Exploring Pre-service Teachers’ Awareness on Using Social Networking Sites: Are they ready for digital citizenship?
Undergraduate students have been widely-adopted Social Networking Sites (SNSs) such as Facebook. Some issues were discussed among users concerning the users’ netiquette. For users like pre-service teachers who may or may not use SNSs for their communication tools in near future, however, there is a need for teacher education institutes to prepare their digital citizenship. This study examined three hundred and seventy seven pre-service teachers of the awareness of SNSs communication behaviors. Quantitative data indicated that the number of network friends was the most significant factors effects to SNSs communication behaviors and awareness. Qualitative data from the open-ended question revealed the need to revise the ED-TECH course for pre-service teachers to have more deep understanding on digital citizenship.
How Facebook Connects Students’ Group Work Collaboration: A Relationship between Personal Facebook Usage and Group Engagement
This study examined the relationship between the personal value of social networking technology, the frequency of Facebook use, the frequency of Facebook activities, and group engagement. The samples were 205 pre-service teachers who participated in the six-week online group project. Questionnaires were collected after the pre-service teachers submitted the project. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and correlation analysis to identify relations among variables. The results showed that 98% of pre-service teachers expanded their network by adding group members to their Facebook friends during the project assignment. The study found no relationship between personal purposive values of social networking technology and group engagement. Although 58.4% of the students used Facebook many times a day, the frequency of usage was largely related to personal interests rather than being relevant to group communication and engagement with the project assignment. However, there were significant but slight correlations between the Facebook activity “view others’ status to update social events” and group engagement; between “private messages” and group engagement; between “set up and share events” and group engagement; between “commenting” and group engagement; and between “clicking like” and group engagement. Therefore, educators should integrate their instructional strategy with the virtual learning environment to promote students’ group engagement via social networking sites.
Ultrathin Wafer Pre-Assembly and Assembly Process Technologies: A Review
Ultrathin silicon wafer technology is reviewed in terms of the semiconductor applications, critical challenges, and wafer pre-assembly and assembly process technologies and their underlying mechanisms. Mechanical backgrinding has been the standard process for wafer thinning in the semiconductor industry owing to its low cost and productivity. As the thickness requirement of wafers is reduced to below 100 μm, many challenges are being faced due to wafer/die bow, mechanical strength, wafer handling, total thickness variation (TTV), dicing, and packaging assembly. Various ultrathin wafer processing and assembly technologies have been developed to address these challenges. These include wafer carrier systems to handle ultrathin wafers; backgrinding subsurface damage and surface roughness reduction, and post-grinding treatment to increase wafer/die strength; improved wafer carrier flatness and backgrinding auto-TTV control to improve TTV; wafer dicing technologies to reduce die sidewall damage to increase die strength; and assembly methods for die pick-up, die transfer, die attachment, and wire bonding. Where applicable, current process issues and limitations, and future work needed are highlighted.