The use of the Internet by first-year undergraduate students in the College of Agriculture, Engineering and Science at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg Campus.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the use of the Internet by first-year undergraduate students in the College of Agriculture, Engineering and Science at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg campus. The study sought to address the following questions: what do first-year students use the Internet for?; what are the most Internet sources first-year students use?; how often do first-year students use the Internet?; do first-year students have adequate skills to use the Internet?; what challenges are experienced while using the Internet? The study population comprised 880 College of Agriculture, Engineering and Science first-year students. The sample size of the population was 269 students from which 169 first-year undergraduate students responded, which gave a response rate of 69%. The researcher employed the quantitative approach where data were collected using the questionnaire. The quantitative data was analysed using SPSS. To ensure validity and reliability, a pre-test of the questionnaire was done using ten first-year students selected randomly from the College of law and Management at the UKZN, PMB campus. The study’ results showed that most first-year in the CAES students used the Internet for learning purposes such as searching for information related to academic work, doing their assignments, e-mailing lecturers on academic-related matters and finding information for their research work. The most relevant Internet services used were social networks, E-mail, Web, telnet, and FTP. Nevertheless, the most used Internet services were the Web, e-mail, and social networks. In addition, the study’s results showed that the majority of students used the Internet services daily. There were a number of challenges students experienced regarding the use of the Internet. Such challenges included difficulty in locating information, inaccuracy of information, unreliability of source, network signals, and the viruses challenges. Based on the results recommendations included the upgrading of computers, software, and the Internet in all LANs for good Internet connection; the integration of ICT in all field of study at UKZNP, and the improvement of wireless connection around campus to improve connectivity.