Attitudes to Learning with Digital Technology: Examining Gender, Year Level and School Decile Differences

The purpose of the present study was to examine gender, year level, and school decile (school socioeconomic status) differences in students’ attitudes towards digital technology in New Zealand. The present study examined students’ attitudes toward digital technology utilizing the expectancy-value model of achievement motivation. The data collected were part of the National Monitoring Study of Student Achievement (NMSSA). NMSSA is designed to assess and understand student achievement across the curriculum at Year 4 and Year 8 in New Zealand’s English-medium state schools. Students at both Year 4 and Year 8 had generally positive attitudes toward digital technology. Generally, the association between attitudes toward digital technology and school decile was weak. Multivariate, multilevel analyses controlling for school decile were used to examine gender and year level differences in attitudes toward digital technology. For Expectancy, compared to boys, girls had lower levels at both Year 4 and Year 8. The difference was of a small effect size. There were no year level differences. For Value, girls scored lower than boys at Year 4 but there was no difference at Year 8. The results suggest that there is a small gender digital divide in New Zealand.
Keywords: digital technology, expectancy-value, multilevel analyses, gender differences