In the same way that teachers' objectives for student computer work affect the types of software they have
students use, so, too, do those objectives appear to affect the likelihood that students will do computer work outside of class time, at school or at home. For this analysis, we combine the "out-of-class" and the "at home,
out-of-school" measure and report the overall difference (in standard deviation units) in the extent of participation by students in doing computer work for the class at non-class times between teachers who include each teaching
objective among their three most important objectives and teachers who do not include that objective. Teachers with four objectives for their students' computer use are distinctly more likely to report higher levels of student
participation in out-of-class computer work done for the class. By far the highest level of participation is by students of teachers who value computers for helping students to present information to an audience (E.S. = .68).
Also, though, teachers whose primary objectives include students improving their writing, communicating with other people, and finding out about ideas and information all score well above average in out-of-class student use of
computers for class work. (Effect sizes all about +.40; see Table 16 and Figure 16.) In contrast, three groups of teachers are much less likely than other teachers to report students using computers out-of-class: those
whose objectives are reinforcement of skills, remediation, and students "learning to work independently." (Effect sizes all about –.50.) It is interesting that teachers who value computers to help students to work independently are
much less likely than others to report students actually using computers outside of their own presence! It seems plausible that for many teachers, having students "work independently" means that they prefer students to be
working quietly, not that they really want them to do independent work!
FIGURE 16: LIKELIHOOD OF TEACHERS WITH EACH OBJECTIVE TABLE 16. RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN OBJECTIVES FOR COMPUTER USE AND PERCENT OF STUDENTS SAID TO USE COMPUTERS FOR CLASS WORK DURING OTHER TIMES
TO REPORT STUDENTS USING COMPUTERS FOR CLASS WORK OUTSIDE OF CLASS TIME
(AT HOME OR AT SCHOOL)
(AT SCHOOL PLUS AT HOME), MEAN SCORES AND EFFECT SIZE
(STANDARDIZED DIFFERENCE MEASURE)
Teachers' objectives, as we have seen, tend to be accomplished by having students use specific types of software. Thus, it is not surprising that teachers who report their classes frequently using certain types of software are the same teachers who report the highest levels of participation in computer work being done outside of class time. In particular, across all school levels, the teachers reporting the most out-of-class and out-of-school participation in computer activities for their classes are those who have students frequently use four types of programs: presentation software (E.S.=.51 compared to all other computer-assigning teachers), electronic mail (E.S. = .46), multimedia authoring programs (E.S. = .44), and word processing (E.S. = .48). The high effect size for word processing is doubtlessly due to the ease with which that type of software carries over to non-supervised computer time. The equally strong relationship with out-of-class computer work for the other types of software seems more likely due to the greater engagement produced by the kinds of classroom assignments into which those types of software are incorporated. (See Supplementary Table A-7 for the accompanying data.)