Information and communication technologies in the life of university freshmen: An analysis of change

Abstract

The passage from secondary school to university puts students in an environment with different expectations. Not only the expectations towards learning might change, but also towards ICT competences and computer use. The purpose of this article is to find out whether freshmen, after six months at the university, changed their self-perception of ICT competences and computer use in comparison with their behaviour at secondary school, and what factors can explain the self-perception of ICT competences and computer use in secondary school, in the university and their possible change. Based on a panel research among 714 freshmen of a large university, this article answers the following questions: 1) What is the self-perception of ICT competences among freshmen and is there a change in this self-perception six months after entering the university? 2) How often and for what purpose do freshmen use a computer and is there a change in the frequency of the use of a computer? 3) What factors might influence this attitude, behaviour, and possible change? In function of the basic components of Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (Venkatesh, Morris, Davis & Davis, 2003) hypotheses were developed and tested to answer these questions. Students

Exploring the Self-Reported ICT Skill Levels of Undergraduate Science Students

“…Vekiri (2010b) found a relatively positive attitude of students (male and female) toward ICT lessons and a weak but significant positive correlation between class instruction for ICT and the self-efficacy beliefs of boys and girls. Other observations in 2004, 2005(Verhoeven et al, 2010De Wit et al, 2012) have confirmed that university freshers who took ICT classes in secondary school considered themselves more capable of applying some ICT skills, but not all. Therefore, we examine in our model whether having taken ICT courses in secondary school has an influence on the ICT skills of bachelor's students.…”

“…Many publications have shown that girls and women are less keen to work with a computer or to apply ICT programs or ICT instruments compared with boys and men (Volman & van Eck, 2001;Losh, 2004;Becker, 2006;Madigan et al, 2007;Kubiatko, 2010;Zhao et al, 2010;van Deursen & van Dijk, 2015). However, research (Bovée, Voogt, & Meelissen, 2007;Wang, Wu, & Wang, 2009;Verhoeven et al, 2010;De Wit et al, 2012) has also demonstrated that the gap between male and female actors is not common to all types of use of ICT applications and not in all countries (Spiezia, 2010), and that women (researchers) are more proficient in some ICT skills than men are (Chowdhury et al, 2011). With regard to the link between gender and ICT and research in secondary education, Hohlfeld, Ritzhaupt, and Barron (2013) even concluded "that the gender gap for demonstrated technology skills has closed", although this observation was not confirmed by the longitudinal study among adults by van Deursen and van Dijk (2015).…”

“…The third variable we use is "anxiety", which can lead to fear and stress among computer users. In the context of our research, this refers to the anxiety of actors regarding the use of a personal computer (Venkatesh et al, 2003;Verhoeven et al, 2010;Ursavaş & Teo, 2011;Celik & Yesilyurt;. Although there might be a relationship between anxiety for using a computer and perceived ease of use of a computer, we have studied both variables separately.…”

Do ICT Competences Support Educational Attainment at University?

“…For instance, in former articles (De Wit et al, in press;Verhoeven et al, 2010) we have already shown that first year students in the humanities are less competent than students in biomedical and other sciences with regard to using a spreadsheet to make graphs or perform calculations and with regard to using computers and the Internet for emailing. If ICT is important for educational attainment and if knowledge of ICT competences differs between different groups of students, then it makes sense to hypothesize that ICT competences may have differing influences on the achievements of students.…”

“…Moreover, most major universities use a VLE (virtual learning environment, e.g., Blackboard) to support teaching and study. Research has shown that there is a wide range of ICT capabilities among university students (De Wit, Heerwegh & Verhoeven, in press;Lee, 2003;Palaigeorgiou, Siozos, Konstantakis, & Tsoukalas, 2005;Pillay, Irving, & Tones, 2007;Verhoeven, Heerwegh, & De Wit, 2010).…”