This article lies at the crossroads of education, technology, and culture, examining the assumption that societal cultures can exert influence on educational technologies. It is informed by a hypothesis that educational technology is not merely a matter of education and technology alone but is also about the societal culture wherein that educational technology is implemented. The study explores those societally and culturally informed factors that promote the rejection of educational technologies. It answers the research question: To what extent do societal (...) cultures challenge educational technologies? This question is addressed by carrying out a quantitative enquiry into Israel and Saudi Arabia. Having analyzed the collected data using an exploratory factor analysis, societally and culturally directed factors were revealed that flew in the face of educational technologies. The theoretical proposition that could be drawn from this is that educational technologies can be rejected not based on educational or technological interests alone but rather based on societally and culturally promoted anxieties. The recommendation for research policy is thus that, when researching an educational technology, there should be constant consideration of how societally and culturally compatible it is with the wider societal culture wherein it will be or already is situated. (shrink)

BackgroundThe main purpose of this study was to describe the latent structure of pregnancy perception by investigating the role of risks and medical examinations in pregnancy perception across the sexes and pregnancy status.MethodsStudy 1 developed a questionnaire based on the responses of 29 young adults on their perception of pregnancy. Study 2 consisted of distributing the questionnaire among 290 participants.ResultsThe statistical clustering analysis revealed three major clusters of pregnancy perceptions: “evaluative,” “physio-medical,” and “future considerations,” each of them encompassing several meaningful (...) sub-clusters. This structure of pregnancy perceptions supports Beck and Beck-Gernsheim’s modernization approach. Negative emotions toward pregnancy were related to social cognitions, whereas thoughts about risks were included in the medical sub-cluster. After reliability analyses, comparisons of scale scores revealed that women experienced more positive emotions, thought more about physical symptoms and about future issues compared to men.ConclusionPregnant participants felt less ambivalence toward pregnancy, thought more about risks and medical examinations and less about parents’ duties than non-pregnant participants. (shrink)