	3.32	3.59	3.50	3.44
Reading text from the book is easier than reading text on the Internet	3.61	3.69	3.96	3.44
Prefer to be able to purchase copies of lecture material rather than having them on the Internet	3.06	2.86	3.46	3.06
The ability for the Internet to preserve color is important	3.93	3.93	3.96	4.00
The number of hours per week students spend on the Internet for this course	2.02(h)	3.21(h)	2.42(h)	3.36(h)
Having global change news or events on the Internet makes this course more interesting	3.52	3.59	3.58	3.50
The hypertext on the Internet is quicker to access information than from a textbook	3.45	3.69	3.75	3.72
Student won't explore the materials on remote databases if these materials are not on tests	2.97	2.52	2.54	3.06
Using a computer for this course annoys students	2.84	2.66	N/A	N/A

Understanding Course Material

(Response scale:	Strongly Agree: 5	Agree: 4	Undecided: 3	Disagree: 2	Strongly Disagree: 1)

Item	Mean
	1995	1996	1997	1998
The WWW is a valuable educational tool	N/A	N/A	4.38	4.44
The WWW is very resourceful	N/A	N/A	4.25	4.33
Internet-based information helps students learn more quickly	2.84	3.00	2.91	3.22
A textbook and handouts are easier for students to learn course material than Internet material	3.13	3.28	3.12	3.17
Internet-based design makes it more difficult to know the expectation of the students	3.52	3.69	3.83	3.78
Internet-based design is a good training for real-life application of this course	3.87	3.75	4.71	N/A
Animated loops of images help students learn material better	3.65	3.45	3.58	N/A
Real-time information on global change helps students learn material better	3.45	3.66	3.79	4.06
Electronic dialog helps students understand material better	3.32	3.21	3.21	2.94
Understanding of global change issues would be enhanced if students outside the United States participated in electronic dialog	N/A	N/A	3.79	3.67
Having access to class assignments submitted by other students helps to understand	3.26	4.00	3.37	3.50

Educational Objectives

(Response scale:	Strongly Agree: 5	Agree: 4	Undecided: 3	Disagree: 2	Strongly Disagree: 1)

Item	Mean
Use of the Internet contributes to:	1995	1996	1997	1998
Students' understanding of international issues	3.77	4.03	3.83	3.83
Students' understanding of foreign cultures	3.29	3.55	3.33	3.33
The development of new computing skills	3.71	3.66	4.12	3.44
Adapting pre-existing computer skills to new applications	3.68	4.00	3.96	3.56
WWW information allows students to better understand course material	N/A	N/A	3.00	3.17
Students' future application of technology in academic work	4.29	4.43	4.62	4.39

Portfolio

(Response scale:	Strongly Agree: 5	Agree: 4	Undecided: 3	Disagree: 2	Strongly Disagree: 1)

Item	Mean
	1995	1996	1997	1998
Having their own portfolio helped in understanding the requirements for this course	N/A	N/A	3.36	4.23
Students liked having a personal portfolio "home" page	N/A	N/A	N/A	4.22
Having work posted in the portfolio helped assess progress for achievement in each assignment	N/A	N/A	3.30	4.00
Students prefer the portfolio than scheduled class time for flexibility in working on class assignments	N/A	N/A	N/A	3.83
Students used my portfolio often when accessing required assignments	N/A	N/A	3.29	4.39
Students feel the portfolio is valuable in learning course material	N/A	N/A	3.21	N/A

Personal Satisfaction

(Response scale:	Strongly Agree: 5	Agree: 4	Undecided: 3	Disagree: 2	Strongly Disagree: 1)

Item	Mean
	1995	1996	1997	1998
Using the WWW makes assignments more enjoyable	N/A	N/A	2.95	3.67
The use of the Internet in the course makes students feel good	3.90	4.07	3.92	4.00
The WWW cannot replace the lecture	N/A	N/A	3.96	3.94
Recommend other instructors to consider use of the Internet for their courses	3.68	3.93	3.37	3.89
Would like to use the WWW in more classes	N/A	N/A	3.46	3.72

Item	Mean
The frequency students access this homepage in the future:	1995	1996	1997	1998
After this course is over	2.16	2.21	3.38	3.44
After students graduate from Iowa State University	1.87	2.15	3.33	3.39