The Effects of an Internet Monitoring System on Non-Educational Internet Usage and Achievement Levels of Adult Students Seeking Computer Networking Certifications

• Main Author: Sheppard, Brian K.
• Published: NSUWorks 2005
• Subjects: Computer Sciences
• Online Access: http://nsuworks.nova.edu/gscis_etd/833

The Internet can open up the world to students, but some of what it opens is not always what they should be accessing. The World Wide Web has provided many benefits to its users. At the same time, however, this influence also has negative ramifications. Some students have become preoccupied with the Internet, losing focus, and are unable to control their use of this technology, thus jeopardizing their education, employment, and personal relationships. Many students use the Internet for non-educational related purposes during class. These distractions and loss of focus cause a misuse of class time and can have serious negative repercussions. This research focused on the effects of an Internet monitoring system on the amount of non-educational Internet usage and achievement levels of adult students seeking network computer certification. In addition, it focused on monitoring Internet usage patterns during different times of the day. This study's Internet usage statistics showed that the control group, unaware of the Internet monitoring system, used the Internet three times more than the experimental group. Further study of the type of Internet access revealed that the control group's amount of non-educational usage was over four times greater than that of the experimental group. In addition, while the control group's increase on the post-test score was not a significant increase, the gain of the experimental group's post-test score was. Also, a significant difference between the amounts of non-educational Internet usage during different times of the day was found. This study showed that awareness of the Internet monitoring system significantly reduced the amount of non-educational Internet usage. The reduction in the distraction level of the Internet led to a significant increase in student achievement. The distraction level of the students changed throughout different times of the day. In addition, the post-class questionnaire showed that the majority of students did not object to their Internet access being monitored, felt it was appropriate for a school to monitor Internet activity, preferred that access be monitored, and felt that the Internet monitoring system reduced their level of distraction.