attitude of education students towards internet as a knowledge acquisition tool in masinde muliro university of science and technology

Abstract

There are many changes occurring in higher education in Kenya and the world over. These changes range from a rapid expansion of student enrolment to proliferation of programmes and types of institutions offering higher education. The changes are occurring at a time when there is emphasis on the use of ICT in development. The use of the internet is part of ICT. The question of internet contribution to acquisition of knowledge is a subject of academic research. It was against this background that the need for this study was envisaged. The study was undertaken in Masinde Muliro University of science and technology. The study was based on learning theory by Albert Bandura focusing on self-efficacy. An ex post facto research design was adopted. Using stratified sampling, a sample of 320 was drawn from the third year student teachers of the academic year 2008/2009.Questionnaire for student teachers were used to collect the data. The results of analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed that there was a significant difference among the three mean scores, F (2,317) =6.651, P<0.05. Students’ attitude influences their use of internet for acquiring knowledge. It was concluded that most University students seem to be confused about the role of internet as a tool for knowledge acquisition, because most of the participants had a neutral attitude about the use of internet for academic purposes.