Concepts and Habits of Internet Use Among Students and Teachers in Austria
1. Internet <> School
Concepts and Habits of Internet Use
among Students and Teachers in Austria
Research: Axel Maireder, Manuel Nagl
Supervision: Thomas A. Bauer
Department of Communication, University of Vienna
2. Research Questions
• Terms, forms and consequences of
Internet use in schools
• Impact of the school on
Internet practices of students (& teachers)
3. Method
• Exploratory Study
• Group Interviews
– 47 teachers
– 117 students (aged 13 - 17)
– 10 Austrian schools
• Grounded Theory oriented analysis and
generating of hypothesis
4. Results
• Valuation of the Internet by Students and Teachers
• Internet Practices of Students:
– Information Research & Evaluation
– Social Communication
– Entertainment
• Internet Practices of Teachers in School Contexts
• Competences of Students and Teachers
• Thesis on particular social phenomena in the area
of Internet and school
6. • Internet activities are
hardly ever rated by teachers
• No impact of evaluation
on school reports
7. • As long as information works in tasks, it
is ‘good’ information.
• As ‘everything‘ seems to work, almost all
the information is assessed as ‚good‘.
• Students learn that the quality of
information is not ‘that’ important.
8. Content follows form:
Less effort is put into information
research & evaluation compared to the
appearance of assignments.
9. „Wenn die Schüler Hund eingeben [in Google] und auf
Hund kommen, dann drucken sie sich die Seite aus. Aber
sie haben nichts anderes gelernt als das Wort Hund.“
“If the students type ‚dog‘ [into Google] and come to a dog
page, they print the page. But they have not learned
anything else than the Word ‚dog‘.”
11. • Teachers put trust in information
originating from institutional contexts.
• Students put trust in the
‚Wisdom of the Crowds‘
12. „Ja, aber wenn zehn Leute sagen sie [eine bestimmte
Felswand] ist 200 Meter hoch und zwei Leute sagen, sie
ist zwei Meter hoch, dann glaub ich den zehn Leuten.“
“Yes, but if ten people say it [a particular rock wall] is 200
meter high and two people say it is two meter high, I
believe the ten people.“
13. „Wenn es in Google vorne ist, muss es ja praktisch
stimmen.“
„If it‘s ahead on Google, it virtually must be right“
15. Students lose track of time
due to distraction:
> Longer internet use
> Signs of Fatigue
16. „Es ist schon nervig, wenn dauernd wer was will. Ich will
immer die Hausübung machen, dann schreibt wer auf
MSN, dann leuchtet‘s und ich muss zurück schreiben -
dann bin ich wieder bei der Deutsch Hausübung. Dann
kommt eine Nachricht, dann leuchtet‘s wieder und dann
habe ich keine Deutsch Hausübung.“
„It is quite annoying if there is always someone who wants
something. I always want to do my homework, then
someone writes on MSN, the light flashes and I have to
write back - Then I am working on my German
homework again. Then a message comes in, it flashes
again. And finally I don‘t have a German homework“
20. • Students are using online-networks for
doing homework.
• Through permanent information
transfer they know the ‘task-status’ of
their classmates.
• Need for finishing homework becomes
lower if ‘task-status’ is ‘not finished’.
21. „Wenn die anderen nix lernen, muss ich auch noch nicht.
Zum Beispiel man fragt: ‚Hast du die Hausübung schon?‘
- ‚Nein, kenn mich nicht aus‘ - O.K, dann mach ich sie
auch nicht und schreib sie ab.“
„If the other‘s still don‘t learn, I don‘t have to. So I ask:
‘Have you done the homework yet?’ - ‘No, I don‘t know
what‘s it about’ - Okay, thus I don‘t do it either and I
transcribe it from someone else“
22. • Students establish consensus of passivity
• Inhibition of task-related processes
27. • Awareness of relevance of ICT-
knowledge
• But lack of practical knowledge
in didactics
28. • Teachers have applied knowledge
through experience
• But have no trust in their own
knowledge
• Strong insecurity in transfering
knowledge to students
30. Different concepts on the
mechanisms, principles and potential
of the Internet among teachers and students
resulting in different strategies
of Internet use.
31. • Teachers lack ICT knowledge
• Teachers lack organisational and
didactical competence
• Need for redefining teacher’s role
perception
32. Thanks for your attention.
Exclusion of Internet Activities
in Evaluation Processes
Trust in Information
Misjudgement of Time
Support- and Inhibition Networks
Loss of Control
Teacher‘s Knowledge Gap
Axel Maireder, Manuel Nagl
Department of Communication
University of Vienna