A RESEARCH ON THE PURPOSE OF INTERNET USAGE AND LEARNING VIA INTERNET

ABSTRACT

New technologies are rapidly changing our ways of communication, and also the art of teaching, as well as extending ways of learning. The dramatic growth of Internet usage has changed the lives of millions of people around the globe during the last decade. For students and teachers, the Internet is becoming an increasingly important part of the educational process. In addition, a new kind of multimedia approach is making the Web available not just in the classroom, but in the textbook as well. This study is based on an online survey conducted at a Turkish University to obtain student views about intensity of Internet use, reasons for using the Internet, impact of the Internet on student life, via the Internet, web-based lecture notes, exercises, an electronic discussion panel and an internal course email communication system and their future plans about web-based learning. The sample was drawn from different faculties of Marmara University in Turkey. 744 students answered online survey, but after extraction 720 survey results were evaluated by SPSS.  On the evaluation process, frequency and percentage graphs were sketched the results were compared with cross-tables. The results indicate that in the future the profile of education will be changed, mostly the students will access to Internet and take their courses via Internet.  The young generation is exposed to Internet at very early ages and this will rapidly increase Internet usage in the near future. Sending/receiving e-mail topped the list in sample followed by research for school-related work. Approximately fifty percent of students believe that Internet access at home improves their grade-point-averages (GPAs).

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