Relation of Computer Attitudes and Computer Attributions to Enrollment in High School Computer Courses and Self-Perceived Computer Proficiency

Abstract

Computer knowledge and skills are becoming a new filter limiting educational and career choices of secondary students. This study, based upon 160 high school students, presents two exploratory path analyses of potentially relevant variables influencing both high school computer course enrollment and perceived computer proficiency. The results suggest variability in enrollment in computer courses can be partially explained by the two computer attitudes of usefulness and effectance motivation and the computer attribution of failure-ability. However, variability in self-perceptions of computer proficiency can be partically explained by three computer attributions: success-ability, success-task, and failure-environment, and the computer attitude of anxiety. Implications of these findings for designing educational strategies are discussed.