Association between the Using Goals of Computer and Self-regulated Learning Ability in Primary School Student Focusing on Gender Differences

The purpose of the present research was to examine the relationship between the using goals of computer and self-regulated learning ability on the gender difference. To accomplish this goal, we have analyzed the data of Korea Children and Youth Panel Survey III which is nationally collected from primary school students, currently on the 6th grade in South Korea. 2,219 samples were used in the study excluding missing samples. The participants were 1167 males (49.5%) and 1052 females (50.5%). The mean age was 13.94 years (SD=.25). As results, female students spent more time on using computer than male students did: (1) the male students' time spent on Playing game was significantly larger than that of female students, but (2) on the rest seven using goals of computer including e-Learning/Information retrieval for learning, the female students spent significantly more time than the male students did. Also, in terms of the self-regulated learning ability, using computer for e-Learning/Information retrieval for learning itself gave significantly positive effects on both male and female students' self-regulated learning ability. On the other hand, Playing game gave significantly negative effects on both. Based on the results, some strategies were suggested on the proper use of computer for learning.