Research on Students in Brittany and the Internet : hindrances and uses of the Internet

Author(s):

Pascal PlantardMagali MOISY

Conference:

ECER 2008

Network:

9. Assessment, Evaluation, Testing and Measurement

Format:

Paper

Session Information

09 SES 05A, Assessment in Higher Education

Paper Session

Time:

2008-09-11

08:30-10:00

Room:

AK2 139

Chair:

Sabine Hornberg

Contribution

RSBI is a study which focuses on the university student representations, their adaptation processes and uses of the Internet. RSBI is the French part of an international comparative study (INTER) which is being done in four culturally and socially contrasting countries (Canada, Sweden, Mexico and France). In what way do students manage their studies in comparison with their predecessors? How is the Internet used by these young people as a means of personal expression and social interaction ? Can the Internet encourage the participation of students in public life and the cultural sphere, on a local as well as global level? Such are INTER-RSBI’s central questions which are put into perspective through the identification of the representations and the different dynamics of adaptation to the Internet by students in the four countries. In Brittany, the RSBI team is trying to : 1) Describe and better understand the connections with knowledge, as well as forms of socialization and communication that caracterize the students in their use of the Internet. 2) Develop multi-referential theoretical frameworks, in order to more clearly understand the representations and the dynamics of adaptation to the Internet. 3) Identify the universal and culturally specific aspects of adaptation to the Internet in a context of globalization. 4) Develop new data collection and analysis tools, adapted to the study of the Internet in accordance with the theoretical frameworks. 5) Apprehend the representations of students who have on-line leisure activities, especially video games. 6) Better understand the non-use and the misuse of the Internet by students (24% of non-users of the Internet in Brittany according to the M@rsouin panorama in 2005).

Method

The questionnaire (29 pages) was developed in a collaborative manner by teams from the different countries. In Brittany, it was submitted to undergraduate students in the four universities of Brittany in both paper and on-line forms. The collection of quantitative data is finished in Canada and in France. For the latter, 1350 questionnaires, 500 of which are on line, can be studied. This work is still in progress in Sweden and Mexico. The volunteer students are invited to participate in group interviews (Quebec, France) and in open individual interviews (France, Mexico, Sweden). Ten interviews were conducted in Brittany and a “Focus Group” experiment based on the theatre forum technique was conducted over a one-week period with a group of fifteen students. The interviews are analysed using two clinical approaches of psychoanalytical and anthropological orientation. The clinical approach attempts to understand resistance to the Internet and even to technology (in general), as well as the meaning that student players of video games attribute to their multiform use of this media. The “focus group” attempts to identify “the group effect” in the developing and the evolution of student representations of the Internet.

Expected Outcomes

The main quantitative and qualitative results of the French part of this research are ready to be presented in Göteborg in September 2008. The accent will be put on the hindrances and the actual uses of the Internet by students, in and out of the university setting, on their expectations and their needs, as well as on the roles that their environment (group, family, peers, institution, etc.) play in these processes. We can already identify a very large gap between the actual uses of the Internet expressed by the students and the uses prescribed by the official lines of the French universities.

References

KATZ, J. E & RICE, R. E. (2002). Social consequences of Internet use : Access involvement, and interaction. Cambridge, MA, US: MIT Press. JULIEN N, TREMEMBERT, J, (2006) OPSIS – Enquête usages des TIC par les bretons. Synthèse de l’enquête 2005 auprès des résidentiels. http://www.marsouin.org/article_texte.php3?id_article=50. MOISY, M. (2007). Une recherche clinique pour mieux comprendre l’étudiant joueur de jeux informatiques sur internet. Chemins de formation n°10-11. Démarche clinique en éducation et recherche. MOISY, M. Internet pour jouer et/ou étudier : le cas des étudiants joueurs de jeux vidéo. Deuxième colloque international d’actualité de la clinique d’orientation psychanalytique en sciences de l’éducation. Paris, novembre 2006. ALBERO, B, MOISY, M. (2006). Les étudiants internautes. INRP-APRIEF. 8 éme Biennale de l’éducation et de la formation. Lyon, Aril 2006. MOISY, M, PARKIN, M, (2004) traduction de Frenette M. Johnsson-Smaragdi U, A cross-national study on university students’ experiences with the Internet in "Shaping the Future of Communication research in Europe" ECA European Communication Association, Istanbul, April 17-20, 2004. http://www.tematice.fr/ PLANTARD, P. (2007). Les TICE à l’université : approches cliniques et anthropologiques, Congrès international « AREF 2007 – Actualité de la Recherche en Éducation et Formation », AECSE-ABCeduc, SSRE-SGBF, DGFE, Université Louis Pasteur, Strasbourg, France, août. PLANTARD, P., DESAGULIER G., (2007). Modélisations et ingénieries des TICE dans les formations professionnelles supérieures, Congrès international « Les technologies numériques de l’information et de la communication dans l’éducation», Université Cadi Ayyad et Forum mondial IPv6, Marrakech, Maroc, mai PLANTARD, P. (2006). ICT in Higher Education : a question of approach, In m-ICTE 2006 N°3, Current Developments in Technology-Assisted Education, Seville Formatex PLANTARD, P. (2003) – Les étudiants de la démocratisation face à l’emploi in L’entrée des jeunes dans la vie active en Bretagne Paris : Ed. Regards/Syllepse.

Author Information

Pascal Plantard

CREAD - Rennes 2 University

Department of Educational Sciences

l'Hermitage

Magali MOISY

CREAD - Rennes 2 University, France

Search the ECER Programme

Search for keywords and phrases in "Text Search"
Restrict in which part of the abstracts to search in "Where to search"
Search for authors and in the respective field.
For planning your conference attendance you may want to use the conference app, which will be issued some weeks before the conference
If you are a session chair, best look up your chairing duties in the conference system (Conftool) or the app.