The impact of computer use at home on students’ Internet skills

Probit Model of Higher Education Participation Determinants and the Role of Information and Communication Technology

“…Collins et al (2006) …nd that the pupils in the secondary schools who have had the unrestricted access to the internet are more likely to participate in the higher education than those with no such an access. Others (Kuhlemeier and Hemker, 2007) argue that home computer and internet access have a positive impact on education participation since there is a positive impact of students' use of the internet and the computer at home on digital skills they need for school. The presence of a personal computer and access to the internet proves to be an important factor of the higher education participation.…”

Internet skills

“…In primary education, some attention has been paid to learning operational Internet skills, especially the skills needed for word processing, for example. In secondary education, however, many teachers tacitly assume that students know how to use the computer, surf the Web, and communicate via e-mail (Kuhlemeier & Hemker, 2007). No further attention is given.…”

“…People are presented with a list of skills and are asked to evaluate how well they perform those skills. Although selfreport questionnaires have advantages-such as the ability to present a large number of questions on a wide range of skills in a short time, simple scoring, fast processing, and cost effectiveness (Kuhlemeier & Hemker, 2007)-this method has significant problems of validity (Hakkarainen et al, 2000;Hargittai, 2005;McCourt, Larres, Ballantine, & Whittington, 2003;Merritt, Smith, & Renzo, 2005;Talja, 2005). Interpretations of skills are perspective and context dependent (Talja, 2005).…”

“…Most of the existing research used surveys that might offer in-depth explorations of participants' skills, but in most cases gathered data based on people's own perceptions or estimations of their computer or Internet skills (Kuhlemeier & Hemker, 2007). People are presented with a list of skills and are asked to evaluate how well they perform those skills.…”

“…The most valid scientific instrument to measure Internet skills is a performance test in a controlled environment (Hargittai, 2005;Kuhlemeier & Hemker, 2007;Pask & Saunders, 2004). Hargittai (2002) provided 54 demographically diverse American experimental subjects with five rather different Internet search tasks.…”