CYBERPSYCHOLOGY & BEHAVIOR Volume 10, Number 5, 2007 Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. DOI: 10.1089/cpb.2007.

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Gender Differences in Taiwan University Students Attitudes toward Web-Based Learning

RU-SI CHEN, Ph.D.1 and CHIN-CHUNG TSAI, Ed.D.2

ABSTRACT This study explored gender differences on university students attitudes toward Web-based learning in Taiwan. A Web-based Learning Attitude Survey (WLAS) was developed. The WLAS consisted of five scales, including access, social structure, content, pedagogy, and community relationship toward Web-based learning. By using an online survey, this study gathered the responses of 1,866 Taiwanese university students (940 males and 926 females) whose ages ranged from 18 to 23. The results showed significant gender differences in the aspects of social structure, content, and community relationship involved in Web-based learning. Interestingly, although females might consider the Internet a masculine-dominated technology, they displayed more favorable attitudes than males did regarding the impacts of socioeconomic status (the social structure scale) on students performance of Web-based learning. Moreover, females possessed more positive attitudes than males toward the helpfulness and variety of the content for Web learning. However, they did not think the virtual interaction on the Internet could develop adequate teacherstudent and peer relationships (the community relationship scale). Some follow-up interviews were also conducted with selected students, and the implications derived from this study were discussed.
ing with teachers by e-mail.7 They found the computer-enriched environment was positively correlated with students attitudes toward computers in general, their role in teaching and learning, and their ability to facilitate communication. It was also proposed that the university students having more positive attitudes toward using the Internet as a learning tool tended to favor using the Internet for learning and to be actually involved in Web-based learning environments.8 Therefore, exploring university students attitudes toward Web-based learning is quite an important research issue. First, interactivity is an essential feature for successful Web-based learning. One of the powers of interactivity in a Web-based environment was the capability to provide efficient and appropriate in-

INTRODUCTION
Attitudes toward Web-based learning

Web-based learning has become a widespread practice in education.1,2 Since Web-based learning consists of both asynchronous and synchronous communication features, if used properly, it can enable students to be more involved in the process of learning.36 Recently, some researchers have focused the pedagogical usefulness of information technology, or Internet technology (IT), and examined university students attitudes toward and usage of computers in the learning environment, such as using the Internet for searching information and communicat1Department 2Graduate

VER THE LAST FEW YEARS,

of Early Child Care and Education, Yu Da College of Business, Taiwan. School of Technological and Vocational Education, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taipei, Taiwan.

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teraction and feedback to the students. As revealed in a previous study, university students in the Webbased instruction reported that the quality of interaction with teachers and peers was high.9 Therefore, the community relationship and interaction involved in Web-based learning was a focus for this study to explore students relevant attitudes. Moreover, the social structural factors involved in Web-based learning should be carefully explored when assessing students attitudes toward Webbased learning. Research indicated that structural factors of society could influence the students benefits from Web-based learning. For instance, it was found that rural students had access to the Internet less often than urban students, and university students agreed that rural areas were being left behind with respect to IT.10 In another study, it was reported that rural, minority, and female people were less likely to have home computers or to be connected to the Internet.11 Rural residence, race, and gender were found to significantly influence their access to computer and Internet, and then produce the digital divides. The digital divides were created not only by the expenses associated with new technologies but also by the difficulties of learning to use new and unfamiliar technologies. Therefore, this study examined students attitudes toward Web-based learning in terms of access, social structure, pedagogy, and other related issues. Gender differences in students attitudes and behaviors toward Web-based learning Gender difference is often a major concern for researchers interested in students abilities and attitudes toward the computer or Web-based learning. It has been argued that female university students were less likely than males to take advantage of computer learning opportunities.12 Gender biases and societal stereotypes, as well as differential interests, experiences, and attitudes, may contribute to a lower level of participation by females. It was also indicated that the concerns about gender equity expressed by many educational practitioners were well founded, as female students in various levels of education tended to know less about IT, enjoy using the computer less than males, and perceive more problems with software.13 In sum, the findings in previous studies showed that gender was a factor with a substantial influence on students achievement and usage in technology-based learning environments. The gap in Internet usage might exist between men and women, but this gap may be the product of socioeconomic and other factors, not of gender itself.14 The reasons that women were less intensive Internet users might involve stereotyping, inher-

ently gendered technology embodying male values, content that favored men, sex differences in cognition or communication, or other factorsin addition to socioeconomic factors. Furthermore, male university students on average were often found to be more experienced in computing and to have more positive attitudes and self-efficacy toward computing than females.15 Moreover, a previous study, exploring a new channel of communication (cybertalk), found that male communicators displayed power behaviors by writing longer postings, by posting more frequently, and by writing more opinionated discourse as compared to female communicators.16 Cyberspace remained a male-dominated atmosphere, where gender differentiation and power displayed in communication persisted similar to other communication modes. Some studies might indicate women and men used the Internet equally but used it in different ways. Females used e-mail more than did males, and it was consistent with their stronger motive for interpersonal communication.17 Males used the Web more than did females, and it was related to their stronger incentive for searching information. As Internet usage has become more important, these qualitative differences might impact educational opportunities for learning in relevant Web-based instruction. There were also significant gender differences with respect to confidence about computers and stereotypical views of computer users. According to the results in previous studies, female college students showed stronger beliefs in equal-gender ability and competence in the usage of computers but expressed low confidence in their own ability to work with computers.18 Moreover, a significant gender difference was found on all the measures of attitudes, anxiety, and self efficacy toward the Internet, with the conclusions that on average female university students reported less time spent using the Internet, less positive attitudes toward the Internet, greater computer anxiety, and lower computer self-efficacy than males.19 Gender differences were also detected in self-efficacy and cognitive process in a technology-rich environment, and males were found to report higher levels of computer or technology self-efficacy than females.20 In a study investigating gender differences regarding Internet use by Greek high school students both in school and out of school environments, it was revealed that boys used the Internet for entertainment and Web page creation more than girls did, whereas no other significant gender differences were noted regarding students other Internet activities, such as communication via e-mail, chat or videoconferencing, Web surfing, and information searching for personal or school purposes.21

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Subsequent studies indicated few or no gender differences for students attitudes toward Internet or Web-based learning. In a relevant study, it was found that there was no longer a gender gap in being online.22 Although there was a gender gap in frequency and intensity of use, it appeared to have diminished over time. Another study, exploring the problem of community college students use of the Internet for health-related information, found that more than 80% had home Internet access, regardless of race or gender.23 Male and female students searched for health information in almost equal numbers.23 In a study for Taiwan high school adolescents, males expressed significantly more positive attitudes than females on the usefulness and perceived control aspects of the Internet, but no significant gender differences were found in terms of the affect and behavior aspects of using the Internet.24 More importantly, female adolescents expressed higher Internet self-efficacy than males.24 These results implied that gender differences regarding the Internet technology or Web-based learning might be narrowing. Purposes of the study Taiwan universities and colleges rely increasingly on IT- or Web-based learning to enrich their teaching or enhance students learning. University students have more freedom in making technology choices and implementing Web-based learning. In this respect, it is important for educators to explore university students attitudes toward Web-based learning, carefully considering gender differences that may impact the effectiveness of this teaching medium. The attitudes in this study included the access, social structure, content, pedagogy, and community relationship involved in Web-based learning. This study first developed an online questionnaire to survey university students in Taiwan about their attitudes toward Web-based learning. Then, the validity and the reliability of the questionnaire were examined and students different responses in the questionnaire were analyzed. The role of gender on the responses was further explored. Finally, some female students were interviewed to elicit more information about their views on Web-based learning.

versities in Taiwan. After excluding students with some nonresponses, the valid number of student cases was 1,866. This left 940 male and 926 female students in the final sample pool. The surveyed students, with a fairly large sample size, were composed of those who had divergent academic backgrounds and came from different demographic areas of various socioeconomic statuses. Questionnaire exploring students attitudes concerning Web-based learning To assess students attitudes toward Web-based learning, a Chinese Web-based learning questionnaire, the Web-based Learning Attitude Survey (WLAS), was implemented in this study. To develop the WLAS, a pool of items was collected to fulfill the aforementioned purposes of this study. The researchers proposed the following five scales for Web-based learning attitudes: access, social structure, content, pedagogy, and community relationship. These scales included a 36 items as the initial pool of items. These items were developed after consulting with some experts in Web-based learning, information technology, and sociology of education. As a result, the WLAS primarily consisted of five scales (seven or eight items for each scale), presented with bipolar agree/disagree statements in a 5-point Likert scale, and the responses were coded as 1 strongly disagree to 5 strongly agree. Following is a detailed description of the five scales: 1. Access scale: assessing the attitudes concerning the extent to which students have opportunities to access Web-based learning. 2. Social structure scale: exploring students attitudes regarding the role of social structure factors on Web-based learning. 3. Content scale: investigating the perceptions about the features of the Web-based learning content designed by teachers or developers. 4. Pedagogy scale: assessing the attitudes concerning the extent to which students perceive positive impacts from Web-based learning. 5. Community relationship scale: assessing attitudes regarding the extent to which students believe that the virtual community provides adequate studentteacher and peer interactions.

METHODOLOGY
Sample A questionnaire, developed by two researchers, was used and an online survey was undertaken for data collection. The respondents in this study consisted of 1,925 Taiwanese university students whose ages ranged from 18 to 23. They came from 84 uniFactor analysis This study used exploratory factor analysis, principle component analysis with varimax rotation, to clarify the structure of the attitudes toward Web-

RESULTS

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based learning. The respondents attitudes were grouped into five orthogonal factors: access, social structure, content, pedagogy, and community relationship, as initially proposed. An item was retained only when it loaded greater than 0.40 on the relevant factor and less than 0.40 on the nonrelevant factor. Thus, the initial 36 items were reduced to 19 items (as shown in Table 1). The retained 19 items, with five factorsaccess, social structure, content, pedagogy, and community relationship accounted for 69.76% of variance. The eigenvalues of the five factors from principle component analysis were all larger than one. The reliability ( ) coefficients respectively for these scales were 0.80, 0.87, 0.79, 0.72, and 0.76 with an overall 0.88, suggesting that these scales had satisfactory reliability in assessing students attitudes toward Web-based learning.

Table 2 shows the retained items on the WLAS, and eight items in the WLAS were scored in a reverse manner. In this way, students having higher scores on the scale showed better attitudes toward Web-based learning. Students scores in the scales Table 3 shows students average item scores and standard deviations on the five scales of the WLAS. According to Table 3, students scored highest on the access scale (an average of 3.96 per item), suggesting that students in general agreed that the opportunity to access Web-based learning is open to everyone. They also believed that the proliferation of Internet technology could reduce the digital divide between cities and rural areas. This result implied that most students not only perceived the pos-

TABLE 1.

ROTATED FACTOR LOADINGS AND CRONBACHS ALPHA VALUES FOR THE FIVE FACTORS (SCALES) OF THE WLAS Factor 2: Social structure Factor 3: Content Factor 4: Pedagogy Factor 5: Community relationship

Item Factor 3 6 7 8 Factor 9 10 11 13 Factor 15 17 20 21 Factor 23 25 26 28 Factor 29 31 32

Factor 1: Access 1: Access 0.80 0.59 0.67 0.58 0.63 2: Social structure

0.87 0.72 0.76 0.74 0.68

3: Content

0.79 0.53 0.52 0.74 0.63

4: Pedagogy

0.72 0.53 0.64 0.50 0.46

5: Community relationship

0.76 0.65 0.53 0.60

Total 0.88, total variance explained in 69.76%. Loading less than 0.40 omitted.

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649
ON THE

TABLE 2. RETAINED ITEMS Item no.a 3 6 7 8 9 10 11 13 15 17 20 21 Scale Access Access Access Access Social structure Social structure Social structure Social structure Content Content Content Content

WLAS Question

The proliferation of the Internet can reduce the digital divide between cities and rural areas. Everyone can afford software and hardware equipment for Web-based learning. Students Internet technology equipment can influence their performance in Web-based learning. Opportunities for Web-based learning are open to everyone. The information literacy of aboriginal students is inferior.b The higher parents educational degree is, the better their childrens performance in Internet technology.b The higher parents social economic status is, the better their childrens performance in Internet technology.b The information literacy of male students is better than that of female students.b Internet resources provide little help to students.b The activities of Web-based learning focus on educational aims and pedagogical needs. The content of Web-based learning represents only the mainstream culture.b People with high socioeconomic status have the ability to determine the development and structure of the content of Web-based learning.b All school subjects can be mediated by Internet technology to facilitate students learning. The method and degree of IT integration can influence the model and content of Web-based learning. The Web-based learning model is the best choice of contemporary learning models. The proliferation of Web-based learning can reduce the use of other methods of teaching and learning.b The virtual interaction on the Internet can promote a superior teacherstudent relationship. The virtual community on the Internet can provide students with more freedom for interactions. Web-based interaction is more attractive than face-to-face interaction for me.

23 25 26 28 29 31 32
aThis

Pedagogy Pedagogy Pedagogy Pedagogy Community relationship Community relationship Community relationship
bScored

item number indicates the item order in the initial version of the WLAS. in a reverse way.

itive impacts of Internet access but also preferred to take optimistic attitudes toward Web-based learning. The community relationship scale remained relatively low (an average of 2.79 per item) compared with the others. Thus, it was proposed that at least a certain group of students had concerns about the effectiveness of virtual interactions in Web-based learning environments. Perhaps they would rather

be involved in the learning processes of authentic environments. Exploring gender differences on the scales This study compared male and female students scores on the five scales of the WLAS. The results of t tests are presented in the Table 4. As shown, the

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TABLE 3. Scale

STUDENTS SCORES

ON THE

SCALES

OF THE

WLAS SD 0.82 0.99 0.81 0.65 0.70

# of items 4 4 4 4 3

Item mean 3.96 3.61 3.66 3.63 2.79

Access Social structure Content Pedagogy Community relationship

results of this study did not reveal any significant differences between males and females on their perceptions regarding access. It suggested that they had similar attitudes toward the proliferation and development of Internet technology as a better tool to reduce the digital divide, and everyone could afford the software and hardware equipment required for Web-based learning. The results also revealed that male and female students scores on the pedagogy scale did not show statistical differences, proposing that both males and females believed in the potential helpfulness and pedagogical values in Web-based learning. However, on the social structure and content scales, female students expressed statistically more favorable attitudes toward Web-based learning than males did. Table 4 reveals that the females mean score of the social structure scale was significantly higher than that of males (p 0.001). Females tended to show more agreement with the perspective that ethnicity, parents socioeconomic status, and gender were not essential factors for determining the development and success of students information or Internet literacy. (Because the items in this scale were all scored in a reverse manner, a

higher score indicates a certain extent of disagreement for the statements about the impacts of social structure variables on Web-based learning). In other words, females believed that the Internet may not cause negative impacts on social status or equity related to education. Student responses also indicated significant gender differences on the content scale. Female students displayed more favorable attitudes toward the content on Web-based learning constructed by teachers or developers than did males. When compared to males, they showed more agreement with the perspective that the activities of Web-based learning could correspond to educational aims and pedagogical needs; they also recognized the usefulness and variety of Webbased learning content. Nevertheless, on the community relationship scale, the mean score for males was higher than that for females. Males showed relatively more preferences toward the virtual learning partners or interactions in Webbased learning environments. In summary, female students displayed better attitudes on the social structure and content scales, but males perceived better on the community relationship scale.

TABLE 4. Scale Access Social structure Content Pedagogy

GENDER COMPARISONS Gender Male Female Male Female Male Female Male Female Male Female

ON THE

SCALES

OF THE

WLAS t value 1.14 4.49** 2.17* 0.84 4.98**

Mean 3.94 3.98 3.51 3.71 3.62 3.70 3.61 3.64 2.87 2.71

SD 0.79 0.85 1.02 0.94 0.80 0.82 0.64 0.66 0.73 0.66

Community relationship *p 0.05; **p 0.001.

GENDER DIFFERENCES IN STUDENTS ATTITUDES

651 ST8: I know that many female students expressed high anxiety about the Internet and showed negative attitudes toward the computer or Web-related learning. They do not like to use computers to solve problems in learning, because they consider the Internet a masculinedominated technology. They prefer learning in an authentic and friendly environment. But I think these are traditional and out-of-date viewpoints. In modern society, everyone has her freedom and opportunities to develop her abilities and performance in schooling.

Follow-up studyinterviews with selected students In order to obtain more information for female students attitudes toward Web-based learning, 12 female students across different scores of WLAS were chosen to participate in individual in-depth interviews. The interviews allowed the students to develop their biographies on previous educational experiences with computers and Internet. Then the questions addressed the formal and informal experiences on their Web-based learning in higher education. Moreover, the interview questions explored students views about the relationship between Internet technology and educational equity, investigating their views about the digital divide. The interviewees were encouraged to construct their own stories and opinions about Web-based learning. All of the interviews were recorded by a digital recorder. It was found from examining the qualitative data that some students shared a view that social structure was an important factor for the successful outcomes of Web-based learning. For example, when asked what they thought to be the most important determinant of having access to Web-based learning, they responded as follows:
ST2: In aboriginal areas, students had few opportunities for Internet access because their parents could not afford the software and hardware equipment required for Web-based learning. If I lived in a rural area or aboriginal region, I would not have sufficient Internet equipment, because the infrastructure of the Internet superhighway has not been well constructed. ST3: I think socioeconomic status is the most important factor. . . . For instance, if I want to learn something about school subjects, I can look up relevant information on the Internet. But students of parents with lower socioeconomic status may have fewer opportunities for Webbased learning because they have no computers or have limited or no access to the Internet. ST7: I think the information literacy of male students is better than that of females because males have more ability and confidence in learning and using computers. They express positive attitudes about their own personal ability and competence to work with computers. Female students frequently feel more helpless about computers because of the socially constructed barriers of gender stereotype and gendered discrimination of Chinese traditional culture such as girls should not develop their talents in technology.

Based on the interview responses above, the female students highlighted the importance of social structure factors for Web-based learning. Some students, for example, ST2 and ST3, indicated the importance of parents ability to afford software and hardware and parents socioeconomic status. In terms of gender, ST7 thought female students had disadvantages in using computers. She expressed negative attitudes toward females personal ability and competence to work with computers. ST8 probably perceived the Internet as a masculine-dominated technology, but she highlighted that gendered stereotyping is outdated and females should actively participate in Web-based learning. Participants were directly asked for their perceptions about the relationship between gender differences and Web-based learning:
ST4: I dont think gender bias is prevalent in Webbased learning. There is much information on the Internet, some good for males discussions, some adapted to female styles, and some appropriate for both males and females thinking together. ST10: I dont think I experience gender discrimination regarding the Internet technology or Web learning. I consider that the performance of Web-based learning is based on the level of ones desire. There is no rule to limit what female students can or cannot do in Web-based learning. ST12: I think gender differences in Internet technology or Web-based learning do not exist now because many females know how to advance their information literacy. Now they have more opportunities to learn by Internet technology than in the past. Internet technology can empower females and encourage them to excel in traditional male-dominated work.

ST4, ST10, and ST12 held positive attitudes about females abilities in Web-based learning. They did

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not think that gender differences still existed in Internet technology or Web-based learning, and they did not consider females failure in Web-based learning (if any) was due to the male-dominated nature of Internet technology. They considered their success or failure in Web-based learning to be their personal responsibility. Although some students believed that gender or social structure still played a role in Web-based learning, many of them became gradually aware that gender should not be an important factor affecting performance in Web-based learning. Such awareness might help them attain higher scores than males on some scales of WLAS. The interview also explored females views about community relationship in Web-based learning:
ST1: I dont like the online interaction with teachers or classmates. I dont want to interact through the cold screen. Face-to-face interaction is better than Web-based interaction. When I have questions, I can directly find my friends to help me. I dont want to spend much time connecting to the Internet to find useless information. ST11: Maybe it [Web-based learning] contains attractive materials; maybe it is easy to participate; maybe it is fun . . . but I prefer face-toface interaction. I can directly sense my teachers and classmates facial or emotional expression. I can directly ask my teacher to address my questions in the classroom. When I need help, my classmates can help me immediately.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION

The WLAS was one of the pioneering questionnaires to assess university students attitudes concerning Web-based learning. This questionnaire will also assist teachers who highlight the pedagogical purposes and values in implementing technologyintegrated instruction. In this study, we could not find significant gender differences on the WLASs access scale. This result was noteworthy because it contradicted the findings of most studies regarding the relationship between technology and gender findings suggesting computing as a masculinedominated technology, suggesting the gendering of computer (Internet) technologies, and characterizing females relationship to the computer as problematic or disadvantaged.15,19,20,25 This study found that male and female students held statistically similar attitudes on the dimension of access to Internet technology for learning. Furthermore, this study showed significant gender differences in certain aspects of university students attitudes toward Web-based learning in Taiwan. By and large, males tended to have more favorable attitudes toward Web-based learning than females did on the community relationship scale. Males showed relatively higher preferences for the virtual learning partners or interactions in Webbased learning environments. On the social structure scale, however, females showed better attitudes than males did. Female students, compared to males, did not strongly agree that ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and gender influenced their achievement in Web-based learning. Although some female students proposed during interviews that these factors are related to Web-based learning, many of them did not think contemporary females should hold such a view. Moreover, based on the WLAS responses, female students showed more favorable attitudes toward the content of Web-based learning than males; and they perceived the helpfulness, variety, and educational values provided by the content of Web-based learning environments. In summary, the findings derived from this study did not totally parallel what had been found in prior computer-related, Internet, and Web-based attitude studies.15,19,26 Female students did not always show unfavorable attitudes toward Web-based learning. In some aspects, such as access and pedagogical values of Web-based learning, female students expressed attitudes statistically similar to those of males. More importantly, female students tended to display better attitudes toward the social structure and content involved in Web-based learning.

Female students did not show positive attitudes toward community relationship in Web-based learning. They preferred authentic learning environments where face-to-face interactions were allowed, concurring with their lower scores on the WLAS community relationship scale. In general, most interviewed students did not express clearly negative attitudes toward the dimensions of access and pedagogy involved in Webbased learning. They focused on the social inequity about the Internet and Web-based learning and considered ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and gender as important factors for students performance gap in Web-based learning. However, many students also felt that gender should not be an important factor influencing performance in Web-based learning. Moreover, although they expressed positive attitudes toward the advantages of Web-based learning, they did not demonstrate high preferences for online interaction.

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653 3. Chou C, Tsai C-C. Developing Web-based curricula: issues and challenges. Journal of Curriculum Studies 2002; 34:62336. 4. Tsai C-C. The interpretation construction design model for teaching science and its applications to Internet-based instruction in Taiwan. International Journal of Educational Development 2001; 21:40115. 5. Tsai C-C. Beyond cognitive and metacognitive tools: the use of the Internet as an epistemological tool for instruction. British Journal of Educational Technology 2004; 35:52536. 6. Khan BH. Discussion of resources and attributes of the Web for the creation of meaningful learning environments. CyberPsychology & Behavior 2000; 3:1723. 7. Mitra A, Steffensmeire T. Changes in student attitudes and student computer use in a computer-enriched environment. Journal of Research on Technology in Education 2000; 32:41733. 8. Hong KS, Ridzuan AA, Kuek MK. Students attitudes toward the use of the Internet for learning: a study at a university in Malaysia. Educational Technology & Society 2003; 6:459. 9. Riffell S, Sibley D. Using Web-based instruction to improve large undergraduate biology courses: an evaluation of a hybrid course format. Computers & Education 2005; 44:21735. 10. Crews M, Feinberg M. Perceptions of university students regarding the digital divide. Social Science Computer Review 2002; 20:11623. 11. Wilson KR, Wallin JS, Reiser C. Social stratification and the digital divide. Social Science Computer Review 2003; 21:13343. 12. Bunderson ED, Christensen ME. An analysis of retention problems form female students in university computer science programs. Journal of Research on Computing in Education 1995; 28:118. 13. Reinen IJ, Plomp T. Information technology and gender equality: a contradiction in terminus? Computers & Education 1997; 28:6578. 14. Bimber B. Measuring the gender gap on the Internet. Social Science Quarterly 2000; 81:86876. 15. Durndell A, Haag Z, Laithwaite H. Computer self-efficacy and gender: a cross-cultural study of Scotland and Romania. Personality and Individual Differences 2000; 28:103744. 16. Sussman NM, Tyson DH. Sex and power: gender differences in computer-mediated interactions. Computers in Human Behavior 2000; 16:38194. 17. Jackson LA, Ervin KS, Gardner PD, Schmitt N. Gender and the Internet: women communicating and men searching. Sex Roles 2001; 44:36379. 18. Shashaani L, Khalili A. Gender and computers: similarities and differences in Iranian college students attitudes toward computers. Computers & Education 2001; 37:36375. 19. Durndell A, Haag Z. Computer self-efficacy, computer anxiety: attitudes towards the Internet and reported experience with the Internet, by gender, in an

Obviously, Web-based learning should help both males and females to perceive themselves as imaginative and collaborative learners. Moreover, there should be many efforts to eliminate the barriers to participation and the stereotypes that may constrain the opportunities and choices for females. Since the Internet is one of the main technologies supported in schooling and learning environments, students attitudes would affect their technology utilization for education. Consequently, measuring Internet or Web-based learning attitudes with adequate validity and reliability is an important issue in Webbased learning research. This study could be viewed as one of the beginning attempts to obtain such measures. Future studies can use the WLAS developed in this study to assess views about Web-based learning held by different cultural groups or students in different nations. In addition, by using WLAS, researchers and policymakers can explore the views of students of various ages, educational levels, and backgrounds and then make more appropriate decisions regarding Web-based learning for different groups of learners. The views held by teachers may also be important for collection through the WLAS. Moreover, new scales or items can be added to the WLAS for a fuller exploration of students views about Web-based learning. For example, perspectives from the sociology of education, instructional psychology, and motivational psychology can enhance future version of the WLAS. In addition, this study conducted interviews only with selected female students; future studies should include male students for a more adequate comparison between genders. With a better understanding of students views toward Web-based learning, the implementation of Web-based learning can reach its success.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Funding of this research work is supported by the National Science Council (grant numbers NSC 932524-S-009-003 and NSC 94-2524-S-009-003), Taiwan.

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Address reprint requests to: Professor Chin-Chung Tsai Graduate School of Technological and Vocational Education National Taiwan University of Science and Technology #43, Sec. 4, Keelung Road, Taipei, 106, Taiwan

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E-mail: cctsai@mail.ntust.edu.tw