The Internet usage has grown rapidly during the last decade in almost every country in the world and in Jordan specifically; today millions of individuals are connected to the Internet and the Internet has become the backbone of the information economy. It was used for social, commercial, political, and personal interactions. This study aims to investigate the attitudes of students at The University of Jordan towards using ICT (Information and Communication Technology). A semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect the data for obtaining students attitudes on the amount of Internet usage, reasons for using the Internet, and how the Internet impacted on students’ life. The data analysis was done by using SPSS, version 17. 536 students from different faculties (medical, humanities, and scientific) of the University of Jordan participated in the study. The results indicated that most students access Internet before they attended university; there is a positive attitude towards Internet; and they used it mainly for social websites, chatting and information gathering. The slow speed of the Internet connection and the lack of adopting ICT in courses syllabus are some constraints facing the students.
The Internet is a global system of connections that links millions of people publicly [
The use of the Internet is an important tool in higher education [
Online applications which are available to the college students can enhance the quality of education [
According to the Internet World Stats in June 2016, the number of Internet users in Jordan approximately equals 5,700,000 (73.6% of Jordanian population). The awareness of Internet importance in Jordan has risen in different regions such as education. By a variety of measures, Internet is an essential part of almost college student’s life [
Internet usage and developments in technology growth around the world have grown rapidly and changed the lives of millions of people during the last decade [
M. Yılmaz and Feza Orhana [
Camilla Brändström [
The Internet can be used by individuals and families as a communication way [
Many researchers found that the college students use Internet for sending/receiving e-mails, chatting, gathering information, downloading music or images, and playing games.
This paper presents an overview of 536 undergraduate students’ attitudes towards ICT at the University of Jordan based on an online survey through exploring their Internet usage behavior, how much they frequently use Internet, the most Internet services they use, why they use Internet, and the problems they face during using Internet.
The structure of this paper is organized as follows: Section 2 provides the methodology and the limitations of the research. Discussion and Results are in Section 3 with charts and percentages. Finally, the conclusion is in Section 4.
The present study was carried out at the University of Jordan among the undergraduate students of the medical, scientific, and humanities faculties, which included male and female students, who registered in three compulsory computer skills courses: Remedial computer skills, Computer Skills for Humanities, and Computer Skills for Medical Students during Fall Semester 2016-2017. The collected data were analyzed and presented in the form of tables and charts and the results were reported in percentages. The aim of this study is to identify the basic skills of the students at The University of Jordan in using computer and Internet. A semi-structured questionnaire filled by 536 students was used for data collection where the questions were adopted from previous researches [
1) The University of Jordan students’ usage of ICT. 2) Constraints in using ICT at The University of Jordan and 3) Students’ attitudes toward ICT
However, the study has the following limitations:
ü The study is limited to one public university, which is The University of Jordan.
ü The study includes only the undergraduate students at The University of Jordan.
It was observed that majority of the students’ were females 382 (71%) while 154 (29%) were males. The distribution of the faculties shows that major of the students came from humanities faculties with 292 (54%) and the least is from Medical faculties with 90 (17%), this returns for two reasons; first: a few medical students failed in the computer competency exam, and enroll in Remedial computer Skills course. Second: the teaching System for the Faculty of Medicine and faculty of dentistry is year’s system not credit hour’s system and computer skills for medical students course is scheduled for the spring semester and this study was conducted during the fall semester. It was observed that majority 93%of the students started using computer and Internet before joining the university while 7% started after joining it. 230 (43%) have been using Internet for 6 years and more followed by 154 (29%) have been using it for 4 - 5 year, while 103 (19%) of the students have been using it for 2 - 3 years and 49 (9%) of them have been using it
Category | Characteristics | Number | Percentage |
---|---|---|---|
Gender | Male | 154 | 29% |
Female | 382 | 71% | |
GPA | Excellent | 108 | 20% |
Very good | 198 | 37% | |
Good | 154 | 29% | |
Fair | 76 | 14% | |
Type of Faculty | Medical | 90 | 17% |
Scientific | 154 | 29% | |
Humanities | 292 | 54% | |
First Use of Computer? | Before joining the university | 496 | 93% |
After joining the university | 40 | 7% | |
Internet Experience | 0 - 1 year | 49 | 9% |
2 - 3 year | 103 | 19% | |
4 - 5 year | 154 | 29% | |
6+ years | 230 | 43% |
for less than 1 year as shown in
1) The University of Jordan Students’ Use of ICT
Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has brought about a revolution in every walk of today’s life. Particularly it has become an integral part of education and no one can deny its impact on teaching and learning. ICT plays a key role in the development of any country. ICT is a general term which includes computers, the Internet, and electronic delivery systems such as radios, televisions, and projectors …etc.
Using computer and Internet is greatly depending on some factors such as: Students’ experience, Internet purposes, facilities, and available services …etc. This part was analyzing these factors for The University of Jordan students.
When evaluating the students’ literacy of using computer and Internet, 73% of the students considered as an average user. 10% considered themselves as beginners and 13% as experts. Few of them (4%) are unfamiliar with using computer and Internet as you see in
Students were asked to indicate how often they use Internet.