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This research paper investigates the theoretical frameworks encompassing a nuanced analysis of the digital divide in the Indian educational context, recognising that it is not merely a matter of technology access but also the ability to effectively use the resource for enhancing learning outcomes. This research provides valuable insights for fostering a more equitable and digitally inclusive learning environment by integrating conceptual insights with empirical evidence. The New Education Policy (NEP), India 2020 firmly emphasises the appropriate integration of technology into the teaching-learning process to develop relevant competencies. The pertinent question is, for India to conquer the second digital divide challenge, is the pace of technology accessibility and skill development sufficient?

The paper is a desk research, using secondary data from the Unified District Information System for Education (UDISE+), the Indian Government database of schools. A structured dataset has been created for all years, where states are grouped in descending ranking order of availability of infrastructure and teachers trained. A colour key segregates the States into three zones demonstrating their different levels of performance – high (green), moderate (blue) and low (yellow). The purpose is to identify state/s that have moved from one zone to another and, thereafter, analyse the reasons behind the movement.

Almost all states remained in the same digital resource availability zone for the four years studied, except for a limited few. Despite government interventions through higher budget allocation and targeted policies, growth rates of teacher training in computer usage slowed down post-COVID-19. A high positive correlation between Teachers' training in computer usage and the availability of computer and Internet facilities in schools indicates that an increase in digital infrastructure in schools is highly linked to teachers' training in computer usage and would ultimately translate into better use of digital resources to impart equitable education opportunities.

Primary data collection through interviews might have added to the critical findings. Therefore, researchers are encouraged to test the proposed propositions further on a case-by-case basis for any state under consideration.

Enhancing digital infrastructure in schools and building digital competence in teachers must be understood in the context of the learning organisation and the beneficiaries' attitudes at the meso-level to expand stakeholder motivation towards digital internalisation. This requires continuous engagement with education institutions as professional learning organisations, which will thereby help develop a decentralised context for teacher competency building. Collaboration, continuous monitoring of the outcomes of professional development programs, and sharing best practices are crucial in improving teacher readiness for digital education.

Access to tangible resources, such as computers, Internet connectivity and educational software, and developing intangible resources, such as teacher digital competencies, will play a pivotal role in shaping students' learning experiences. By studying the discrepancies in digital resource accessibility and teacher technology adoption, this research endeavours to add to the efforts towards enhancing the educational landscape.

This paper seeks to address a critical issue in the Indian education system and contribute to the ongoing effort to prevent the widening of the second and third digital divide in schools, and help achieve UN SDG Goals 4 and 10.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of factors associated with e‐learning, particularly computer attitudes and usability, on transfer of training in workplace e‐learning courses.

This study relied on quantitative data obtained from four online survey questionnaires. The sample of this study was 47 learners who took either one soft‐skill e‐learning course or one hard‐skill e‐learning course in a selected company and their supervisors.

The results demonstrated that learners' computer attitudes impact their perception of the usability of the e‐learning courses, and that this perception influences the degree of their transfer of training. The results imply that when learners come to an e‐learning class with positive attitudes toward computers, they feel the e‐learning course system to be more satisfactory and efficient, and accordingly they can better transfer what they have learned to job performance.

The sample of this study is limited. Further research studies with various learners should be conducted. Additionally, the measure of transfer merely relied on their perception of it. Further studies should give more attention to the multifaceted measures of the actual transfer. Finally, further research should be conducted to examine other general factors pertaining to the transfer of training in e‐learning settings in addition to computer attitudes and usability.

The study expands the knowledge base regarding transfer of training by focusing on e‐learning, which is rapidly growing and receiving great attention in the workplace, and thus contributes to the establishment of a more comprehensive model of transfer of training.

IT related skills are vital for becoming and remaining a citizen in a digitally supported information society – also for adults who are no longer in school; do not use IT in their work; are unemployed, self‐employed, or retired; or otherwise without the technical support, possibilities for training, and availability of a community of practice and “master users” that are common in organizational contexts. The paper aims to draw on literature on learning IT skills in the organizational context and to apply this in a non‐organizational, community context. The paper seeks to explore how individual IT‐skill and knowledge development could be supported using formal and informal learning strategies, including community services, training courses, information events, learning community and other learning mechanisms.

The paper is empirically grounded in a research and development project with 50 participating families who received a PC, printer, and internet connection, as well as training, technical support, and information events over a period of two years. Both qualitative and quantitative data were gathered throughout the project. Data are here analyzed as an extensive case study.

Based on experiences from the project the paper describes how “digital literacies” could be learned and supported and inclusion in the digital information society enhanced in practice. The paper develops a framework that shows how different learning strategies and mechanisms support different kinds of computer knowledge and skill areas; describes three interlinked areas of IT knowledge and skills; and suggests a number of practical implications on how computer self‐efficacy could be supported in a non‐organizational context.

The paper draws on extant knowledge about learning and developing IT‐skills in the organizational context, and applies this knowledge in a different context in order to explore how this knowledge can be used also outside organizations to support adults to be part of the digitally supported information society.

Computers and computer‐assisted instruction are being used with increasing frequency in the area of health science student education, yet students’ attitudes towards the use of e‐learning technology and computer‐assisted instruction have received limited attention to date. The purpose of this study was to investigate the significant predictors of health science students’ attitudes towards e‐learning and computer‐assisted instruction. All students enrolled in health science programmes (n=2885) at a large multi‐campus Australian university in 2006‐2007, were asked to complete a questionnaire. This included the Online Learning Environment Survey (OLES), the Computer Attitude Survey (CAS), and the Attitude Toward Computer‐Assisted Instruction Semantic Differential Scale (ATCAISDS). A multiple linear regression analysis was used to determine the significant predictors of health science students’ attitudes to e‐learning. The Attitude Toward Computers in General (CASg) and the Attitude Toward Computers in Education (CASe) subscales from the CAS were the dependent (criterion) variables for the regression analysis. A total of 822 usable questionnaires were returned, accounting for a 29.5 per cent response rate. Three significant predictors of CASg and five significant predictors of CASe were found. Respondents’ age and OLES Equity were found to be predictors on both CAS scales. Health science educators need to take the age of students and the extent to which students perceive that they are treated equally by a teacher/tutor/instructor (equity) into consideration when looking at determinants of students’ attitudes towards e‐learning and technology.

Advancements in technology require that everyone is skilled with computational thinking (CT), problem-solving and computer programming skills. This study aims to examine the development of CT in problem-solving skills (PSS) and programming learning attitude by integrating LEGO robotics kits in a project-based learning course.

This study examines the development of CT in PSS and programming learning attitude by integrating LEGO robotics kits in a project-based learning course. This study consists of a single group pre-post-test research design with 32 freshmen university students. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected by pre-post-tests and recording of classroom discussions, respectively.

Therefore, this finding implies that robotics can be used to develop CT in university students; however, there is a need for designing curricula with advanced robotic kits as artificial intelligence (AI) has become more prevalent. Hence, programming knowledge learned will help students to understand the application of robots in AI.

The study creates educators' awareness that CT skills might be developed in freshmen university students through robotics. However, many still consider them toys rather than learning aids.

This article reports on a research study conducted in the UK, exploring learners’ perceptions of the quality of computer based learning materials. With an increasing emphasis on individual and collective learning to enhance competitive advantage, it is important for managers and HRD practitioners to be able to judge the quality of ICT based learning resources to assure effective learning. Yet, this is often a difficult task and a potential barrier to the use of computer based learning. In addition, learners’ perceptions may affect the quality of learning outcomes. The article presents a learner evaluation tool, a feature of which is the use of qualitative methods to elicit learners’ experiences. Research findings suggest that the factors influencing learning could be both positive and negative, highlighting the complexity and subjectivity of such evaluation. This is an important step towards recognition of how learning might be hindered or helped within the ICT context.

This study examines the implementation of a community-level Sustainable Broadband Adoption Program (SBA) under the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP), a national public policy program meant to expand broadband deployment and adoption under the American Recovery Act of 2009, and administered by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) at the U.S. Department of Commerce. The California Connects Program (CC) was administered by the Foundation for California Community Colleges (FCCC).

This chapter focuses on one part of CC’s efforts to expand broadband adoption among the most underserved Californians through collaboration with the Great Valley Center (GVC). CC-GVC provided basic computer and Internet classes to disconnected populations with low-literacy levels, and primarily in Spanish, through community-based organizations, public schools, public libraries, small businesses, and others in the Central Valley, an 18 county rural region with a high concentration of digital destitute populations. The program worked with under-resourced local community institutions with a range of poor technology resources and that operated under variable set of social, economic, political, and institutional conditions. Through inductive, process-oriented, and explanatory case study research, the structure, strategy, and training approach of CC was examined. Content and theme analysis of primary and secondary qualitative and quantitative data involving the program’s leadership, direct service providers, partners, participants, and nonparticipants was conducted. This involved a sample of 600 in-depth and short, structured and unstructured interviews and focus groups, archival and participant observation notes.

It was found that CC-GVC was able to meet uncertainty and operated with low institutional resources and paucity of linguistically appropriate teaching resources for new entrants through a flexible leadership approach that adapted to the social situation and was open to innovation. Community technology trainers were also able to engage those without or little direct experience with computers and with low-literacy levels with a linguistically appropriate and culturally sensitive step-by-step teaching approach that empowered and met people where they are. The author expands non-adoption models to include structural barriers in the analysis of the disconnected. It is argued that non-adoption is a result of evolving inequality processes fueled by poverty and under-resourced community development institutions and that teaching and learning is a social and institutional process that takes trust and time.

CC shows that even the most disadvantaged can be empowered to learn-to-learn to use computers and can begin to function online and gain benefit under the most extreme institutional and economic conditions, but it takes more time and resources than providers expected and the Recovery Act provided.

Considers the development of an on‐line electronic learning network , “Cyberspace learning for kids” (CL4K), for children aged 5‐16 across Europe. Examines the impact of information technology (IT) in relation to various learning environments. Focuses particular attention on schools, the incorporation of IT into the National Curriculum and the impact this has on teaching. Presents findings from an analysis of the project’s user needs, that is, those of teachers, children and parents. The main issue expressed by teachers was the lack of training received in IT skills and lack of funds available to purchase equipment necessary to be able to use IT in the classroom. A decline in general levels of communication in the classroom, at home and between pupils was another issue of concern among teachers and parents. Overall, all users perceived “Cyberspace learning for kids” to be exciting and saw the development of IT skills as an essential asset when seeking employment. The children found the use of the Internet to be a fun way of finding out information and would enjoy using it if such a resource was available in the classroom, etc. With commitment to funding for resources and training CL4K has the potential to offer a fun and stimulating means of gaining information and educating children for the future.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of using a jigsaw learning strategy integrated with computer simulation (JLSICS) on the academic achievement and attitudes of students, along with exploring the relationships between them in the process of learning about acids and bases.

The research design used in the study was quasi-experimental, using non-equivalent comparison groups for both pre- and post-tests. A quantitative approach was used to address the research problem, with three groups involved: two experimental and one comparative group. The treatment group, which received the JLSICS intervention, consisted of two intact classes, while the comparison group included one intact class. Data collection involved achievement tests and attitude scale tests on acid and base. Various statistical analyses such as one-way analysis of variance, one-way multivariate analysis of variance, Pearson product-moment correlation, mean and standard deviation were used for data analysis.

The study’s results revealed that the incorporation of the JLSICS had a beneficial influence on the academic achievement and attitudes of grade 10 chemistry students towards acid and base topics. The JLSICS approach proved to be more successful than both conventional methods and the standalone use of the jigsaw learning strategy (JLS) in terms of both achievement and attitudes. The research demonstrated a correlation between positive attitudes towards chemistry among high school students and enhanced achievement in the subject.

The study only focused on one specific aspect of chemistry (acid and base chemistry), which restricts the applicability of the findings to other chemistry topics or subjects. In addition, the study used a quasi-experimental design with a pretest-posttest comparison group, which may introduce variables that could confound the results and restrict causal inferences.

This study addresses the gap in instructional interventions and provides theoretical and practical insights. It emphasizes the importance of incorporating contemporary instructional methods for policymakers, benefiting the government, society and students. By enhancing student achievement, attitudes and critical thinking skills, this approach empowers students to take charge of their learning, fostering deep understanding and analysis. Furthermore, JLSICS aids in grasping abstract chemistry concepts and has the potential to reduce costs associated with purchasing chemicals for schools. This research opens doors for similar studies in different educational settings, offering valuable insights for educators and policymakers.

The originality and value of this study are in its exploration of integrating the jigsaw learning strategy with computer simulations as an instructional approach in chemistry education. This research contributes to the existing literature by showing the effectiveness of JLSICS in improving students’ achievements and attitudes towards acid and base topics. It also emphasizes the importance of fostering positive attitudes towards chemistry to enhance students’ overall achievement in the subject.

This bibliography was originally compiled for the purpose of a Doctoral degree submitted to Loughborough University of Technology in March 1993. The information in this bibliography, which was started in the last quarter of 1989, was continuously updated by collecting data from all the important current journals and abstracting and indexing sources. It covers all of hypertext, including HyperCard and other hypertext/hypermedia systems which are being used for teaching and training. These systems are also used for conducting research in this field. Full efforts were made to cover all the publications such as periodical articles, conference papers/Proceedings, books and reports that were published until the first quarter of 1993.