social receptivity (e.g. multicultural understanding, respect and tolerance of differences),
socialization (e.g. language fluency, ICT skills and communication skills) and social
fulfillment (e.g. leadership, teamwork). There are substantial studies investigating the
effect of ICT on educational performance.
Even though each study interprets ICT use and educational performance according
to their own perspectives, ICT skills and the types of ICT use were major components in
attempting to understand the impact of ICT on educational performance. For example,
Valentine et al. (2005) claimed that the use of ICT is helpful for learners to learn useful
knowledge and skills, and to have confidence and motivation. Lei and Zhao (2007)
explored the question whether both quantity and quality of ICT use have an impact on
learners’ achievements in specific subject areas in middle schools. Selwyn et al. (2009)
investigated the use of ICT by primary students at school and home, and their impact
on their learning gains. Most previous studies have investigated the impact of ICT use
on learning outcomes limited to domain-specific cognitive development, such as
mathematics, languages and science, with relatively small-scale investigations (Condie
and Munro, 2007; Eng, 2005). Certainly, the OECD (2005) did report that a fair amount
use of ICT over time improved mathematical performance in a large-scale investigation
of international levels, but it was still limited to learning performance in specific subject
areas. Based on previous studies, this study specified ICT use focused on activity types
rather than on skills or proficiency, and educational performance as competency in
cognitive, affective and socio-cultural domains.
3. Method
A nation-wide survey was conducted in 2008 to investigate the impact of ICT use on
educational performance. The participants were 1,071 first-year high school students
(15-year olds) comprised of 562 males and 509 females. Of all students, 67.1 percent
reported that they had been using computers for between 5 and 10 years, and 18.8 percent
formore than ten years, 11.0 percent for less thanfive years, followed by 3.1 percent for less
than three years. No students in the study had used computers all their lives.
The measurement scales for ICT use and educational performance were adapted
from the study conducted by Kang et al. (2008). The measurement items for ICT use
included 32 items to investigate students’ use of ICT (Cronbach’s a ¼ 0.88). Additionally,
ten items were added to collect general information about the respondents. A four-point