| Effects of Web-based instruction on the self-efficacy perceptions of minority students in at-risk learning situations were examined. Specifically, this research describes different aspects of Web-based instruction that may have contributed to positive changes in the self-efficacy perceptions of the students. Special attention was given to the types of interaction that emerged among students while using Web-based instruction and the nature of their participation.;A case study was conducted at a lower-income level school in the San Francisco Bay Area to observe how struggling minority students used Web-based instruction in a computer lab environment. 90 students participated in this case study.;This research examined the effects of Web-based instruction on the self-efficacy perceptions of minority students in at-risk learning situations and its impact on self-efficacy through peer interaction, collaborative learning and information sharing, language use, and students pursuing their own interests. It provides information on how Web-based instruction could affect self-efficacy perceptions through communication and interaction in a real-life remedial setting. Data were obtained through interviews, observations, and survey measurements of self-efficacy, taken before and after exposure to Web-based instruction.;This study suggests and reveals how Web-based instruction can promote peer tutoring, collaboration, code switching and pursuing one's owns interests; factors which may play a key role in generating or sustaining the link between students' self-efficacy perceptions and the use of Web-based instruction. It describes how Web-based instruction provided the students with information and how the finding and sharing of that information created new opportunities for students to talk, verbalize strategies, code switch and practice and use words.;A two-tailed t-test comparison revealed significantly higher perceptions of self-efficacy scores for 7th and 8th grade remedial students at post-test. Self-efficacy scores were statistically significant when controlling for Academic Achievement, for Enlisting Social Resources, for Self-Regulatory Learning, Self-Regulatory Efficacy and Enlisting Parental Support. A two-tailed t-test comparison revealed modest changes in the self-efficacy perceptions for the 4th graders after being exposed to Web-based instruction.;The findings described in this dissertation point researchers and teachers toward ways in which they can positively affect the self-efficacy of minority students through Web-based instruction. |
