Email: d.soares@my.westminster.ac.uk

Director of Studies: Dr Tom Buchanan,

Supervisors, Carol Pearson and Dr Laura Boubert

David graduated in Brazil in 2001 in mathematics and education and soon started teaching mathematics in England to youngsters in secondary education. Whilst teaching mathematics, he graduated in Psychology (Hons) and recently completed his Masters at Sheffield University in Psychoanalytical Studies. David now is Head of Psychology at a large secondary school in North London and is thoroughly enjoying his research in how virtual learning environments impact on students’ academic performance.

His project aims to explore whether psychological variables influence students’ uptake of technologies. Moreover, his study will offer a critical analysis of the Technology Acceptance Model as a relevant application for similar studies and potentially recommend additional psychological variables to be added to this classical model. Furthermore, it will also provide an evaluation of the usefulness of the Technology Acceptance Model on students’ uptake of virtual learning environments in schools, revealing if other psychological variables influence this uptake or if this model is sufficient to explain students’ behaviour.

The research will be valuable to those in the teaching profession.  The main results could be integrated into their academic routine where possible psychological barriers to learning could be identified, and strategies to overcome such issues put in place, thus improving students and teachers’ performance