Evaluation of Student Facing Web-Based Services: Final Integrated Report (Nielsen/NetRatings)

Variability Of Impacts

On a similar vein, particularly among younger users (ie primary school age), teacher-led use of, and introduction to, online services is an important driver of use and is key to their uptake. Evidence suggests that teachers need far more promotion of online services and a greater link to the curriculum might encourage greater and more frequent use of online tools in the classroom. Two in five teachers who had visited the WickED website noted a “lack of time for use of WickED at school” as one of the barriers to students using the site. It is evident across a variety of teachers, parents and carers that traditional offline learning tools, such as books, continue to take priority over online tools as the most recommended resources. Further promotion and education campaigns surrounding the benefits of online services to children and young people’s learning is required for teachers and parents.

This issue is not isolated to younger students. While a good proportion of the Studyit user base (largely NCEA students) make use of the online forums to assist their studies and communicate with peers, it was interesting to note that very few adults felt they would position Studyit as ‘a place to communicate with other students’; though this could be a real selling point to encourage use among students. Many adults may not yet recognise the two way communication and interaction that online services can offer their students and children.  It appears that children and young people who are guided by teachers and parents, who are confident and sophisticated Internet users themselves, may be at an advantage in being introduced to a range of online services that will benefit their learning across a range of areas.

Another characteristic influencing the impacts of online services surrounds, not surprisingly, accessibility. Home-based use of learning tools is common, hence, those students without such access are missing out on the 24/7 nature of the services. Though the WickED user base revealed little inequality among students attending low, medium and high decile schools, this was not so among Studyit and Any Questions users which revealed a distinct skew toward those attending higher decile schools. Without awareness and introduction to these services, at least in the classroom or by school librarians, these students without home access will be at an increasing disadvantage as online use becomes further ingrained into children and young people’s every day lives.