The Relationships between Taiwan University Students’ Internet Attitudes and Their Preferred Teacher Authority toward Internet-based Learning Environments

Abstract

Although the issue of teacher authority in the Internet-based learning environments has begun to gain attention recently, the relation with students’ Internet attitudes is still unclear. Since a more appropriate attitude toward the Internet is required for successful Internet-based instruction, this study aimed to initially explore the relationships between students’ Internet attitudes and their preferences of teacher authority in the Internet-based learning environments. A total of 259 Taiwan undergraduates were invited to complete two instruments to assess their preferences of teacher authority in the Internet-based learning environments and Internet attitudes, respectively. Through exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, the two adopted instruments showed satisfactory validities and reliabilities. Moreover, the path analysis results indicate that, if the students prefer learner-centered process authority, they tend to possess positive Internet attitudes. For example, they may view the Internet more useful, possess higher confidence when using the Internet, and use the Internet more frequently. On the contrary, if the students show their preferences for a teacher-centered content authority, they are prone to use the Internet more often.