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Educators’ Mental Models of Internet Services and Their Impact on Internet Use: The Case of Electronic Mail
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, University of Thessaly, Greece

E-Learn: World Conference on E-Learning in Corporate, Government, Healthcare, and Higher Education, in Washington, DC, USA ISBN 978-1-880094-54-9 Publisher: Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE), San Diego, CA

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Abstract

Today's teachers should have an understanding of the Internet and should be capable of using its services efficiently for educational purposes. Therefore, it is essential that they develop adequate mental models of the Internet and its services within their pre-service training. The aim of this research was the investigation of the mental models that pre-service teachers form of electronic mail with a view to identifying the conceptual problems pre-service teachers encounter and accordingly addressing them within computing courses. Sixty student teachers participated in the research by completing a drawing task and a series of open-ended questions referring to problematic situations occurring during e-mail use. The data processing showed that the student teachers' mental models of the e-mail processes involve particular misconceptions and also, that there is a direct relationship between these mental models and the student teachers' performance in problematic situations during e-mail use. Implications for teacher education are discussed.

Citation

Papastergiou, M. (2004). Educators’ Mental Models of Internet Services and Their Impact on Internet Use: The Case of Electronic Mail. In J. Nall & R. Robson (Eds.), Proceedings of E-Learn 2004--World Conference on E-Learning in Corporate, Government, Healthcare, and Higher Education (pp. 2081-2086). Washington, DC, USA: Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE). Retrieved March 9, 2021 from .

© 2004 Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE)

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References

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