Research Finding:
Students use the World Wide Web for different
purposes and with limited ability.
Comment
The typical student believes that the Web is an important
part of his or her life, is a "good" or "excellent" source
of information, means to communicate and source of
entertainment.
Most students use the Web for one-two hours per week.
Approximately 50 percent believe that they are very
skilled at using the Web. Use is primarily for education
or diversion.
Student use of the Web takes place, in descending
order, at home, school, a friend's house, the public
library and other.
When students avoid using the Web at school the reasons
are to spend time with friends, avoid negative content
attributed to the Web, or due to slow access.
Age, gendr and grade point average are predictors
of type of use. Boys tend to use the Web for easy access
to entertainment, for something to do when bored, for
access to materials otherwise unavailable, for product
information and technical support, and for games and
sexually explicit sites. Girls use the Web for research
and learning, for communication and social interaction
and for consumer transactions.
While students report that they are using the Web
for research and learning most of the time, in fact
they choose commercial sites, only a quarter of which
were suitable for academic purposes, over educational
or government sites.
The greatest need fore research and development is
connected to "learning and teaching", particularly
as related to information literacy, and action research
is a promising model for TLs to learn and to employ.
Source
Ebersole, S. (1999). Adolescents' use of the World
Wide Web in ten public schools: A uses and gratification
approach. Ph.D. dissertation. University of Southern
Colorado
