From: "Swisher, Bob" <bswisher@ou.edu>
To: "'it-fyi@listserv.ou.edu'" <it-fyi@lists.ou.edu>
Subject: it-fyi: On Line Usage Survey of College Students (Chron of Higher
Date: Wed, 5 May 1999 14:50:54 -0500
Wednesday, May 5, 1999
On Line, Students Find Sex, Drugs, and More Than a Little Education,
Survey Says
By KELLY McCOLLUM
College students spend a lot of time using the Internet for schoolwork,
but they also go on line to look for pornography and learn how to build
bombs and make illegal drugs. In addition, students tend to bend the
truth when communicating on line, according to a survey of students at
Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania.
The study, by Timothy Rumbough, an assistant professor of communications
at Bloomsburg, says that about a third of students visit sexually
explicit Web sites, 11 per cent visit sites that tell how to make or use
illegal drugs, and 8 per cent visit sites that offer information on
making illegal weapons.
Mr. Rumbough surveyed more than 600 students at Bloomsburg to find out
how they use the World-Wide Web, e-mail, on-line chat rooms, and
Internet discussion groups. The study stemmed from Mr. Rumbough's
interest in computer-mediated communication. His report appears in the
spring issue of College & University Media Review.
On the positive side, the survey found that 93 per cent of students are
using the Net for education. "I'm glad to see a number like that, and
I'd like to see it higher," says Mr. Rumbough. "It's clear that students
know this stuff so much more than a few years ago." He says that as
students grow more accustomed to using computers and the Internet,
professors will have an easier time bringing technology into their
classrooms.
However, says Mr. Rumbough, "I think educators ought to be aware that
our students are not only using the Internet for education, but they're
also using it for a number of other reasons."
It may be no surprise that students are drawn to the Net's seedy side,
but Mr. Rumbough says some of his findings should worry professors. For
example, 15 per cent of students in his survey admitted having used the
Internet to cheat on class assignments.
With cheating that common, says Mr. Rumbough, "I think educators need to
be a little more careful." Professors need to take steps to prevent that
kind of activity, he says. "They just need to be more and more alert."
While his survey didn't get into specifics, Mr. Rumbough says he
suspects that the students who use the Internet for cheating are turning
to on-line term-paper mills.
Mr. Rumbough also found that students are often less than truthful when
communicating via e-mail and in Internet chat rooms. Of those who use
e-mail and chat rooms, only 47 per cent reported that they tell the
truth "very often." Thirty-two per cent said they had pretended to be a
different person, and 14 per cent had pretended to be a member of the
opposite sex.
Such lack of truthfulness could put a serious kink in on-line romance,
says Mr. Rumbough, but electronic dishonesty can affect on-line
classrooms as well. "A student might be more willing to not tell the
truth in an on-line class discussion," he says.
As for Web sites, about 10 per cent of students have visited sites
sponsored by racist groups or cults, and about the same percentage have
visited sites that describe how to make or use illegal drugs and
weapons. Mr. Rumbough says that doesn't necessarily mean that students
are acting on the information they find, however. Many students said
they were just curious or had visited the sites by accident. Others were
studying the topics for classes.
Nonetheless, administrators need to be aware of what students are
learning on line. Students who discovered how to manufacture LSD in
their dormitory rooms, Mr. Rumbough says, would be a serious concern for
campus health officials.
But Mr. Rumbough does not advocate trying to block students from finding
illicit information on line. "I'm not trying to advocate that there
ought to be filtering software to limit these sites," he says. "I don't
think that should ever happen at colleges."
No matter what they can find on line, "students will still do their
work. This is just another diversion," says Mr. Rumbough. "Instead of
going out to play football, they'll just surf the Web."
Copyright © 1999 by The Chronicle of Higher Education