Student use of ICT

Oltean Horia/Q10863290/EUR168

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Student Name: Horia Oltean

Student Number : Q10863290

Faculty: FBSE

Level of study: 5

Course title: International Research Skills

Unit title: EUR168

Assignment title: An investigation of student use of ICT

(Intermediate and Communications Technology) for social purposes

Assignment tutor: John Holder

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Table of contents:1.0 Introduction……………………………………………………………………………………2

1.1 ICT……………………………………………………………………………………………..3

2.0 The Survey………………………………………………………………………………………3

2.1 Usage of social media networks…………………………………………………..4

2.2 Usage of ICT devices related to social media………………………………

6

2.3 Age of students and usage of social media………………………………….7

2.4 Nationality of students………………………………………………………………….7

2.5 Daily average time spent on social media

networks…………………..9

2.6 How many ICT do students own…………………………………………………..10

3.0 Conclusions and reflections……………………………………………………………12

4.0 Reference list………………………………………………………………………………….13

Table of figures:Figure 1: Age…………………………………………………………………………………………….7

Figure 2: Nationality………………………………………………………………………………..8

Figure 3: Usage of social media networks………………………………………………4

Figure 4: Purpose of social media…………………………………………………………..6

Figure 5: Daily usage of social media……………………………………………………..10

Figure 6: Usage of ICT devices in relation with social media

networks…6

Figure 7: Twitter in UK………………………………………………………………………………9

Figure 8: How many ICT devices do students

own? ..........................11

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Figure 9: What devices do students

use? ......................................12

Appendix Appendix 1; Ethics release form……………………………………………………………….15

Appendix 2; The Questionnaire…………………………………………………………………17

An investigation of students’ use of ICT

(Intermediate and Communications Technology) for

social purposes.

1. Introduction

Over the past two decades, Information Technology (IT) has

broadened to become Information and Communication Technology

(ICT), and has become better established within schools

(Abbott, 2001). Many claims have been made about its potential

contribution to pupils’ learning (Pachler, 1999) and official

rhetoric has presented it as set to ‘transform education’

(Blair, 1997).

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The student use of ICT for social media purposes will be

researched in the following report. For this, a survey has

been carried out to gather useful date from a broader spectrum

of nationalities within the university. For this,

surveymonkey.com has been used to create and examine the

findings of the survey.

A survey may be occasioned simply by a need for administrative

facts on some aspects of public life; or be designed to

investigate a cause–effect relationship or to throw fresh

light on some aspect of sociological theory. When it comes to

subject matter, all one can say is that surveys are concerned

with the demographic characteristics, the social environment,

the activities, or the opinions and attitudes of some group of

people (Moser and Kalton 1971).

The survey resulted in 31 responses from students currently

studying in different countries with mixed nationalities.

As Youngman (1982) stated, there are 7 types of questions that

will help make the analysis of the questionnaire easier. These

7 types of questions are: open/verbal, list, category,

ranking, quantity, grid, scale.

Finally, the analysis will show to what purpose and how

important ICT devices and social media networks are in the

life of students.

1.1 ICTPage 3 of 27


Due to passing of time and technology constantly upgrading andchanging, there is no universal definition for ICT.

However, ICT (information and communications technology) couldbe defined as a broad term that defines any communicationdevice such as: radio, television, cell phones, computers, aswell as the hardware or software associated with thesedevices, although there are many other elements such as smartphones, tablets, iPods etc.

2.0 The survey

The survey consists of 8 questions designed to help understanding the use of ICT for social purposes among student. The target audience for this survey where international, as well as British students. After analysing the survey it can be said that Facebook is the most used social network (this is not a general view, as the survey is limited to 31 samples).

The constant upgrade of technology has led to daily usage ofmany ICT devices and for many different purposes. If students10 years ago where using a pocket calculator, now they have asmartphone that allows them to use the internet, social media,camera and many other features in addition to a calculator.

Today we can say that some of those tools are: Facebook,Skype, Yahoo, Instagram, WhatsApp and many more.

2.1 Usage of social media networks

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Hofstede stated regarding the usage of ICT that the internet’smain purpose is to connect individuals (Hofstede , 2010).

The internet has been transformed from its primary function, apassive information source, to a fully interactive medium. Theability to ‘self-publish’ via blogs and online public forumshas allowed self-promotion and attention-seeking behaviour toexplode in modes of communication and representation –described as ‘ego casting’ (Rosen, 2005; Vilhena da Cunha,2007).

This report is focused on the usage of ICT in relation tosocial networks among students. As a result of the survey, all31 samples stated that they use Facebook on a daily basis(100%).

Figure 3: Usage of social media networksPage 5 of 27


Facebook is the most complex social network as it allowsmessages, video calling and many other important features,thus making it the most complex and used social network.

As Owyang (2009) said, social networking sites such asFacebook are gaining rapidly popularity among young people.Time spent communicating via technology tools is increasingalso rapidly, thus leading to a sense in which young peopleuse them to support many aspects of their lives (Goldsmith,2009).

Followed by Facebook, the most popular social network wasYouTube with 90.32% and the mobile app WhatsApp, available onall platforms of smartphones.

When asked about the main purpose for using social media, themajority (96.77%) stated that use it to connect with people.Mostly all of them, 93.55%, agreed that they use social mediato keep updated with the world. Some other reasons wherepassing of time, voted by 61.29% of the students and an equalamount of students said they use social networks simply forfun.

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Figure 4: Purpose of social media

2.2 Usage of ICT devices related to social media

Students have been asked what devices they use and moreexactly, for which network specifically. Findings showed thatFacebook was used by 96.77% of the students on theirsmartphone. It is the easiest way to access social networks onthe smartphone as the fast paced world we are living inrequires fast paced devices and smartphones are definitelythat.

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Figure 6: Usage of ICT devices in relation with social medianetworks

Smartphones and laptops where the devices with the highestrate of usage. Top three networks used on the smartphone whereFacebook 96.77% followed by Whatsapp 74.19% and YouTube64.52%. Top three networks used on laptops where Facebook93.33% followed by Youtube 83.33% and Skype 56.67%.

Figure 6 demonstrates that ICT devices are without any doubtpart of a student’s life and without it life would probablynot be the same.

The digital technologies and environments could be of greatuse supporting learning in educational domains, althoughstudents must start using devices not only for their socialpurposes and start to understand how these tools can help themlearn (Beetham, McGill, Littlejohn, 2009).

2.3 Age of students and usage of social mediaThe survey has been completed by students in different various

age categories starting from 18 up to 30+. Findings when

studying individual responses where surprising as 18 year old

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students had similar responses to 30+ thus meaning age has not

a big impact in relation with ICT devices or social networks.

Figure 1: Age

Looking at the individual responses it can be determined thatall age categories use smartphones and laptops and theirfavourite network is Facebook.

2.4 Nationality of students

The main purpose was to gather responses from students withdifferent social backgrounds. The majority of students whofilled in the questionnaire where British although some morenationalities are to be found.

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Figure 2: Nationality

As the figure above shows, the questionnaire has been filledin by mainly British students, followed by Romanian, Polish,French, Italian, Spanish, Lithuanian and Iraqi. Looking atindividual responses there is a higher usage of Skype for non-British students, and the reason for this is communicatingwith friends and family from the home country. AlthoughFacebook and Whatsapp allow free communication, Skype offers abetter video calling experience thus being favoured byinternational students. Apart from that, most nationalitiesare using Facebook as their main social network. Looking at

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the British students responses there is a higher usage ofTwitter and Snapchat (in the “other” option) showing thatthese two social networks have a greater success rate in theUK and British students are more familiar with them.

A recent survey conducted by Twitter shows that 80% of theBritish population uses Twitter on their mobile phones andrapidly catching up to Facebook, many saying it will overtakethe social network giant.

Figure 7: Twitter in UK

2.5 Daily average time spent on social media networks

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Daily average which students spend on social networks isbetween 1 and 3 hours, as 61.29% of students stated in thesurvey. 12.90% spend less than one hour, 9.68% spend more than5 hours and 16.13% spend between 4 and 6 hours/day. This isfrightening considering the constant upgrade of technology. Atthis pace, students might find themselves using ICT and socialmedia all the time, rather than actually socializing. As anexample, when students go out nowadays, they constantly usetheir phone and avoid actual communication as much aspossible.

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Figure 5: Daily usage of social media

A study in 2010 done by the International Center for Media &the Public Agenda (ICMPA) at the University of Maryland showshow students describe their feelings after spending 24 hoursdisconnected from the social world. Results are shocking asthey compare the 24 hours, with no ICT devices and no socialnetworks, with drug and alcohol addiction suffering fromwithdrawal, frantically craving, very anxious, miserably.Project director, Susan D. Moeller, noted that she was

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surprised to see how many students admitted that they areincredibly addicted to social media.

However, the extreme usage of time on social media does notseem to affect student’s grades, shows a 2009 research fromthe University of New Hampshire. Chuck Martin, adjunctprofessor at UNH, says that social media is part of studentsrather than interfering with them. They simply grew up with itand that is how they interact with each other and has noapparent impact on grades.

The high usage of social networks can be explained by the factthat the majority of the students are part of the generationY. They are the first generation to have spent their entirelives in the digital environment; information technologyprofoundly affects how they live and work (Bennett et al.,2008; Wesner & Miller, 2008). Generation Y activelycontributes, shares, searches for and consumes content – plusworks and plays – on social media platforms.

2.6 How many ICT devices to students own

Findings to this question where surprising as some studentsown up to 5 smartphones. Looking at individual responses therewhere 2 extreme cases in which students owned 5 smartphones or5 Desktop PC’s. Apart from that the majority owned at leastone Smartphone and one Laptop.

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Figure 8: How many ICT devices do students own?

Looking at the figure bellow, it has been established thatfrom the limited 31 answers the survey received, the mostpopular choice for an ICT device is the Smartphone. This isdue to the fact that smartphones use up less space thanlaptops or PC’s, are more accessible and cheaper.

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Figure 9: What devices do students use?

3.0 Conclusions and reflections

Throughout this report there have been some interestingresults, gathered with the help of the survey. Otherresearches from different universities and some theoreticalconcepts helped explain the findings.

In the first place, the report shows that Facebook is the mostused social network by students, regardless of age ornationality. Looking at the purposes for which students usesocial networks, connecting with people was the most popularchoice.

Secondly, majority of students own at least one Smartphone andat least one Laptop thus being able to access social medianetworks any time as long as they have internet access. Theaverage daily usage of social networks is between 1 and 3hours for the majority of the students.

Thirdly, findings show that age does not play an importantfactor in the usage of ICT for social purposes. Students withages between 18 and 30+ all use Facebook as their main socialnetwork and have at least one smartphone and one laptop.

Finally, carrying out this survey has helped understandingwhat data is useful and how to analyse certain responses inrelation with different theoretical concepts.

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4.0 Reference List

ABBOTT, C. (2001). ICT: Changing Education, London, Routledge.

Beetham, H., McGill, L., & Littlejohn, A. (2009). Thriving in

the 21st century: Learning Literacies for the Digital

Age (LLiDA project). Glasgow: the Caledonian Academy,

Glasgow Caledonian University.

Bennett, S., Maton, K., & Kervin, L. (2008), "The 'digital

natives' debate: A critical review of the evidence", British

Journal of Educational Technology, Vol. 39 No. 5, pp. 775-786.

BLAIR,T. (1997). Connecting a Learning Society,

http://www.becta.org.uk/start/agfl.html

Goldsmith, B. (2009) Time on social networks almost doubles in

a year Retrieved June 9 from

http://www.reuters.com/article/mediaNews/idUSSP4716682009

0603

HOFSTEDE, G., G.J. HOFSTEDE and M. MINKOV, 2010. Cultures and

Organizations software of the mind: Intercultural

Cooperation and its Importance for Survival. 3rd ed. New

York/ London: McGraw- Hill

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http://www.becta.org.uk/start/agfl.html


Moser, C.A. and Kalton, G. (1971) Survey Methods in Social

Investigation,

2nd edn. London: Heinemann.

Owyang, J. (2009) A Collection of Social Network Stats for

2009 Retrieved June 10th, 2009 from http://www.web-

strategist.com/blog/2009/01/11/a-collection-of-soical-network-

stats-for-2009/

PACHLER, N. (1999). ‘Theories of Learning and ICT’, In: M.

LEASK & N. PACHLE (Eds) Learning to Teach Using ICT in

the Secondary School, London, Routledge.

Student 'addiction' to technology 'similar to drug cravings',

study finds - Telegraph. 2014. Student 'addiction' to

technology 'similar to drug cravings', study finds -

Telegraph. [ONLINE] Available

at:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/8436831/Student-

addiction-to-technology-similar-to-drug-cravings-study-

finds.html. [Accessed 05 November 2014].

Wesner, M. S., & Miller, T. (2008), "Boomers and Millenials

have much in common", Organizational Development, Vol. 26 No.

3, pp. 89-96.

Vilhena da Cunha, M. I. (2007). The egocasting phenomenon and

the identity issue. Universidade Catolica Portuguesa. Mestrado

em Communicacao e Gestao Cultural – Industrias Culturais.

Youngman, M.B. (1982) Designing and Analysing Questionnaires.

RediguidePage 18 of 27

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/8436831/Student-addiction-to-technology-similar-to-drug-cravings-study-finds.html



http://www.web-strategist.com/blog/2009/01/11/a-collection-of-soical-network-stats-for-2009/




Nottingham: University of Nottingham School of Education.

80% of UK users access Twitter via their mobile | Twitter

Blogs. 2014. 80% of UK users access Twitter via their mobile | Twitter Blogs.

[ONLINE] Available at: https://blog.twitter.com/en-gb/2014/80-

of-uk-users-access-twitter-via-their-mobile. [Accessed 05

November 2014].

APPENDIXAppendix 1; Ethics release form

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https://blog.twitter.com/en-gb/2014/80-of-uk-users-access-twitter-via-their-mobile

https://blog.twitter.com/en-gb/2014/80-of-uk-users-access-twitter-via-their-mobile


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Appendix 2; The Questionnaire

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Student use of ICT

Documents

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