Survey of Educational Uses of the WWW

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Part 1: Demographic Information

1. GENDER
     Male      Female

2. ETHNICITY (optional)
   African American     Caucasian     Asian American 
   Native American     Hispanic     Multicultural 

3. AGE (optional)
   21-30 years old     31-40 years old     41-50 years old 
  51-60 years old   61 years or older

4. YEARS OF EXPERIENCE AS AN EDUCATOR
  0-5 years    6-10 years    11-15 years 
  16-20 years    21-25 years    More than 25 years 

5. IN WHAT COLLEGE or DEPARTMENT DO YOU PRIMARILY TEACH?
Type in your answer, such as Education, Psychology, etc. 

6. IN WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING PROGRAMS DO YOU PRIMARILY TEACH?
    I teach primarily in graduate programs.
    I teach primarily in undergraduate programs.
    I teach in another type of type of program. Describe (Type your answer in this box.)

7. HOW MANY CLASSES HAVE YOU TAUGHT DURING THE PAST ACADEMIC YEAR?
I have not taught any classes during the past academic year.  I have taught 1-4 classes during the past academic year. 
I have taught 5-8 classes during the past academic year. I have taught more than 8 classes during the past academic year. 

8. IN HOW MANY COURSES DID YOU USE INTERNET/WWW-BASED ACTIVITIES DURING THIS PAST ACADEMIC YEAR?
  I did not use Internet/WWW-based activities in any classes during the past academic year.    I used Internet/WWW-based activities in 1-4 classes during the past academic year. 
  I used Internet/WWW-based activities in 5-8 classes during the past academic year.    I used the Internet/WWW-based activities in more than 8 classes during the past academic year. 

9. WHAT IS THE TYPICAL SIZE OF THE CLASS THAT YOU TAUGHT THIS PAST YEAR?
Size of smallest class (Type the Number in the box) 
Size of Largest class (Type the Number in the box) 

PART II:
Internet/WWW Access and Patterns of Use in
Professional Activities

10. Do you have access to the Internet or the World Wide Web (WWW)

I have access to the Internet/WWW at home.         Yes                 No
I have access to the Internet/WWW at work.         Yes                 No

11. Where do you use the Internet/WWW most frequently?

I use the Internet/WWW most frequently at:         Home             Work

12. Please estimate the average number of hours (or minutes) each day that you use the Internet/WWW for:

Personal use         Hours         Minutes
Professional use(teaching,research,training)         Hours         Minutes

13. What browser program that you use to access or surf the Internet/WWW do you use? Please check all that apply.
BROWSER TYPE
At HOME
At WORK
Mosaic 
Netscape 2.0,3.0, Gold, Communicator
Microsoft Internet Explorer
Charlotte or other text-based browser
Other browser provided by your private internet service provider,
such as AOL, CompuServe, Prodigy

If you do not use the Internet/WWW for professional (teaching, research, and training) activities, please answer the following question, #14.

Then go the end of the form and submit your response. Thank you for your cooperation.

14. Please read the following statements. How much impact do the following issues have on your decision not to use the Internet or WWW for professional activities?
Does Not Apply
Does Not Impact
Minimal Impact
Some Impact
Significant Impact
(A.) I do not have access to the necessary hardware and equipment
(B.) I have access to text-based WWW only.
(C.) I have to pay for a private provider myself. 
(D.) I think that cost of private providers is too high.
(E.) I do Not believe the Internet is a useful tool for professional or educational activities.
(F.) I do not have access to training. 
(G.) I do not have access to resource persons to answer questions when I get confused.
(H.) I do Not use computers at all as I think they are too complicated to learn to use.
(I.) I have philosophical and/or value based concerns about the use of technology in society.
(J.) I have tried and find it too confusing and too complicated.
REMINDER: If you do not use the Interent/WWW for professional purposes, you may go to the end of this survey and submit your responses to the questions you have answered.
CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE END OF THE SURVEY TO SUBMIT RESPONSES

15. In general, how knowledgable would you say you are in using the Internet/WWW for professional activities?
    Limited Knowledge
    Somewhat Knowledgable
    Adequately Knowledgable
    Very Knowledgable

16. Approximately, how many days during the week do you use the WWW for professional purposes? Enter one of the following numbers: 1,2,3,4,5,6,or 7:

    Days per week

17. Which of the following statements best describes how you learned to use the Internet/WWW?
    Training Provided by the department in which I work.
    Training provided by the Institution in which I work.
    A colleague showed me.
    I taught myself.
    I used more than one of the above methods for learning to use the Internet.
 
18. For which of the following tasks do you use the Internet/WWW-based activities?
Never Use
Use Infrequently
Use Occassionally
Use Frequently
(A) Publishing on-line
(B) Research for professional writing 
(C)Finding research data 
(D)Communicating with students, colleagues, and experts.
(E)Finding information and resources for presentations, training and workshops.
(F)Instructional tools for classroom activities. 
(G) Other, please describe: 

19. How often do you use the following sources for finding Internet/WWW sites such as URLs (Internet addresses for web pages) for use in your professional activities?
Never
Rarely
Occassionally
Frequently
(A) Colleagues 
(B) Searches using WWW search engines 
(C) Educational technology and/or other computer-related journals and magazines 
(D) Professional journals and magazines 
(E) Media such as television and radio shows 
(F) Communications-related technology such as listserves, usenets, newsgroups, bulletin boards, and other forms of electronic mail
(G) Other, please describe: 
20. In using Web pages for professional activities, how often do you find the following problems:
 Never
Rarely
Occassionally
Frequently
(A) Web pages that are not updated regularly.
(B) Web pages in which information is not easy to find. 
(C) Web pages that contain links that don't work. 
(D) Web pages with multiple frames or files that are not adequately connected to each other and do not allow me to move around in the site easily.
(E) Web pages with biased content and presentation. 
(F) Web pages whose information is not accurate.
(G) Other, please describe: 

21. Please read the following statements. How often do these concerns effect your ability to use the Internet/WWW for professional activities on a regular basis?  Never Rarely Ocassionally Frequently
(A) Access to computer hardware and software is difficult for me. 
(B) The computer system at my office is frequently down or inoperable. 
(C) My computer is not updated with the latest versions of browsers, plug-ins components, audio and video components, and other applications for use with the WWW (such as RealAudio, Java-enabled applications, ActiveX) is time consuming and/or difficult.
(D) I do not have enough space (memory) on my computer to add the extra applications listed above or to store the Internet/ WWW web pages and related graphics.
(E) I do not understand the technical aspects of computer systems, such as listed in the above responses well enough to answer this question.
(F) I am not effected by any of the above issues in my ability to use the Internet/WWW for professional activities on a regular basis.

22. Which of the following statements best describes how frequently the following issue effect your ability to use the Internet/WWW for professional activities on a regular basis? Never Rarely Occasionally Frequently
(A). I do not understand the advanced techniques for using the Internet/WWW, such as search engines. 
(B) Learning to use this information takes too much time.
(C) Searching for web sites is too time consuming 
(D) Searching for web pages is too frustrating. 
(E) It takes too long to load WWW sites with graphics. 
(F) Other, please describe: 

PART 3: USING SEARCH ENGINES WHEN USING THE INTERNET/WWW
 SEARCH ENGINES help you search through the vast Internet databases for information by keywords (Internet-based programs, such as Yahoo, Excite, Lycos, etc.) and  is another aspect of using the Internet/WWW for professional activities.
23. How knowledgeable do you consider yourself about the rules for using search engines?
    Limited Knowledge
    Somewhat Knowledgeable
    Knowledgeable
    Very Knowledgeable

24. How did you learn these rules for using search engines? Check the answers that apply.
    I participated in a course(s)or workshop on learning how to use the WWW.
    I participated in a course or workshop specific to the use of search engines.
    I have taught myself through trial-and-error.
    I have taught myself using links on the Internet.
    I used more than one of the above methods for learning to use the Internet/WWW.
    I do not consciously apply any specific search rules when using search engines.

25. When you search the Internet/WWW, which search tools/engine(s) are you most likely to use and how satisfied are you with this (these) search engines?(Check all search engines that apply.)
Very Dissatisfied
Dissatisfied 
Neutral (Neither Dissatisfied nor Satisfied)
Satisfied
Very Satisfied 
(A) Yahoo 
(B) Hotbot
(C) Magellan 
(D) Lycos
(E) Excite
(F) Webcrawler
(G) Altavista
(H) Infoseek
(I) Other, not listed (Please List) 

26. Which of the following reasons best explain why you use this(ese) search engine most frequently? (Check only one.)
     It requires less knowledge of search rules than other search engines.
     It is a faster search engine than other search engines.
     It's searches are more thorough than other search engines.
     It's searches are more accurate than other search engines.
    It produces responses that are more useful in my area(s) of interest/fields of practice than other search engines.
     I use it out of habit.


 
27. How often do you have difficulties with the following when you use of search engines/tools on the Internet/WWW?  Never Rarely Occasionally Frequently
A) I can never seem to find relevant sites. 
(B) It takes too much time to find relevant sites.
(C) There are too many sites to search through when I use a search engine.
(D) I find myself getting lost when using following the links that were generated by my search request.
(E) Search engines are very complicated to use. 
(F) Search tools/engines change their rules too frequently.
(G) I do not understand or have knowledge of search engine rules.

28. If you were explaining the Internet to a students or colleagues, what is the most important information that you believe they should know about using the Internet /WWW?
1. 

2. 

3. 

29. How would you recommend that they get this knowledge?
1. 

2. 

3. 


THANK YOU FOR YOUR ASSISTANCE IN COMPLETING THIS SURVEY.
TO REPORT PROBLEMS OR TO REQUEST MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THIS SURVEY, PLEASE CONTACT:
CHERYL WISSICK, Ph. D.
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA
COLUMBIA, SOUTH CAROLINA 29208
Telephone: 803-777-8859; Fax: 803-777-282
    Cheryl Wissick, PH. D


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The views and opinions expressed in this page are strictly those of the page author. The contents of the page and all page links have not been reviewed or approved by the University of South Carolina.

This page was last updated by Dr. Cheryl Wissick on 7/15/98.