Internet use among universities rockets

Monday, June 15, 1998

Internet use among universities rockets

TECHNOLOGY: Extensive resources, accessibility make going
on-line easy

By Andy Shah

Daily Bruin Contributor

Christine Mayor regularly turns in her homework in her
pajamas.

No, she isn’t a flasher; nor is she lazy. It’s just that her
Honors English section takes place on-line.

Unusual? Not really. Internet usage on college campuses has
grown incredibly in the past five years and is likely to continue
rising.

In Mayor’s class, students post their essays onto an on-line
message board, where students can read each other’s work and the
professor’s comments.

"A lot of students are more candid on the board because it’s
almost as if you’re anonymous," said Mayor, a first-year psychology
student.

Mayor is only one of many college students who take advantage of
the Internet and e-mail for academic purposes.

"There has been an enormous increase in net usage over the past
five years, and even within the last six months," said Matt Rosoff,
associate editor of CNET on-line magazine.

People between the ages of 18-34 comprise 39 percent of Internet
users, the highest of any demographic group, according to a recent
survey by RelevantKnowledge.

Since its inception, the Internet has grown from a tool used
only by scholars to communicate with each other to a valuable
resource for everyone.

During the past three years, the number of registered Bruin
Online users has grown from about 4,000 students to nearly
53,000.

With more information at one’s fingertips than ever, many
students head straight for the Internet when doing research.

However, when Mayor had to write a paper about sleep, she forgot
about using the Internet.

While walking to the library, she met a friend who suggested she
try the Internet. After she did, she says the problem was "not
finding the material, but choosing from it."

That’s not to say that libraries are simply obsolete buildings
with nice architecture. Mayor says she still uses the library and
finds it easier to have books opened up in front of her rather than
switching from one web site to the next.

Also, many web sites are not reliable, says Steve Silberman, a
contributing editor to Wired magazine.

"Anyone can put up a web page, (so) you have to be careful in
choosing reliable sources."

He added that many students use the Internet frequently because
of free access on many campuses.

With the lure of the Internet, many people have become computer
literate, said Samrod Shenassa, a third-year film and television
student.

"Back in ’93, hardly anyone used the Internet for anything other
than e-mail and newsgroups," he said

"But the Internet is spreading computers to low-income,
inner-city schools where they’d never have them otherwise."

Shenassa said he favors the Internet as a resource over the
library because it has direct links to the entire work.

When creating a web page about Jules Verne, he found a full
anthology of his work available on-line in several languages, with
images and analyzes of those works.

"I’m not implying that libraries are obsolete," he said. "The
Internet can’t replace a full-color book of Picasso’s work."

Shenassa is making a film about a boy who is addicted to the
Internet and the tribulations he faces.

Internet addiction is becoming a problem for universities,
according to a recent study by CNET.

Undergraduates are reportedly spending an average of 10 hours a
week on-line, with 18 percent running up at least 20 hours per
week.

Some administrators claim dismissal rates on campus have more
than doubled as a result of compulsive Internet usage, according to
CNET.

Another characteristic of a wired campus is e-mail. The
Washington Post reports of the 9 million students in college, 7
million use e-mail regularly.

"Sometimes you can only get in contact with your professor or
teaching assistant (TA) through e-mail," said Eddie Urenda, who
works at the Bruin Online help desk.

While some use e-mail to get information from across the country
or globe, others use it simply to contact their professor or
teaching assistant.

"It allows both the student and the instructor to respond at
their own pace," said Urenda.

Matthew Christensen, a humanities TA, said that he’s seen a
growth in the number of his students who have e-mail accounts.

"Before, only three quarters of my students had e-mail
accounts," he said, "but now all of them do."

Although more students are sending him their questions and
papers through e-mail now, he discourages them from doing so.

"E-mail is good for more routine communication," he said, "but
for teaching, there is an important value in face-to-face
communication."

Shenassa said that e-mail allows for more interaction between a
student and instructor.

"E-mail provides access to professors beyond office hours,
beyond strictly course-related material and even beyond the time
frame of the quarter," he said.

He also values message boards, since they help students get
assistance for a class.

"They are very helpful for students who have trouble grasping a
concept but are afraid to ask, not very sociable or just don’t have
the time to ask after class," he said.

UCLA was recently ranked as the 23rd-most-wired college in the
nation, according to a ZDNet survey.

The survey was based on factors such as how many computers were
available to students.

Also, many colleges now allow students to apply for admission
on-line.

A recent Harvard conference envisioned a thoroughly wired future
for universities.

"Superstar professors on multi-million dollar salaries, teaching
the on-line millions" was one vision, according to a News.com
article.

More than 800 universities and colleges in the United States
offer degree courses on-line, and many more offer non-degree
courses.

For academic purposes and beyond, the Internet and e-mail are
becoming indelible marks of today’s generation.

"Five years from now we’ll wonder how we got along without this
stuff," Silberman said.