The effects of an Internet skill-building module on safety and environmental graduate students' Internet anxiety, likelihood to use the Internet, and learning Internet/Intranet content.

摘要

The use of technology in training has grown a great deal over the past five years, and the tools have improved which has produced several changes in the way training is being designed and delivered. These delivery methods include the Internet, and electronic performance support systems. Today's trainers must possess a different set of skills needed to perform in an increasingly technological environment. At the present time, little research is available on the effects of Internet anxiety, and most of the related research revolves around computer anxiety. The study was designed to examine the effects of an Internet Skill-Building Module on Safety Management graduate students' likelihood to use the Internet, Internet anxiety, and learning Internet/Intranet content. This study's results would benefit current and prospective safety professionals, human resource managers, and other training providers. The significant findings in this study are encouraging considering the short duration of the treatment. These findings suggest four conclusions. First, the Internet Skill-Building Module did reduce the Internet anxiety among the safety and environmental management graduate students (Research Question 1). Second, the Internet Skill-Building Module was effective at increasing the safety and environmental management graduate students' likelihood to use the Internet (Research Question 2). Third, the Internet Skill-Building Module was effective at increasing the Internet knowledge of the safety and environmental graduate students (Research Question 3). Finally, Internet knowledge (high or low) was found to be a significant factor in predicting the Internet anxiety of the safety and environmental graduate student, but only at the pretest data collection point (Research Question 4).