The polarisation of views on the introduction of ICT in education makes it hard to get a clear perspective on student attitudes to ICT, particularly in relation to other more traditional teaching modes. While the decision to use ICT may be pedagogically sound, resistance to its acceptance may discourage enthusiastic staff, sour student learning experiences and ultimately reduce institutions' ability to produce graduates who are computer-literate life long learners. This paper reports on a large scale study (n = 1,279) that compared student attitudes to a range of teaching modes, identified differences in attitude associated with demographic variables and examined the effect of student characteristics on such attitudes. Traditional teaching modes were found to be strongly preferred above all others. Technology and student-based teaching modes were the least preferred. Implications for developing collaborative learning communities on-line to promote greater learning autonomy and independent learners are discussed.

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