Research challenges popular online beliefs

30 JULY 2003

Research into how Charles Sturt University students use the Internet has dispelled popular beliefs about what type of person goes online to study.

Research into how Charles Sturt University (CSU) students use the Internet has dispelled popular beliefs about what type of person goes online to study.

According to a study of CSU students by information technology expert Les Burr, more female students go online than male students, as do older students compared to younger ones. Students from rural areas also use the Internet more than their city-based counterparts.

“This goes against the three things that are said to be hurdles to studying online, that it is male-dominated, that it is only for the young and that those living in rural areas are disadvantaged,” said the University’s Deputy Director of Student Services Les Burr.

As part of his Masters thesis analysing the nature of online interaction, Mr Burr examined the use of CSU’s online environment by 18 000 students in 2002. 

Women make-up 58 per cent of the CSU student population, yet Mr Burr found that of those students that participated in online discussion groups, 61 per cent were female compared to 39 per cent males. 

There was also an unexpected finding on the age of students that participated online.

 “Apart from fulltime students aged under 20 years, more students participated in online learning as they got older, with the highest participation rate by students aged over 51 years old,” Mr Burr said.
“This shows that if people see a real need to be online they will find a way. We found the same thing happened with people from rural areas,” added the IT expert.

Mr Burr, who was the Manager of CSU Online for five years, was amazed by the percentage of fulltime students who use the online environment.

“Although it is not compulsory for CSU students to have online access, each month over 90 per cent of students already make use of  the University’s online facilities,” Mr Burr said.

He will discuss these findings and the rest of his thesis, which also shows that students learn best in an online environment where they are encouraged to interact with each other, at a free public talk in August. It will be part of a seminar program organised by the University’s School of Environmental and Information Sciences and the Johnstone Centre. 

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