The current post-secondary graduation rates in computing disciplines suggest American universities are only training enough students to fill one third of the projected 1.4 million technology and computing jobs available (National Center for Women and Information Technology, 2011). Pursuit of information technology (IT) majors depends, to a great extent, on students' attitudes toward these majors. This study developed an Attitude toward IT Scale with a gender subtext to measure college students' attitudes toward IT. The norm group consisted of mostly freshmen enrolled in summer and fall 2011 (N = 363), at a large four-year public university in Illinois. Reliability and validity of the 30-item Scale were examined by using Cronbach's alpha and a principal components factor analysis with orthogonal rotation using varimax with Kaiser normalization; the rotation converged in seven iterations. Results of data analyses showed that overall reliability is high (0.85), and factor analyses revealed five orthogonal factors with high coefficient alphas. This Scale may be used by educators at the senior high school and college levels to evaluate the effectiveness of different teaching/learning strategies in promoting positive student attitudes toward IT, and in improving learning among students. The Scale is unique in that it includes attitudes toward gender equality of opportunity in IT.

publishes refereed articles that examine research and research-related topics in vocational education, career and technical education, preparation for work, and the workplace. The JVER Editorial Board is committed to publishing scholarly work that represents a variety of conceptual and methodological bases. Submission of manuscripts representing one of the following styles is encouraged: (a) empirically-based manuscripts that report results of original research, either quantitative or qualitative, (b) reviews or synthesis of empirical or theoretical literature, (c) essays derived from original historical or philosophical research, (d) reviews of recently published books, and (e) rejoinders to articles recently published in the JVER. Page costs are not typically assessed. However, if a manuscript is accepted, authors will be asked either to supply camera-ready tables and figures, or pay for the costs incurred in preparing complex tables and figures for publication.Printed by The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH. The Journal of Vocational Education ResearchMANUSCRIPT PREPARATION. One (1) electronic copy (on floppy disk, CD, or email) of the manuscript should be submitted to the Editor. The electronic version must be in MS Word version 6 or higher. All lines should be numbered. Manuscripts typically range in length from 20 to 30 double-spaced pages including references, tables, and figures. Text, references, and tables must be prepared according to the guidelines detailed in the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (5th edition). The title page should include the title of the article, and the name, affiliation, mailing address, e-mail address, and telephone number for each author. Each manuscript must be accompanied by an abstract of no more than 150 words and all lines in the manuscript must be consecutively numbered. The receipt of all manuscripts will be acknowledged within one week of receipt. Manuscripts are subjected to a double-blind refereed review process. Typically, three individuals, plus the Editor, review each manuscript. Reviewers' comments and a letter indicating the publication decision will be sent to the primary author approximately 3-4 months following receipt. Manuscripts accepted for publication are usually published within one year of formal acceptance. To defray rising publication costs, authors who are not members of AVERA will be required to pay a $50.00 fee if their manuscript is accepted for publication. Published authors will receive two complimentary copies of the JVER. READER COMMENTSThe Journal welcomes comments from readers on articles that have appeared in recent issues. Submitted comments must speak directly to content of the article of reference, not exceed four manuscripts pages, and conform to APA reporting format. These manuscripts may be sent out for peer review at the Editor's discretion. Author(s) of the original article will have an option of responding to published comments of their work. SUBSCRIPTIONSThe JVER is included in regular and student ...

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This study sought to determine for a sample of industrial workers, supervisors, and vocational educators the factorial dimensions of the Affective Work Competencies Inventory (AWCI), and to estimate the reliability of scales which describe its factorial dimensions. The AWCI is a self-report Likert-type questionnaire designed to measure work attitudes, values, and habits desired by industry and educators. Responses of 1,485 industrial workers, supervisors, and vocational educators to the AWCI were subjected to an exploratory factor analysis. The factors which emerged were analyzed in terms of their continuity, reliability, and meaningfulness as contributors to the instrument. The factor analysis procedure yielded five factors which accounted for most of the test variance while only using about half the number of items in the original instrument. Results suggested that the items describing the factors may be the basis of useful subscales for the instrument.