Instructional uses of computers in boys', girls', and coeducational senior high schools in Taiwan, the Republic of China

The purpose of this study was to investigate how computers were used in Taiwan's senior high schools, to identify existing problems, and to determine whether there were significant differences in utilization of computers among boys', girls', and coeducational schools in the country. Questionnaire methods were used to obtain data from a systematic sample of 167 teachers in 110 schools during the months of September 1991 through January 1992. This was a valid return rate of 70.8 percent from a target sample of 236 teachers in 118 schools.;It was found that (1) All schools installed IBM compatibles; few schools also had Macintosh's and workstations; no schools installed mainframes. (2) The ratio of computers to students was 1:40. (3) All schools located computers in a lab for the convenience of maintenance and management. A few schools also put computers in libraries or media centers. (4) More science, math, and artistic/technical teachers had experiences with teaching computer courses and using computers as tools than Chinese, English, and social studies teachers. (5) For a typical computer course, BASIC programming and using word processors, databases and spreadsheets dominated the content; copyright laws and ethics were covered the least. (6) The most-used computer analysis or information processing tools were database and spreadsheet. (7) Both Chinese and English word processors were the most used text-processing tools. (8) Operating computers as communication tools was the least used among senior high school teachers. (9) Most of the respondents reported that instructional uses of computers should be diffused to senior high schools. (10) Teachers suggested that lack of training, hardware, software, and time for designing software and instruction were the greatest difficulties in instructional implementations of computers. (11) The most-needed training topics were computer literacy, using computers as tools, and using software suited to their schools' environments.