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Who's Afraid of WebCT?: Or, Fears and Practices of Traditional and Nontraditional Students with WebCT

Abstract

In this presentation, I will compare traditional and nontraditional students' attitudes and practices using WebCT as part of an Introduction to Sociology course. Somewhat surprisingly, nontraditional students had lower rates of fear about using WebCT and they tended to use it more heavily than their traditional counterparts. Nontraditional students tended to see WebCT as a way to allow for better class discussion and building of community while traditional students did not. I attribute my findings to two primary factors:

1. nontraditional students' lack of community on campus encourages them to seek solidarity and companionship through technological supports and
2. nontraditional students had, by and large, some familiarity with WebCT from previous courses that had a WebCT component.

Thus, if we are to integrate WebCT into our "regular" courses, we must provide students with significant instructional support about how to use instructional technologies so that they feel competent using them. Moreover, we must make these new technologies meaningful for students so that they see them as an enhancement to learning rather than "busy work" or a way for teachers to provide less instruction

Description

In this presentation, I will compare traditional and nontraditional students' attitudes and practices using WebCT as part of an Introduction to Sociology course. Somewhat surprisingly, nontraditional students had lower rates of fear about using WebCT and they tended to use it more heavily than their traditional counterparts. Nontraditional students tended to see WebCT as a way to allow for better class discussion and building of community while traditional students did not. I attribute my findings to two primary factors: (1) nontraditional students' lack of community on campus encourages them to seek solidarity and companionship through technological supports and (2) nontraditional students had, by and large, some familiarity with WebCT from previous courses that had a WebCT component. Thus, if we are to integrate WebCT into our "regular" courses, we must provide students with significant instructional support about how to use instructional technologies so that they feel competent using them. Moreover, we must make these new technologies meaningful for students so that they see them as an enhancement to learning rather than "busy work" or a way for teachers to provide less instruction.