New technology, new role of parents: How parents' beliefs and behavior affect students' digital media self-efficacy

摘要

Increasingly more research is exploring how digital media can be used for teaching but is largely focused on how teachers shape technology use. Besides teachers in the classroom, parents at home may also have a pivotal role in shaping students' beliefs towards digital media which are in turn an important precursor to students' use of technology for learning. Previous research shows parent factors are related to students' ICT self-efficacy; however, the underlying mechanisms explaining these relations are less clear. Following Eccles et al.'s parent socialization model (1983), we investigate whether parents' behaviors including modeling and provision of digital media mediate the relation between parents' beliefs regarding digital media and students' digital media self-efficacy. Data were drawn from parent and student questionnaires collected as part of a study to investigate conditions for successful digital media use in classrooms (N = 1206 students and their parents). Results show while parents' beliefs are related to students' digital media self-efficacy, only parents' provision of smart phones mediates this relation. Findings indicate the importance of parents' beliefs regarding digital media and the need for future research into at home factors that influence students' digital media self-efficacy.