This study investigated the attitudes of student teachers towards several dimensions of blended learning to determine their readiness for blended learning. The study also sought to find out if teachers' attitudes towards blended learning were related to age, sex, year group, student specialization, part-time or full-time status and place of residence. The study adopted a survey research methodology to examine students' attitudes towards blended learning. Respondents consisted of 807 student teachers from two campuses of a university in Trinidad. Analyses for the research questions consisted of t-tests, analysis of variance, Pearson Correlation Coefficient using the Statistical Package for Social Scientists (SPSS-V. 17). Exploratory factor analysis with varimax rotation was used to determine the underlying factor structure of the blended learning scale. Exploratory factor analysis supported six factors that explained 56.3% of the variance. Reliability estimates ranged from .731 to .857. Results indicated that teachers viewed learning flexibility and technology as the most important or valued aspect of blended learning. There were also significant differences in students' attitudes based on sex, part-time/full-time status, primary and secondary specialization, age and year group. There was a significant positive correlation between online learning and online interaction and technology. Significant negative correlations were found between online learning and classroom learning and online environment. Implications and recommendations for improvement were suggested for creating an improved survey instrument and providing a more supportive blended learning environment.
The study explored student-teachers' perceptions of the most common indicators of stress. It sought, also, to develop separate stress categories and make comparisons among them.The sample consisted of randomly selected 306 student-teachers from two campuses of the University of Trinidad and Tobago -Valsayn and Corinth. There were thirty six males and 270 females in the study. The study examined the relationship between the student-teacher stress factors as well as the predictive power of each independent factor on overall teachers' stress.The study employed a quantitative method using a cross-sectional design. The data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS-V.17). T-tests were used to examine teachers' stress based on location, sex and full or part time status. Correlation and regression analysis were employed to examine the relationship between each of the stress factors as well as their influence on the overall dependent teacher stress.The findings suggested that there were no significant differences in teacher stress based on sex and location. There was a high correlation between professional development and curriculum-related stressors. Also, curriculum, personal/professional and professional development stressors had the greatest influence on overall student-stress.Keywords: student -teacher, academic stress, the University of Trinidad and Tobago Background and ContextTrinidad and Tobago, a twin-island state, is the most southerly of all the Caribbean islands. The island, after five centuries of foreign domination, gained its independence from Britain in 1962. The island possesses a British-oriented model of bureaucracy, which is reflected in the education system. Within the Trinidad and Tobago's education system, there are government schools, which are fully owned and operated by the state; government-assisted or denominational schools, which are managed by a private body( usually a religious denomination) but given financial assistance by the state; private schools, which are maintained and operated by private bodies without the assistance from the state; and special schools, which are designed for educating children with special needs and which provide education mainly at the primary level. Generally speaking the government-assisted schools are regarded as the better schools and there is a great demand for placement in these schools.At the University of Trinidad and Tobago prospective teachers are exposed to a four-year Bachelor of Education Degree Program consisting of a wide range of content, professional and pedagogical courses and the practicum. The content courses over the four year period included Social Studies, Mathematics, Language, Visual and Creative Arts, Science, Agricultural Science, Spanish and Health and Family Life. The professional and pedagogical courses include Classroom Management, Classroom-based Assessment, Curriculum Studies, Contemporary Issues in Education and Instructional Design. The eight Practicum courses over the four years aim to ...
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
customersupport@researchsolutions.com
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.