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Mobile and Game Usage, Gender and Attitude Towards Computing Degrees

  • Conference paper
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ICT Education (SACLA 2017)

Part of the book series: Communications in Computer and Information Science ((CCIS,volume 730))

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Abstract

There is a global demand for graduates with computing skills as well as a global shortage of computing professionals, especially women. In Africa these shortages are even more critical. To resolve this problem, studies in the past have argued for increased computing usage in schools that would lead to increased interest in computing degrees. Recently computing usage in the form of mobile devices and mobile gaming has increased substantially in schools, yet in South Africa interest in studying computing at a tertiary level has not increased substantially. Hence, this paper aims to determine whether mobile and gaming usage impacts school learners’ attitude towards computer related degrees. A survey of 292 South African secondary school learners confirms low interest in computing degrees, especially by girls, as well as misperceptions of computing degrees. An IT Usage Attitude Model is proposed and validated in which mobile and gaming usage vary substantially based on gender but usage does not influence attitude towards computing degrees.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    At the same time, unemployment rates are high in SA among low-skilled citizens.

  2. 2.

    Approval was acquired from the Education Board, Ethics Committee of our university and the respective schools.

  3. 3.

    Is this perhaps a technological saturation effect? For comparison, is there any correclation between nowadays ubiquitous availability of motor cars and student enrolment numbers in automotive engineering?

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Information Systems, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa

    Eleftherios A. Nicolau & Lisa F. Seymour

Authors
  1. Eleftherios A. Nicolau
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  2. Lisa F. Seymour
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Correspondence to Lisa F. Seymour .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. North-West-University , Potchefstroom, South Africa

    Janet Liebenberg

  2. University of Pretoria , Pretoria, South Africa

    Stefan Gruner

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Nicolau, E.A., Seymour, L.F. (2017). Mobile and Game Usage, Gender and Attitude Towards Computing Degrees. In: Liebenberg, J., Gruner, S. (eds) ICT Education. SACLA 2017. Communications in Computer and Information Science, vol 730. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69670-6_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69670-6_5

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