The purpose of this study is to examine the smartphone addiction levels among university students. For this purpose, first of all, students' addiction levels were determined, and then it was examined whether these levels differed according to the gender of the students, the purpose of using the internet on the smartphone, and the usage times of…

Online participatory cultures (e.g. social media) present a number of opportunities and challenges for language learners. Learners can collaborate with like-minded peers in online affinity spaces or get crowd-sourced information from the locals of a target culture, but they also run the risk of getting lost in the overwhelming amount of noise and…

Prior research has established that undocumented students experience structural marginalization which compromises their access, retention, and success in higher education. Building on this work, this study turns attention to their academic engagement, an important intermediary outcome. Using survey data collected from 1,277 undocumented…

Whether banking, communicating, watching television, or shopping, people can now do nearly anything on their personal digital devices. This digital access even extends to the college classroom where students use their personal devices for a multitude of non-class related purposes. Findings from a survey of 193 college undergraduates found that…

A 21-item survey on texting in the classroom was given to 235 college students. Overall, 99.6% of students owned a cellphone and 98% texted daily. Of the 138 students who texted in the classroom, most texted friends or significant others, and indicate the reason for classroom texting is boredom or work. Students who texted sent a mean of 12.21…

Cell phones are nearly ubiquitous in the college classroom. This study asks two primary questions regarding the making and breaking of in-class cell phone policies. In what manner are students using their phones and how can faculty members minimize the potential for phone-related distractions? To answer these questions we analyze original survey…

Massive open online courses (MOOCs) offer many opportunities for research into several topics related to pedagogical methods and student incentives. In the context of over 20 years of online learning research, we discuss lessons to be learned from observational comparisons and experiments on randomly chosen groups of students. We target two MOOCs…

We describe an ambient awareness tool, named "Lantern", designed for supporting the learning process in recitation sections, (i.e., when students work in small teams on the exercise sets with the help of tutors). Each team is provided with an interactive lamp that displays their work status: the exercise they are working on, if they have…

Compared with course management software (e.g. Blackboard and WebCT), the content and technology offered by a textbook website (TBW) is relatively costless to universities and professors, and is a potentially valuable tool that can be leveraged to help students learn course material. The present study uses the extended Technology Acceptance Model…

As the use of mobile devices, such as cell phones, has proliferated in academic settings in recent years, new challenges are faced by institutions of higher education and their faculties. The authors surveyed 269 college students from 21 academic majors at a small northeastern university to gain a better understanding of the frequency and manner…

Evidence from research into the "net generation" has shown it is not certain that there is a homogenous group of young people whose abilities to use technology are different from any other age group. With tools like blogs and online research becoming more popular in educational contexts research needs to provide a picture of what kinds…

Twenty-first century students are expected to utilise emerging technologies such as lecture podcasts as learning tools. This research explored the uptake of podcasts by undergraduate students enrolled in two very different cognitively challenging subjects in the second year of the nursing programme and in the first year of a business programme.…

This article reports the findings of a small-scale investigation into the Internet user behaviour of generation Y (Gen Y) students, with particular reference to social networking sites. The study adds to the literature on cross-cultural Internet user behaviour with specific reference to Gen Y and social networking. It compares how a cohort of…

Four hundred five college students completed a questionnaire that assessed patterns of Internet use. Results describe college students, with rare exception, as Internet users. The vast majority of college students frequently communicate online and access websites. While an Internet game experience is typical, relatively few college students are…

The changes that personal computers might bring to student life are examined by analyzing a long-term time-allocation study and individual interviews. The displacement of time from other activities, the purposes of computer use, and the impact of students' social arrangements on computer use are discussed. (Author/MLW)