UK students and the Net Generation

assumption students inherently inclined towards using the internet as a source of information, and disposed towards academic use of the internet.


Broad et al. (2004: 137): motivation behind the integration of the internet into HE driven by ‘internal political pressures’ rather than by sound educational rationales.


burgeoning literature on HE and the use of ICT - here's another one


academic use of the internet is heavily entwined with leisure uses, and tends to be curtailed by issues of cost and time


discouraged from using ICT due to access limitations and the cost of personal ownership of equipment


‘more due to matters of “digital choice” rather than “digital divide”’ Brotcorne (2005)


influenced by perceptions of usefulness, ease-of-use and other psychological attitudes


differences in the quality of internet access [...] in terms of differences between ‘public’ and ‘private’ locations of use (Hassania, 2006).


institutional and faculty support and resourcing (Eynon, 2005).


(Cotton and Jelenewicz, 2006) divisions along the lines of gender, race, educational background and/or technological experience.


research needs to provide a more holistic view of students’ actual use of the internet in their studies as opposed to what they could or should be doing


results:
internet for educational information was ranked lower than communicative and social software uses, higher proportions reporting frequent use for email, chat-room and social-software applications such as blogging, myspace.


A significant difference in terms of the context of internet access – ‘private’ access to their own computer more likely to report looking for information about university studies/assignments than the 10% who were restricted to accessing the internet in shared settings


female significantly more likely than male to look for information about university studies/assignments


no significant differences were discernable in terms of students’ ethnic background, age, year of study or educational background


notable differences in terms of subject discipline


traditionally reported barriers to student internet use (deficiencies in terms of access, skill and know-how) appear to be steadily diminishing


minority of students whose use appeared to be compromised either by their reliance on shared, public access points (10%) or lack of competence and/or confidence (1% ‘novices’) [...] these students’ needs should not be overlooked amidst future moves to cater for the majority of competent and confident internet-using students.


consistent differences were apparent in terms of students’ gender and subject of study
during the 1980s and 1990s men’s dominance (Sutton, 1991). Now assumed gender differences have all but disappeared (Mossberger et al., 2003), any differences which do remain are in terms of female reticence. Our data suggest making online learning and internet-based information attractive to male students. Backed up by what other recent research? research should be conducted along more longitudinal lines than the ‘snap-shot’ nature of the present data set


subject departments could be encouraged to further consider how online information sources can be made to better ‘fit’ with the demands and nature of the different subject areas


have not examined the nature, quality or effectiveness of this engagement.