Understanding College Students' Readiness to Use Web 2.0 Technologies in Online Education

Understanding College Students’ Readiness to Use Web 2.0 Technologies in Online Education by Sean Andrew Pradia MA, Webster University, 2003 BS, Southern Illinois University, 1996 Doctoral Study Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Education Walden University February 2017 Abstract Web 2.0 technologies offer many educational benefits in higher education. Leaders of the U.S. community college examined in this study desired to explore students’ familiarity with the educational benefits of Web 2.0 tools before investing in technology upgrades for the college. The purpose of this quantitative survey research was to explore community college student readiness to use Web 2.0 technologies as part of their distance learning experience. The research questions were designed to clarify students' attitudes and behavioral intentions towards using Web 2.0 applications. Data were collected from 253 randomly selected distance-learning students using a survey derived from the decomposed theory of planned behavior (DTPB). The DTPB assesses individuals’ likely actions related to using Web 2.0 technologies as a function of behavioral intentions reflected through attitude, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control. Results of the Spearman rho analyses indicated significant positive relationships related to Web 2.0 applications between attitude and behavioral intentions, subjective norms and behavior, peer influence and subjective norms, and self-efficacy with facilitating conditions and perceived behavioral control. There was no relationship between perceived behavioral control and behavior. Additional findings revealed that students perceived the existenceWeb 2.0 technologies offer many educational benefits in higher education. Leaders of the U.S. community college examined in this study desired to explore students’ familiarity with the educational benefits of Web 2.0 tools before investing in technology upgrades for the college. The purpose of this quantitative survey research was to explore community college student readiness to use Web 2.0 technologies as part of their distance learning experience. The research questions were designed to clarify students' attitudes and behavioral intentions towards using Web 2.0 applications. Data were collected from 253 randomly selected distance-learning students using a survey derived from the decomposed theory of planned behavior (DTPB). The DTPB assesses individuals’ likely actions related to using Web 2.0 technologies as a function of behavioral intentions reflected through attitude, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control. Results of the Spearman rho analyses indicated significant positive relationships related to Web 2.0 applications between attitude and behavioral intentions, subjective norms and behavior, peer influence and subjective norms, and self-efficacy with facilitating conditions and perceived behavioral control. There was no relationship between perceived behavioral control and behavior. Additional findings revealed that students perceived the existence of a beneficial social network within the distance-learning environment. The results of this study facilitated college administrator awareness of students' perceptions of using Web 2.0 tools for learning, and suggest that implementing these tools would be beneficial for the students and college by creating a more inclusive learning environment for online students. Understanding College Students’ Readiness to Use Web 2.0 Technologies in Online Education by Sean Andrew Pradia MA, Webster University, 2003 BS, Southern Illinois University, 1996 Doctoral Study Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Education Walden University February 2017 Acknowledgment I would like to thank Dr. Hadley and Dr. Kennedy-Dudley for all their knowledge and support. They were always concerned about my success and responded to my needs quickly and without fail. I also would like to thank the administration and staff at the institution that allowed me to conduct my study regardless of how busy they were and the challenges that they face on a day-to-day basis. I would like to thank my children, who completely accepted my request for time needed to complete my study. I would also like to thank all of my mentors and colleagues and peers, who thought that this was the path I needed to take to complete a long and rigorous academic career.