Analysis of utility and use of a web-based tool for digital signal processing teaching by means of a technological acceptance model

Analysis o u ili y and use o a web-based ool o digi al signal p ocessing eaching by means o a echnological accep ance model S.L. To al * , F. Ba e o, M.R. Ma ı ´nez-To es Depa men o Elec onic Enginee ing, Uni e si y o Se ille, A da. Camino de los, Descub imien os s/n, Se ille 41092, Spain Recei ed 15 Decembe 2005; accep ed 15 Decembe 2005 Abs ac This pape p esen s an explo a o y s udy abou he de elopmen o a s uc u al and measu emen model o he echnological accep ance (TAM) o a web-based educa ional ool. The aim consis s o measu ing no only he use o his ool, bu also he ex e nal a iables wi h a significan influence in i s use o planning u u e imp o emen s. The ool, designed wi h Shockwa eeand Mac omedia Di ec o e, is a web-based educa ional en i onmen ha has been applied as a eaching me hodology in an unde g adua e cou se in ol ed wi h mode n mic op ocesso s a chi ec u es and applica ions. The p oposed me hodology may be ex ensible o simila ools and ies o fill he lack o scien ific s udies in he alida ion and accep ance o compu e -based educa ional ools. Ó2005 Else ie L d. All igh s ese ed. Keywo ds: In o ma ion sys ems heo y; Technological accep ance model; Dis ibu ed lea ning en i onmen s; In e - ac i e lea ning en i onmen s; Mul imedia/hype media sys ems 0360-1315/$ - see on ma e Ó2005 Else ie L d. All igh s ese ed. doi:10.1016/j.compedu.2005.12.003 * Co esponding au ho . Tel.: +34 954 48 12 93; ax: +34 954 48 73 73. E-mail add ess: [email p o ec ed] (S.L. To al). www.else ie .com/loca e/compedu Compu e s & Educa ion 49 (2007) 957–975 1. In oduc ion In ecen yea s he e ha e been impo an changes in enginee ing educa ion, especially in elec- ical and compu e enginee ing (ECE) educa ion, bo h in e ms o con en (cu iculum) and wha i is augh o how i is augh (deli e y o ma e ial) (Ca ley, Khosla, & Une ich, 2000; Felde , Felde , & Die z, 1998; Milliken & Ba nes, 2002; Roppel, 2000; Taylo , Hee , & Fiez, 2003; Wilson & Jennings, 2000). On he one hand, emphasis in he elec ical enginee ing field has shi ed significan ly o he design o digi al sys ems. On he o he hand, echnology ha is a ound e e y hing we do, has aken a place in he class oom. Since he ea ly days o compu e s, lea ning h ough compu e -based en i- onmen s (hype media ools, web-based educa ional suppo , simula ion en i onmen s, e c.) has d ama ically inc eased (Aedo, Dı ´az, Fe na ´ndez, Ma ı ´n, & Be langa, 2000; Almeida, Piazzalunga, Ribei o, Casemi o, & Mo eno, 2003; Bagui, 1998; Ch is ian & Belloni, 2001; Conole, Dyke, Oli e , & Seale, 2004; Me zge , Flanagina, & Zwa un, 2003; Pahl, 2003). The pedagogical alue o compu e and web-based educa ional ools has been demons a ed in a lo o si ua ions and educa ional expe iences. Bu , al hough many enhancemen s ha e been de eloped in his a ea o e he yea s, no much a en ion has been paid o scien ific analysis o alida ing he ools in o de o imp o e he eaching p ocess; once a compu e -based educa- ional ool has been designed, i is ne e alida ed o , a mos , poo ly alida ed. Howe e , wo kinds o app oaches o he ask o e-lea ning o web-based educa ional ools e alua ion can be dis inguished. The fi s one is based on a simple ques ionnai e ollowed by a basic s a is ical ea men . The majo i y o he p o ided assessmen da a in scien ific s udies co espond o his scheme. Some- imes, jus cogni i e ou comes a e conside ed (Fulle & Mo eno, 2004). O he imes, se e al dimensions abou use pe cep ions a e included. In Abdel-Qade , Bazuin, Mousa inezhad, and Pa ick (2003), o e all sa is ac ion and quali y o ma e ials a e he unique a iables aken in o accoun . Mo e elabo a ed ques ionnai es conside ing new dimensions can be ound in Che alie , C addock, Riley, and T unk (2000), A ou is, Tselios, and Ta akis (2001) and Hu ley and Lee (2005). Bu in all he cases, he da a ea men is educed o show equency o use answe s. The second kind o app oaches consis s o a mo e complex ques ionnai e ollowed by a mo e complex s a is ical s udy, usually a mul i a ia e s a is ical analysis. The e is a big diffe ence espec o he p e ious app oach: he ocus o a en ion is no only he use, sa is ac ion o effi- ciency o he ool, bu he a iables wi h an incidence o e his final esul and how hese a iables a e in e ela ed among hem. Some a emp s in his field a e wo h men ioning. In Cappel and Hayen (2004), a ques ionnai e is used o es he sa is ac ion, pe cei ed effec i eness and quali y o an e-lea ning ool. Bu his ques ionnai e includes also ques ions ela ed o some specific lea n- ing dimensions, such as cla i y o in o ma ion, easy o use, use ulness, e c. Se e al dimensions a e also used in To al, Ba e o, Ma ı ´nez-To es, Galla do, and Lillo (2005), al hough in his case a co ela ion analysis is pe o med o ex ac some conclusions abou ela ionships among dimen- sions. Some o he s udies a e based on a p e ious model aken om in o ma ion sys ems heo y: he echnological accep ance model (TAM). Basically, TAM models how use s use a echnology. In Selim (2003), Ngai, Poon, and Chan (2007) Ong, Lai, and Wang (2004) TAM is applied o a web-based and o an asynch onous e-lea ning ool. In he fi s case, he o iginal model has been used while in he nex wo cases an ex e nal dimension has been added. 958 S.L. To al e al. / Compu e s & Educa ion 49 (2007) 957–975 Following his end, his pape p oposes he applica ion o he echnological accep ance model (TAM) o alida e he applica ion o a web-based educa ional ool as a eaching me hodology and o plan u u e imp o emen s. The ool has been used in an ad anced mic op ocesso echnology cou se, included in he elecommunica ion enginee ing cu iculum a he Uni e si y o Se ille (Spain), since academic yea 2002–2003. As a diffe ence o he p e ious s udies based on TAM, his s udy conside s he mos equen ly men ioned ex e nal a iables in he li e a u e as ex e nal dimensions wi h an incidence o e TAM a iables. A me hodology o achie e he comple e model o be applied is also de ailed. The pape is o ganized as ollows. Fi s , he web-based educa ional ool and he cou se a e in oduced. Then, he me hodology used o alida e he u ili y and use o he educa ional ool is desc ibed. The fi s s ep o his me hodology consis s o alida ing a ques ionnai e using C on- bach’s alpha. Th ough his index, he main cons uc s o dimensions ela ed o he TAM model a e alida ed and a se o indica o s a e ob ained. Due o he la ge numbe o dimensions and indica o s, a p incipal componen analysis (PCA) echnique is hen applied o educe he numbe o a iables. The p incipal componen o each dimension is used o ob ain bo h a small numbe o indica o s and o measu e all he co ela ions among he diffe en de ec ed dimensions. Using he esul s o PCA analysis as a s a ing poin , a s uc u al equa ion model echnique (PLS, pa ial leas squa e) is hen applied o ob ain he final s uc u al and measu emen TAM model. The co - ela ions o PCA analysis a e used as he hypo hesis o be alida ed and he weigh o indica o s in he fi s p incipal componen is used o ob ain he minimum numbe o indica o s o be used in PLS analysis.The esul s allow bo h measu ing he use o he ool and de e mining he ex e nal a iables wi h a significan influence in his use. Fu u e imp o emen s and conclusions will be poin ed ou in he final sec ion. 2. Web-based educa ional ool o imp o e DSP eaching o unde g adua e Telecommunica ion enginee ing s udies a he Uni e si y o Se ille, was fi s o ganized in 1991. An in e media e unde g adua e digi al elec onic subjec -based on he design o ad anced embed- ded digi al sys ems and DSPs has been augh since hen. The lack o enough lab wo k in he o i- ginal o ganiza ion o s udies mo i a ed a change in 1998, sea ching o an inc emen in he p ac ical wo k. This ac , oge he wi h he necessi y o imp o ing he eaching me hodology in class ooms wi h mo e han 300 s uden s pe yea , was he s a ing poin o de elop new eaching me hods using compu e -based educa ional ools. In his app oach, i has also been aken in o accoun he new Eu opean A ea o Highe Educa ion and ECTS c edi s, which will sho ly mod- i y he eaching and lea ning p ocesses (Communique ´o he Con e ence o Minis e s esponsible o Highe Educa ion, 2003; Join decla a ion o he Eu opean Minis e s o Educa ion, 1999). The cou se has been used o each ad anced mic op ocesso s a chi ec u e connec ing ha dwa e concep s wi h so wa e and, e en, heo e ical knowledge ela ed o digi al signal p ocessing. We ha e chosen a DSP, Texas Ins umen s C3x amily, as an example o mic op ocesso a chi ec u e o ully accomplish he objec i es o he cou se; he in e nal s uc u e o C3x amily is used o explain complex embedded sys ems and i s u ili y in elecommunica ion a ea. The TMS320C3X amily is a 32 bi s floa ing poin gene al-pu pose DSP om Texas Ins umen s (TIe,h p:// www. i.com). The amily a chi ec u e ea u es p esen a cen al p ocessing module ha appea s S.L. To al e al. / Compu e s & Educa ion 49 (2007) 957–975 959 in all amily membe s and i has been designed o execu e commonly-used digi al signal p ocessing benchma ks wi h a minimum ime load o single-mul iplie a chi ec u e. These DSPs op imize speed implemen ing unc ions in ha dwa e whe eas o he p ocesso s implemen hem h ough so wa e o mic ocodes, pe o ming pa allel mul iply and ALU ope a ions on in ege o floa - ing-poin da a in a single cycle. Each p ocesso also possesses a gene al-pu pose egis e file, a p og am cache, dedica ed ARAUs, in e nal dual-access memo ies, one DMA channel suppo ing concu en I/O, and a sho machine-cycle ime. Gene al-pu pose applica ions a e g ea ly enhanced by he la ge add esses space, mul ip ocesso in e ace, in e nally and ex e nally gene - a ed wai s a es, wo ex e nal in e ace po s, wo ime s, se ial po s, and mul iple in e up s uc u e. The analyzed educa ional ool consis s o a web-si e ha has been designed (h p:// www.g e.us.es/~ ba e o/CSED/) o p omo e an asynch onous lea ning o um, a g oup wo k en i onmen o collabo a i e lea ning and a mul imedia lea ning ool. This ool has been de el- oped aking in o accoun adi ional elemen s o he TAM models: use ulness and easy o use. We ha e designed his si e o be used in diffe en eaching scena ios (lab exe cises, heo e ical lessons, sel -lea ning, e c.). S uden s can access eaching ma e ial using his ool, o cha and discuss abou he concep s o he cou se and o download da a files con aining e e ence ma e ial and class no es in pd o ma . O he capabili ies, based on da a bases p og ammed using PHP, Pe l Hype ex P ep ocesso , a e p o ided (see Figs. 1–4); s uden au o-e alua ion ool, doub , no ice and ma k boa ds, quali y inqui y o p o ide asynch onous eedback o he eaching p ocess, cha se ice. Main enance o he web si e is easily done wi h adminis a ion p o ec ed pages p og ammed using PHP. The mul imedia con en o he web-si e has been design using he Mac omediaeDi ec o so - wa e (Figs. 5–10), and i can be used in adi ional class ooms and o asynch onous and non- eyewi ness ac i e sel -lea ning o engage s uden s in ac i e ein o cemen o he concep s acqui ed in class. No ice ha Di ec o allows he de elopmen o dynamic web pages due o Shockwa e Fig. 1. Lea ning o um welcome sc een. 960 S.L. To al e al. / Compu e s & Educa ion 49 (2007) 957–975 comp ession echniques and ha a Shockwa e si e needs a b owse wi h a Shockwa e Playe plug-in ( his plug-in is sel -de ec ed and i is ee-downloadable in case o necessi y). The mul imedia con en is a igh coupling o ex , u o ials, illus a ions, ideo segmen s and anima ions ha in eg a es heo e ic concep s ela ed o TMS320C3X in e nal a chi ec u e and p ac ical expe iences o gua an ee a ‘‘lea ning by doing’’ philosophy. In ac , wo lea ning uni s ha e been designed, one de o ed o he heo e ical eaching and he o he one ela ed o p ac ical exe cises and lab wo k ca ied ou du ing he academic yea . A e a small isual in oduc ion, each uni can be accessed. Fig. 2. Teaching ma e ial access (I): download and on-line access. Fig. 3. Teaching ma e ial access (II): on-line access. S.L. To al e al. / Compu e s & Educa ion 49 (2007) 957–975 961 On he one hand, he heo e ical uni consis s o ou sec ions, plus a gene ic embedded sys ems in oduc ion. These chap e s consis o : An in oduc ion o he DSP de ices concep s and hei main applica ions. Basic ha dwa e concep s o TMS320C3X de ices: CPU and in e nal bus ope a ions, memo y o ganiza ion and ex e nal bus iming access. Fig. 4. Doub boa d. Fig. 5. Embedded sys ems: he beginnings. 962 S.L. To al e al. / Compu e s & Educa ion 49 (2007) 957–975 Basic so wa e concep s o TMS320C3X de ices: da a o ma , add essing modes and basic assemble ins uc ions. In e nal pe iphe al: ime s, se ial in e aces and DMA. On he o he hand, he p ac ical uni is based on nine chap e s ha include he necessa y didac- ic ma e ial o he implemen a ion o ou lab exe cises using a DSP s a e ki (DSK30 pla - o m). The con en o his uni is o ganized in he ollowing way: Fig. 6. TMS320C3X in e nal a chi ec u e desc ip ion. Fig. 7. TMS320C3X s a us egis e . S.L. To al e al. / Compu e s & Educa ion 49 (2007) 957–975 963 Diffe en DSP applica ions a e p esen ed; implemen a ion o audio signal p ocessing ech- niques, digi al wa e gene a o s and FIR o IIR fil e s. Some u o ials ha e been included; assemble ins uc ions and add essing modes, desc ip ion o p og am a chi ec u e, DSK30 unc ionali y and cha ac e is ics. Mo eo e , wo da abases ha e been included o allow easy access o CPU ins uc ion and in e - nal DSP egis e s desc ip ion, and a s uden au o-e alua ion ool. Fig. 8. Regis e add essing mode. Fig. 9. Lab exe cise based on audio signal p ocessing. 964 S.L. To al e al. / Compu e s & Educa ion 49 (2007) 957–975 3. Ques ionnai e alida ion To alida e he ool p e iously desc ibed, a ques ionnai e has been p epa ed o achie e he ol- lowing aims: Checking he use o he ool. Iden i ying he ex e nal a iables wi h a sensible influence in he use o he ool. The ques ionnai e, dis ibu ed among 142 s uden s o he cou se, consis s o 62 ques ions using 1–7 Like ype scale (1, s ongly disag ee; 7, s ongly ag ee). Table 1 summa izes he echnical cha o he s udy ca ied ou . The ques ionnai e (de ailed in Table 2) has g oups o ques ions o measu e se e al dimensions equen ly epo ed in he li e a u e: lea ning goal o ien a ion, applica ion specific sel -efficacy and enjoymen (Aga wal & Ka ahanna, 2000; Yi & Hwang, 2003), ocused imme sion, cu iosi y, play ulness and olun a iness (Aga wal & Ka ahanna, Fig. 10. One o he included da abases: ins uc ion da abase. Table 1 Technical cha o he s udy Uni e se S uden s wi h pe sonal expe ience wi h he ool In o ma ion ga he ing me hod Pe sonal su ey Sample uni S uden s who has a ended he DSP cou se Popula ion census 155 Sample size 142 Sample e o 3.15% Reliabili y le el 99%, Z= 2.58, p=q= 0.5 Sample p ocedu e The su ey was di ec ed o he o ally o he s uden a ending he DSP cou se Da e o he field s udy The su ey was ca ied ou in May, 2004 S.L. To al e al. / Compu e s & Educa ion 49 (2007) 957–975 965 Table 5 PLS esul s Indica o Load Consis ency Disc iminan alidi y ASSE E C P EOU U UI Us ASSE ASSE6 0.7465 0.894 0.793 0.351 0.500 0.425 0.614 0.482 0.476 0.483 ASSE7 0.8248 ASSE8 0.8126 ASSE9 0.7841 ASSE10 0.7923 E E1 0.8884 0.907 0.351 0.875 0.516 0.421 0.432 0.490 0.463 0.397 E2 0.8752 E3 0.8606 C C1 0.7757 0.875 0.500 0.516 0.837 0.744 0.441 0.539 0.461 0.396 C2 0.9146 C3 0.8135 P P1 0.9473 0.965 0.425 0.421 0.744 0.949 0.347 0.406 0.289 0.295 P2 0.9622 P3 0.9381 EOU EOU1 0.7545 0.930 0.614 0.432 0.441 0.347 0.830 0.429 0.386 0.387 EOU2 0.8399 EOU3 0.8928 EOU4 0.8502 EOU5 0.8607 EOU6 0.7704 U U1 0.8571 0.956 0.482 0.490 0.539 0.406 0.429 0.885 0.524 0.384 U2 0.8949 U3 0.8970 U4 0.9111 U5 0.8853 U6 0.8662 UI UI1 0.9538 0.953 0.476 0.463 0.461 0.289 0.386 0.524 0.954 0.547 UI2 0.9534 Us Us1 0.9210 0.926 0.483 0.397 0.396 0.295 0.387 0.384 0.547 0.928 Us2 0.9358 Table 6 Pa h coefficien s able (T-s a is ic) Us UI U EOU ASSE E C P Us 0.000 9.250 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 UI 0.000 0.000 5.292 2.592 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 U 0.000 0.000 0.000 3.127 0.000 0.000 6.474 0.000 EOU 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 6.165 3.204 0.000 0.000 ASSE 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 E 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 C 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 2.917 2.804 0.000 8.916 P 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 3.904 3.429 0.000 0.000 972 S.L. To al e al. / Compu e s & Educa ion 49 (2007) 957–975 5. Conclusion A web-based educa ional ool, designed wi h Shockwa eeand Mac omedia Di ec o ehas been p esen ed as a eaching me hodology in an unde g adua e cou se in ol ed wi h ad anced mic op ocesso s a chi ec u es and hei applica ions. The ool has been designed aking in o accoun he majo a iables o he TAM model. In o de o measu e i s use and o imp o e he educa ional ool, a ques ionnai e has been de eloped and alida ed wi h he C onbach’s alpha es ima o o eliabili y. Then, p incipal componen analysis is inco po a ed as a p io i heo e ical and measu emen model o ob ain he hypo heses and he indica o s o measu e each o he iden- ified cons uc s o dimensions. Finally, PLS echnique has been applied o analyze he measu e- men model and s uc u al model concu en ly in o de o alida e he p e ious se o hypo heses and indica o s. Two ypes o conclusions ha e been ob ained. Fi s , he final use o he ool; mo e han 80% o he s uden s ha e na iga ed h ough he 44% o he ool con en s. Second, he ex e - nal a iables wi h a significan influence in his use: applica ion specific sel -efficacy (easy na iga- ion h ough he web-si e is gua an ied due o he connec ion be ween class oom and web-si e con en s), enjoymen , play ulness and cu iosi y. These a iables can be imp o ed p omo ing in e - ac i i y and coope a i e lea ning. No ice ha he p oposed s udy could be ex ended o any web-based educa ional ool, because he measu emen o he accep ance and he iden ifica ion o he ex e nal a iables is he only way o knowing i an educa ional ool is p ope ly wo king in a specific eaching me hodology, playing he ole i was designed o . Re e ences Abdel-Qade , I. M., Bazuin, B. J., Mousa inezhad, H. S., & Pa ick, J. K. (2003). Real- ime digi al signal p ocessing in he unde g adua e cu iculum. IEEE T ansac ions on Educa ion, 46(1), 95–101. Aedo, P., Dı ´az, P., Fe na ´ndez, C., Ma ı ´n, G. 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An empi ical in es iga ion o s uden accep ance o cou se websi es. Compu e s & Educa ion, 40, 343–360. Taylo , R. L., Hee , D., & Fiez, T. S. (2003). Using an in eg a ed pla o m o lea ning o ein en enginee ing educa ion. IEEE T ansac ion on Educa ion, 46(4), 409–419. To al, S. L., Ba e o, F., Ma ı ´nez-To es, M. R., Galla do, S., & Lillo, J. (2005). Implemen a ion o a web-based educa ional ool o digi al signal p ocessing eaching using he echnological accep ance model. IEEE T ansac ions on Educa ion, 48(4), 632–641. Wilson, J., & Jennings, W. (2000). S udio cou ses: How in o ma ion echnology is changing he way we each, on campus and off. P oceedings o he IEEE, 88, 72–80. Yi, M. Y., & Hwang, Y. (2003). P edic ing he use o web-based in o ma ion sys ems: sel -efficacy, enjoymen , lea ning goal o ien a ion, and he echnology accep ance model. In e na ional Jou nal o Human–Compu e S udies, 59, 431–449. Se gio L. To al Ma ı ´nwas bo n in Raba , Mo occo, in 1972. He ecei ed he elec ical enginee ing and Ph.D. deg ees a Uni e si y o Se ille in 1995 and 1999, espec i ely. He is cu en ly a ull P o esso a he Elec onic Enginee ing Depa men o he Uni e si y o Se ille. His esea ch in e es s include mic op ocesso and DSP de ices sys ems, e-lea ning ools and hei e alua ion, s ochas ic p ocessing and hei indus ial applica ions. 974 S.L. To al e al. / Compu e s & Educa ion 49 (2007) 957–975 Fede ico J. Ba e o Ga cı ´awas bo n in Se ille, Spain, in 1967. He ecei ed he elec ical enginee ing and Ph.D. deg ees a Uni e si y o Se ille in 1992 and 1998, espec i ely. In 1992 he joined he Elec onic Enginee ing Depa men a he Uni e si y o Se ille, whe e he p esen ly main ains a ull P o esso posi ion. His cu en in e es s include mic op o- cesso and DSP de ices sys ems, e-lea ning and mul imedia educa ional ools, uzzy logic-based sys em, and con ol o Elec ical D i es and Powe Elec onic. Rocı ´o Ma ı ´nez To es was bo n in Mad id, Spain, in 1973. She ecei ed he deg ee in Business Adminis a ion in 1996 and he Ph. D. deg ee om he Uni e si y o Se ille, Spain, in 2003. She is cu en ly a ull P o esso a Business Adminis a ion and Ma ke ing Depa men o he Uni e si y o Se ille. He esea ch in e es s include in ellec ual capi al and knowledge managemen , and accep ance o e-lea ning ools. S.L. To al e al. / Compu e s & Educa ion 49 (2007) 957–975 975