125
“To add on what A2 said about knowing those ones such as Yahoo and everything, the most common ones that I use is google and Google Scholar.
The other ones, because I do not have the knowledge about them, like I’ve never been exposed to them so I don’t how they work, maybe they will help me in future if someone can teach me about them, for now I only use google”
(Respondent A5).
Other participants indicated that they have decided not to use ‘simple search’ when searching for information on the internet. Students indicate that the information accessed through the use of simple google search or Wikipedia can be easily edited by anyone, hence the information cannot be trusted in the academic field. One participant expressed this view:
“When doing my academic work, I never use them because as I’ve explained before that anyone can just edit or put her opinion on Google, Yahoo or Being, that means that information is not well researched so its someone’s opinion, then for academic stuff I never use it” (Respondent A1).
The study has established that Google is the mostly used search engine when searching for information among students. Other search engines such Yahoo, MSN, Bing and Mozilla Firefox are rarely used because students are not familiar with them as compared to Google. Search engine such as Mozilla Firefox is mostly used when students want to connect to the learning management systems lie Blackboard. Yahoo and Bing and MSN are mostly used for reading news trends in the public domain.
Theme 3: Students’ acquaintance in using the internet for information search
126
internet outside computer labs, thus it can be said that they know how to use various internet applications to search for information. Other participants indicated that they have been oriented on how to use internet applications and other platforms for educational purposes. This is how some of the participants conveyed their views:
“Students are oriented and they are taught, it’s just that there is a high level of ignorance by students, when you go there instead of listen you do not focus.
There was a time where when we were oriented we were taught on to use these things on how to get information, how to cite and everything, your Google Scholar and RefWorks, even this year when we register a module for research, we were taken to the library, we were oriented on how to access sources, and to reference” (Respondent B4).
“I think students are acquainted, in my first year, there was a module which taught us on how to use computers and library services to access for information in our field of study” (Respondent F6).
“We all have smartphones, the information is in our fingertips, we don’t even have to walk to the library, so I feel like students are well acquainted”
(Respondent D1).
Students also indicated that most of them own personal computers and smart phones which they sometimes use to search for academic information. This is how they expressed their sentiments:
“I feel they are well acquainted, we have gadgets which we can use to search for information, and if one doesn’t have such, there is a library with well advanced computers to assist us to access information, and there’s also Wi-Fi connection for everyone to access the information” (Respondent D3).
“I think student are well acquainted in using the internet, if you can check on the computer labs, they are always full of students especially during assignments and tests times” (Respondent F2).
127
On one hand, participants stated that they are well knowledgeable in using the internet for academic purposes. However, on the other hand, there were those participants who looked beyond accessibility of ICT and the internet as equivalent to being well acquainted in using them for academic purposes. Most of the participants highlighted that as much as students have access to computers and the internet, they still lacked proper skills needed for academic purposes. Students have noted that majority of them use only one method of typing a question on the google search, then copy and paste the content they retrieve from the internet. Participants felt that they still lack enough knowledge on how to use various internet applications such as Google Scholar and other online library resources to access educational information. Some participants expressed their views thus:
“I can say they are not because since from first year, the only thing we know on how to search information was googling, we were not exposed to other features like Google Scholar which are the perfect engines to search information. And the fact that the university only teaches the first year on how to use the computer, and only the basics, the mouse the keyboard, I don’t think it gives them too much exposure on how to use internet because even in my final year, when I was given an assignment I didn’t know how to cite, I think I learned how to cite this year and only a bit, I’m not that perfect. They only show you that when you want to search for information you only go to google and type in what you want and you get the information, we copy we paste that’s it. So I don’t think the students are well acquainted with using the internet” (Respondent A2).
“No, there thing is that most of us, especially black students, as much as we have smartphones and all the resources, but if we can’t use them then what’s the use, some of us we can’t access the information because we don’t know how to use these resources. The inability of students in using these resources is a detrimental factor” (Respondent D4).
“I agree with A2, I think students are not that much acquainted when using internet for academic purposes because roughly students use internet for social networks, then when coming to academic they don’t, because I can judge from
128
their performance, if maybe really we are using internet for academic purpose I think we could be doing well in our academic” (Respondent A1).
“I know that we have been taught, we were made familiar with these things, but then if you do not use it as often as you should, you tend to forget on how to manoeuvre through the internet, how to get your information and stuff like that.
So the more you don’t practice, the more you forget what you were taught during orientation” (Respondent B5).
Some participants stated that students were somewhat familiar with using the internet for academic purposes. They indicated that as much as they were not aware of multiple methods in using the internet for information search, they were able to get the job done whenever they had to write assignments and research projects. Some participants expressed the following opinions:
“I can say is 50/50 but I’m not satisfied, like myself I’m doing honours but still I cannot access what A3 has been talking about, like Ebscohost, I don’t know them but I’m at honours level so it’s not good” (Respondent A6).
“I’m not quite sure, but from a distance look, I can say most of people whom I’m close to them they are not because they do not move with times and technological advancement when it comes to using the internet” (Respondent C1).
“No, students don’t know how to use the internet, for us internet it’s there so that we get what we want then we leave. We don’t care about the ‘dos’ and the
‘don’ts’. Even if they say you must read and sign for something, you will even agree without reading the information” (Respondent E3).
Some participants indicated that they were not well accustomed in using the internet for academic information search because they did not receive continuous e-skills training. They mentioned that they had to teach themselves through ‘trial and error’ to navigate through different internet platforms. This participant expressed one’s opinion as follows:
129
“I can say they are not well equipped, because my friends and I we taught ourselves on how to use the internet. There are lab assistants at computer labs, but they do not assist you on how to search information, they only assist you to get logged on the computer” (Respondent C6).
The study results established that students had different views regarding their e-skills for academic purposes. There were those who stated that they were well conversant with using the internet for information search, and those who mentioned that access to ICT was not equivalent to acquaintance in using it for educational purposes.
6.2.3 The opportunities and challenges faced by students when using the internet for academic purposes