Trends towards internet usage among college teachers of Lodhran District, South Punjab, Pakistan.
Bhatti, Rubina ; Ahmad, Mian Nazir ; Khan, Shakeel Ahmad 等
Introduction
The use of Internet is rapidly increasing due to its effectiveness
and ability in providing right information to the right person at the
right time. It works around the clock and links every corner of the
world. Internet has become an inescapable need for every institution of
higher education (Thanuskodi, 2011). Revolution of information
technology in the world has affected all the disciplines of society. Due
to electronic technology the whole world has become a global village.
Particularly internet has changed the entire world. Internet has
affected information seeking behavior of researchers and social
scientists. Internet has played a significant role to spread education
and updating information. Internet has created the changes in the
concept of library (Bhatti, 2013).
The use of Internet is quickly increasing outstanding to its
effectiveness and capability in providing right information to the right
person at the right time. It uses throughout the world around the clock
and connects every curve of the world. Internet has become an inevitable
necessity for every society of every country. Internet is also gateway
for libraries and information centers to enter the Electronic
Information Age and is providing the information, produced by different
organizations, institutions, societies, research centers and individuals
all over the world. The internet has fragmented obstacles of
communication entrance from anywhere in the world. It is fast, reliable
and does not have limits on content or format (except in certain
countries). It also has an unlimited choice of facilities which support
users to access the almost infinite information on the net. It has
changed the feature of publishing also. The internet deals the
opportunity to access up-to-date research reports and knowledge globally
in topics as diverse as science and technology, business and finance,
music and the arts. Thus, it has become an important module of
electronic services in academic institutions and thereby an invaluable
tool for learning and research (Al-Ansari, 2006).
The use of the Internet in the educational environment has
supported easy access to many resources. Moreover, the occurrence of
this distribution has brought additional benefits in that case; these
resources can be used in any location and any time. The effect of the
Internet in educational institutions is, quite limited. We have required
identifying the impacts of Internet resources used by college teachers
and student. Internet use, especially in education, has been
investigated for some time, and many different studies, exist in
literature about that matter. Usage of internet is growing vastly in
Pakistan over the years. Use of internet is increasing day by day due to
its importance.
Literature Review
Bhatti's study (2013) revealed that information technology has
dynamically encouraged the research activities, provide necessary
motivations for the research output produced by the faculty members.
They also concluded the departmental libraries should be linked with the
college main library and improved the various library services to be
improved i.e. reprographic services, photocopy services, interlibrary
loan and reference services. They also suggested that library OPAC may
also be designed for sake of library connection with the locally and
internationally changed to the whole world by individual to individual
and organization to organization. Due to this change this world has
become a global village. Internet is an integrated and inevitable part
of these disciplines of the society. It has a great impact for social
scientist also. It is observed that 94% respondents use internet on
daily basis. Different search engines have been used for seeking
information by the users. The result has pointed out that users utilize
the different online data bases for acquire their information like,
Emerald, Science Direct, JSTOR. Most of the students use internet for
their study purpose.
Prabakaran, (2013) pointed out that e -resources are inevitably
impact on learning, teaching, and research throughout the world
especially in case of faculty members. E - resources are considered key
element unanimously for gaining knowledge in the world. Some causes and
problems are considered hinders for accessing these sources such as
inadequate electricity supply , insufficient terminals, lack of
information retrieval skills from these resources. So, the need is to
overcome these blunt issues. It is also necessary to organize training
programs for faculty members to utilize these E-Resources. Thanuskodi
(2011) study exposed that libraries has changed their role regarding
collection services due to presence of several kind of e-resources.
E-resources have significant impact on the faculty member's
attitude to gain information and seem to be very positive to their
studies. Due to these resources, the space problems and budgetary
limitations are also reduced to some extent. Faculty members are seems
to be heavily dependence on these e-resources in attaining information
and conducting lecture. He negated that perception regarding less or
limited role of library as gateway to the e-resources. Libraries may
change their role in shape of guidance, training and tutorial program me
for using these e-resources He also suggested that libraries would have
to develop their tools for user satisfaction i.e. Wi-Fi, speed of
internet, so that faculty members can use online e-resources within the
campus.
Baby and Kumaravel (2011) pointed out that the 86.27% of the staff
members used internet services most frequently. Study further reveals
that the library visited by the users is being increased with the
passage of time due to certain reasons; one of them is presently
libraries equipped with technological resources. Considering these
signs, libraries having sufficient space to entertain the users and
their requirements, library should have sufficient space for latest
additions and required documents to encourage the users to visit
regularly. They suggested college management should make a favorable
environment which promotes extra sophisticated information research
processes.
Muniandy (2010) explored that approximately 30 % students have good
internet usage skills. Mostly students use their own laptop and personal
computers. Students use internet services at internet cafes, university
or outside the university. The study shows that the use of internet for
learning is slightly varied. Nearly 50% students have not use internet
for communication with their teachers. 94.6% students are good internet
information user but never up load any information to the internet. The
study shows that Google and yahoo are the favorite search engine for
searching educational material but the use of academic data bases like
proquest, library web resources and university electronic resources is
very low. All students know that they can use internet any time and
mostly students admit that the quality of their work is improved;
knowledge is up dated and increased due to usage of internet. The study
by Bhatti concluded that Internet has radical impact on the changing
higher education environment (2010). It is interesting that Internet use
among faculty members at the Islamia University of Bahawalpur is much
higher than expected. It is broadly used for teaching and research
purposes. Khan and Dominic (2009) added in their study that use of
internet is vice versa of conventional documents. Dependency on internet
is increasingly enhanced with the passage of time, so it is need of
hours, that speed of internet as well as number of users as they
increasingly growth, to be considered keenly and necessary steps to be
taken towards it, so that access of information for every users to be
assured at minimum levels.
Objectives of the study:
The objectives of the study is to find out the usage pattern,
purposes of internet use, frequency of internet use, users, problems of
internet usage and the impact of internet on teaching and research
activities of college teachers in district Lodhran.
Research Methodology:
This study was conducted to discover internet usage among the
college teachers in district Lodhran. Nine (five male and four female)
colleges are situated in district Lodhran.1- Govt. Degree College (boys)
Lodhran (GDC Lodhran), 2- Govt. Degree College (boys) Gogran (GDC
Gogran), 3- Govt. Degree College (boys) Makhdoom Aali(GDC Makhdoom
Aali), 4Govt. Degree College (boys)Dunya pur (GDC D.pur), 5- Govt.
Degree College (boys) Kahror pacca (GDCKP), 6- Govt. Degree College(w)
365/W.B(GDCW 365/W.B), 7- Govt. Degree College(w) Lodhran(GDCW Lodhran),
8- Govt. Degree College (W) Kahror pacca(GDCWKP), 9- Govt. Degree
College (W) Dunya pur(GDCW D.pur).There were total 134 male and female
teachers working in colleges of district Lodhran .Total population was
selected for survey so,134 questionnaire were distributed among the
college teachers and 115 (85.8 %) responses were received. The study
adopted the survey method to examine the use of internet among college
teachers of Lodhran district. The questionnaire has been carefully
designed and distributed among the college teachers. In order to ensure
reliability and effectiveness of the instrument, the questionnaire was
pilot tested on 20 college teachers both male and female. On the basis
of responses changes were made in the questionnaire and distributed
among the population.
Data Analysis and Discussion
First part of questionnaire was about demographic information of
the respondents. Through this part the information was collected about
institutions, gender, designation, age and experience.
Frequency distribution of the respondents' institution has
been shown in table I.
Total 9 male and female colleges were situated in district Lodhran.
The questionnaire was distributed among all teachers (134) and 115
responded.
Frequency distribution of the respondents' gender has been
shown in Table II that the majority of respondents were male 74(64.3%)
and 41(35.7%) were female.
[FIGURE 1 OMITTED]
Designation
Frequency distribution of the respondents' designation has
been shown in table III that the majority of respondent are lecturers
104(90.4%), assistant professors 10 (8.7%), and only 1(.9%) was
associate professor.
[FIGURE 2 OMITTED]
Table 2 shows that 43(37.4%) teachers age is less than 30 years,
54(47.0%) are 31-40 years, 11(9.6%) are of age 41-50 years and 7(6,1%)
are of above 50 years.
Respondents' Experience
It shows that majority of teachers 70(60.9%) have less than 5 year
experience and 18(15.7%) have 16-10 year experience. 9(7.8%) have 11-15
year, 11(9.6%) have 16-20, 4(3.5%) have 21-25 year experience and only
3(2.6%) have 26-30 year experience.
Respondents were asked the question" Do you have your own
computer?" Response of this question has shown in frequency
distribution Table 4. Result shows that 101 (87.8%) respondents have
their own computers and 14(12.2%) respondents (college teachers) have
not their own computers.
Internet access in college
Result shows that 108(93.9%) respondents have internet access in
their colleges only 7(6.1%) respondents have no internet access in their
colleges.
Internet usage frequency
The result shows that 62(53.9%) respondents were using internet
daily, 29(25.2%) were using internet weekly, 7(6.1%) Fortnightly,
12(10.4%) monthly and 5(4.3%) respondent were not using internet.
Purpose for using internet
Respondents were asked a question regarding the use for using
internet. The Likert scale was used to evaluate the data. It is apparent
from the result of the descriptive statistics that the respondents use
internet frequently for the purposes of literature search, up-date
knowledge, send and receive e-mail with a mean score 3, 2.88 and 2.76
respectively. On the other hand, respondents use internet sometimes for
the purposes of Assignments for teaching, Preparation of lectures
Reading articles, Pleasure and Entertainment and Writing research
thesis, Writing Articles, Discussion groups writing conference papers
with a mean value 2.45, 2.38, 2.23, 2.10 and 1.28, 1.16, .83, 63
respectively
Favorite Places for using internet
Respondents were asked a question regarding liking place for
internet use among college teachers in District Lodhran. The five point
Likert scale of measurement was used to evaluate the liking place for
internet use among college teachers. It is clear from the results of the
descriptive statistics that the respondents like to use internet for
frequently at home with a mean score 3.07. On the other hand respondents
sometimes like to use internet at college computer lab with mean score
1.53 and respondents seldom use internet at college library with a mean
value 0.72 and never used internet at net cafe with mean value 0.23.
Online searching
Respondents were asked a question regarding the use of information
obtained through internet. The result of the descriptive statistics
shows that the respondents frequently search information related to
their subject, information to improve their education with a man score
3.34, 2.96. On the other hand respondents search sometimes information
related to entertainment and seldom search information related to
politics and information related to business with a mean value 1.42, and
0.63 respectively.
Importance of internet facilities
Respondents were asked a question regarding importance of internet
facilities. The four point Likert scale of measurement was used to
evaluate the importance of internet facilities among college teachers.
Most of respondents consider important the internet facilities: e-mails,
search engines, web pages, Downloading software, news channels, and
entertainment with mean value 2.46, 2.18, 2.05, 1.63, 1.57, 1.57
respectively. On the other hand respondents consider slightly important
discussion group and chat facilities with mean score 1.24 and 1.16.
Convenient Timing of using internet
Respondents were asked a question regarding time of using internet.
It is clear from the results of the descriptive statistics that most the
respondents use internet frequently at night with mean score 2.65 and
respondents sometimes use internet at evening time with mean score 2.02.
On the other hand respondents seldom use internet at afternoon and at
morning with a mean value 1.42,1.33 respectively.
Communication through instant messaging
Respondents were asked a question regarding communication through
instant messaging. The five point Likert scale of measurement was used
to evaluate the communication through instant messaging among college
teachers. It is clear from the results of the descriptive statistics
that most the respondents like to communicate frequently through friends
with a mean score 2.85. On the other hand respondents sometimes like to
communicate communication through colleagues and family members with
mean score 2.41, 2.02 respectively.
Impact of internet on job related activities
Respondents were asked a question regarding the impact of internet
on their job related activities. The result of the descriptive
statistics shows that the101 (87.8%) respondents save a lot of time,
87(75.7%) respondents have quick access to data base, 104(96.4)
respondents answered that they can got up to date information easily,
97(84.3%) respondents answered that they can prepare lectures easily,
93(80.9%) answered that they can share problems with their colleagues
and 111(96.5%)respondents answered that they can enhance their knowledge
with the use of internet resources.
Satisfaction about service provider
Respondents were asked a question about the satisfaction about
service provider. The result of the descriptive statistics (frequency
distribution) shows that 76(66.1%) respondents are average satisfied by
the service provider, 25(21.7%) respondents were fully satisfied,
11(9.6%) respondents were least satisfied and 3(2.6%) respondents were
not satisfied about service provider.
Frequency of use of internet search engines
Respondents were asked a question regarding the frequency of use of
internet search engines among college teachers in District Lodhran. The
three point Likert scale of measurement was used to evaluate the
frequency of use of internet search engines. It is clear from the
results of the descriptive statistics that the respondents often like to
useGoogle with a mean score 1.92,sometimes like to use Yahoo with mean
score 1.30. On the other hand the respondents never used MSN, Bing, Alta
Vista and Rediff internet search engines with mean score 0.25, 0.24,
0.14, 0.12 and 0.00 respectively.
Use of browser
Respondents were asked a question regarding use of internet browser
the among college teachers in District Lodhran. The five point Likert
scale of measurement was used to evaluate the use internet browser among
college teachers. It has been observed from the results of the
descriptive statistics that the respondents frequently like to use
Google Chrome and Internet Explorer with a mean score 3.14,2.55. On the
other hand respondents sometimes like to use a Mozilla Firefox with mean
score2.50. Respondents seldom use Opera and Maxthon with a mean value
0.74, 0.62 and the respondents never used Safari and Web freer internet
browser with mean value 0.19, 0.12 respectively.
Problems during the use of internet
The respondents (college teachers) were asked to pinpoint any
problems that they might have encountered while using the internet. The
responses are presented in Table XX. The most serious problems
identified by the majority of respondents were (86.1%) power
failure/load shedding, (83.5%) slow speed of internet, (80.0%) lack of
time, (71.3%) lack of proper training, (62.6%) non connectivity, (56.5%)
over load of information on the internet and (51.3%) inadequate number
of computers. Other problems as identified by the respondents were as:
(48.7%) insufficient searching skills, (42.6%) difficult interface
design, (40.0%) difficulty in finding relevant material and (37.4%)
privacy problem.
Findings and Conclusion
The data analysis presented above shows that there is a reasonable
awareness among the college teachers of district Lodhran in the internet
usage. The internet has facilitated the teachers to enhance their
academic activities by providing access to worldwide information; though
the situation is not very satisfactory as compare to advance countries.
An encouraging result of the study represents the teacher's
interest towards internet resources. The result of study shows that the
majority of the respondents were young having age up to 40 years, 90.4%
were working as lecturer, 60.9% having teaching experience up to 5
years, 87.8% have their own computers and 93.9% have internet access in
their college. Majority (53.9%) of the respondent use internet daily;
only 4.3% never used internet.
Results show that respondents frequently like to use internet at
home. The respondents frequently search information related to their
subject, information to improve their education. The respondents
frequently use internet for the purpose of literature search, sending
and receiving e-mails and to up-date their knowledge. On the other hand
respondents use internet sometimes for the purposes of Assignments for
teaching, Preparation of lectures Reading articles, Pleasure and
Entertainment. 66.1% respondents were average satisfied about service
provider. Majority of the respondents often use Google and Yahoo search
engines. The respondents frequently liked to use Google chrome and
internet explorer as internet browser. Main problems identified by the
majority of respondents were power failure, slow speed of internet, lack
of time, lack of proper training, non connectivity, over load of
information on the internet" and inadequate number of computers.
According to the findings of the study, the following
recommendations are made to increase the usage of internet among college
teachers of Lodhran district:
* Ample budget for Well-equipped computer labs and libraries with
adequate number of computers should be provided by the college
administration in district Lodhran.
* There should be proper policy for providing access to scholarly
databases to college teachers as in universities of Pakistan.
* Facility of internet should be provided to college computer labs.
as well as in the college libraries. It will increase the internet
usage.
* The problem of power failure / load shedding must be solved as
early as possible. Alternative energy resources should be used.
* Internet connectivity and speed issues should be resolved.
* Proper training of internet use and searching should be provided
to the teaching staff to accelerate access to difference electronic
sources of information and support their teaching and research
activities.
* There is the need to conduct more studies on information needs
and online information seeking behavior of college teachers for improved
information provision.
Caption: Figure 1
Caption: Figure 2
References
References
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Rubina Bhatti
Islamia University of Bahawalpur,
[email protected]
Mian Nazir Ahmad
Govt. Degree College, Kahrorpacca, Lodhran
Shakeel Ahmad Khan
GC University, Lahore
Table 1 Name of Institution
Sr. Institution Frequency Percentage
1 GDC(B) Lodhran 17 14.8%
2 GDC(B) Gogran 13 11.3%
3 GDC(B) Makhdoom Aali 14 12.2%
4 GDC(B) Dunya pur 20 17.4%
5 GDC(B) Kahror pacca 10 8.7%
6 GDC(W) 365WB 11 9.6%
7 GDC(W) Lodhran 14 12.2%
8 GDC(W) Kahror pacca 8 7.0%
9 GDC(W) Dunya pur 8 7.0%
Total 115 100.0%
Table II Gender
Sr. Gender Frequency Percentage
1 Male 74 64.3%
2 Female 41 35.7%
3 Total 115 100.0%
Table III
Sr. Designation Frequency Percentage
1 Lecturer 104 90.4%
2 Assistant Professor 10 8.7%
3 Associate Professor 1 .9%
Total 115 100.0
Table 2 Age
Sr. Age Frequency Percentage
1 Less than 30 years 43 37.4%
2 31-40 years 54 47.0%
3 41-50 years 11 9.6%
4 Above 50 years 7 6.1%
Total 115 100.0%
Table 3
Sr. Experience Frequency Percentage
1 up to 5 years 70 60.9%
2 6-10 years 18 15.7%
3 11-15 years 9 7.8%
4 16-20 years 11 9.6%
5 21-25 years 4 3.5%
6 26-30 years 3 2.6%
Total 115 100.0%
Table 5 Own computer
Sr. Own computer Frequency Percentage
1 Yes 101 87.8%
2 No 14 12.2%
Total 115 100.0%
Table 6
Sr. Internet access Frequency Percentage
in college
1 Yes 108 93.9%
2 No 7 6.1%
Total 115 100.0%
Table 7
Sr. internet use Frequency Percentage
1 Never 5 4.3%
2 Daily 62 53.9%
3 Weekly 29 25.2%
4 Fortnightly 7 6.1%
5 Monthly 12 10.4%
Total 115 100.0%
Table 8
Sr. Purpose for using internet Mean Std. D
1 Literature search 2.88 1.244
2 Send and receive e-mail 2.76 1.335
3 Up-date knowledge 3.00 1.108
4 Assignments for teaching 2.45 1.306
5 Reading articles 2.23 1.516
6 Writing Articles 1.16 1.380
7 Writing conference papers .63 1.096
8 Discussion groups .83 1.131
9 Writing research thesis 1.28 1.531
10 Preparation of lectures 2.38 1.436
11 Pleasure and Entertainment 2.10 1.242
Scale: 4= Always, 3= Frequently, 2= Sometimes,
1= Seldom, 0= Never
Table 9
Sr. Like to use internet Mean Std. D
0 At home 3.07 1.342
2 At college computer lab. 1.53 1.366
3 At Net cafe .23 0.497
4 At college library .72 1.081
Scale: 4= Always, 3= Frequently, 2= Sometimes,
1= Seldom, 0= Never
Table 10
Sr. online search Mean Std. D
1 Information related to your subject 3.34 1.042
2 Information related to politics 1.42 1.284
3 Information related to business .63 .912
4 Information related to entertainment 1.96 1.142
5 Information to improve education 2.96 1.188
Scale: 4= Always, 3= Frequently, 2= Sometimes, 1= Seldom, 0= Never
Table 11
Sr. Importance of internet Mean Std. D
facilities
1 E-mail 2.46 0.809
2 Web pages 2.05 0.897
3 Search engines 2.18 1.014
4 Chat facilities 1.16 0.914
5 News channels 1.57 0.890
6 Discussion group 1.24 0.970
7 Downloading software 1.63 1.071
8 Entertainment 1.57 0.928
Scale: 3= Very important, 2= Important, 1= slightly
important, 0= Not important
Table 12
Sr. Time of using Mean Std. D
internet
1 Morning 1.33 1.349
2 After noon 1.42 1.256
3 Evening 2.02 1.284
4 At night 2.65 1.364
Scale: 4= Always, 3= Frequently, 2= Sometimes,
1= Seldom, 0= Never
Table 13
Sr. Communication through Mean Std.D
instant messaging
1 Family members 2.02 1.545
2 Friends 2.85 1.286
3 Colleagues 2.41 1.297
Scale: 4= Always, 3= Frequently, 2= Sometimes,
1= Seldom, 0= Never
Table 14
Sr. Impact of internet
1 Now I save a lot of time
2 I have quick access to database
3 I can get up to date information easily
4 I can prepare my lecture easily
5 I can share problems with my colleagues
6 I can enhance my knowledge
Sr. N Yes No
1 115 101(87.8%) 14(12.2%)
2 115 87(75.7%) 28(24.3%)
3 115 104(90.4%) 11(9.6%)
4 115 97(84.3%) 18(15.4%)
5 115 93(80.9%) 22(19.1%)
6 115 111(96.5%) 4(3.5%)
Table 15
Sr. Satisfaction about Frequency Percentage
service provider
1 Not satisfied 3 2.6%
2 Least satisfied 11 9.6%
3 Average satisfied 76 66.1%
4 Fully satisfied 25 21.7%
Total 115 100.0%
Table 16
Sr. Use of search Mean Std. D
engines
1 Google 1.92 .354
2 Yahoo 1.30 .665
3 Bing .24 .488
4 Ask .14 .372
5 MSN .25 .510
6 Alta Vista .12 .378
7 Rediff .00 .000
Scale: 2= Often, 1= Sometimes, 0= Never
Table 17
Sr. Use of browser Mean Std. D
1 Mozilla Firefox 2.50 1.501
2 Google Chrome 3.14 1.283
3 Internet Explorer 2.55 1.464
4 Maxthon 0.62 1.189
5 Safari 0.19 0.700
6 Opera 0.74 1.250
7 Web freer 0.12 0.516
Scale: 4= Always, 3= Frequently, 2= Sometimes,
1= Seldom, 0= Never
Table 18
Sr. Problems facing N Yes No
1 Lack of time 115 92(80.0%) 23(20.0%)
2 Difficult Interface design 115 49(42.6%) 66(57.4%)
3 Insufficient searching skills 115 56(48.7%) 59(51.3%)
4 Over Load of information on the 115 65(56.5%) 50(43.5%)
Internet
5 Slow speed of Internet 115 96(83.5%) 19(16.5%)
6 Non Connectivity 115 72(62.6%) 43(37.4%)
7 Inadequate number of computers 115 59(51.3%) 56(48.7%)
8 Lack of proper training 115 82(71.3%) 33(28.7%)
9 Difficulty in finding relevant 115 46(40.0%) 69(60.0%)
material
10 Privacy problem 115 43(37.4%) 72(62.6%)
11 Power failure/load shedding 115 99(86.1%) 16(13.9%)
