A Typology of Higher Education Students’ Media-Usage Behaviour

Abstract

This study extends previous research on higher education (HE) students’ media usage, considering attitudes towards digital media and exploring gender and subject-related differences. Data is based on a standardised online survey conducted from May to July 2018 at four German universities (n = 1684). Latent profile analysis (LPA) was conducted to identify a typology of media-usage patterns and attitudes, based on the average frequency of usage of different media applications (such as e-books, communication tools, study-related online tools etc.), attitudes towards digital media according to several dimensions (e.g. curiosity/interest and scepticism) and selfassessed skills regarding for example media technology, literature databases and research, and programming. The resulting types of media users were then analysed in terms of relationships with gender, study subjects and digital media self-efficacy. The results of this explorative study provide further insights into media use in HE, based on current data and for a diverse student sample, and allow for in-depth follow up research.