Computers as roommates: the ohio university residence hall computer project and the lives of first-year students
Year: 2003
Type: article
Abstract: 3. How have computers in the residence halls affected students' academic lives? 4. How have computers in residence halls impacted students' personal lives? 5. What are the advantages and the disadvantages-personal and academic-of having computers in the students' rooms?6.To what extent do computer skills, gender, and socio-economic background play a role in how students use computers?4. To what extent have faculty used the residence hall computers to transform pedagogy?Significance of the study It is the goal of this study to reveal recommendations that can help Ohio University in particular, and university systems in general, to utilize the computer project to enhance education while weighing the benefits and drawbacks of universal computer access.Qualitative indicators show that the computer project at Ohio University is primarily perceived as providing academic and personal benefits to students."Ohio University freshmen say having computers in their residence hall rooms has provided academic and personal benefits and made them the envy of their friends at other universities" (Tampke, 2000, ¶ 1).This perception is supported by students' comments at focus group meetings conducted in February and March of 2000 by the Office of Assessment at Ohio University.Dale Tampke, the director of the Office of Assessment, authored a report, published on the OU web site on April 20, 2000 under the title "Ohio Residence Halls Computer Project, James Perotti, a professor of Management Information Systems in OU's College of Business, argued that the OU curriculum as it stands lacks the technologically-focused courses that would allow professors to take full advantage of the University's system.He further elaborated "Putting computers in residence hall rooms across campus helps, but the general curriculum fails to address technology or supply any hands-on experience" (Schonhardt, 2001, p. 1).Hence, this study was intended to have direct significance in producing practical suggestions that shed light on new educational directions that may address such concerns.Building a Community of Learners" (p.110).Access to advanced technologies is becoming one of the most important offerings used to recruit new students to colleges and universities throughout the United States.At the very least, virtually every school now strongly suggests that students have their own computers, calling for what Armstrong (2000) calls a "port-to-pillow-ratio" in dorms ( ¶ 5).Consequently, this study, although it represents only Ohio University's computer program and thus reflects its uniqueness, is relevant both to schools that have similar programs and to those that have a broad technological base in education generally."culture of learning in which everyone is involved in collective efforts of understanding" (p.271).Synchronous: Electronic communication fashion that requires all participants to be online at the same time.People using synchronous communication can converse in "real time."Chatting with electronic tools such as Microsoft Instant Messenger, or America Online Instant Messenger are some examples for synchronous communication.Asynchronous: Electronic discussion fashion that doesn't require participants to be on their computers at the same time.Participants in this form of computer-mediated communication can read and comment on the topic under discussion at their leisure.People in different time zones can easily communicate with each other using asynchronous communication fashion. Organization of the studyThis study is organized into five chapters.The first chapter introduces the nature of the study, the purpose of the study and the research questions were also outlined in this chapter.In addition to that the limitations of the study and the definitions of the terms were presented in chapter one.Chapter two presents a review of literature relevant to the study.It focuses on the concept of learning communities and its philosophical background.The chapter also includes literature that shed light on the application of technology into instruction.Literature that highlights college students' use of computers was also presented in this chapter.
Institution: Ohio University
Language: English
Subfield: Education
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Quality education
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W118092054