1. Internet <> School
Concepts and Habits of Internet Use among Students and Teachers in Austria
Research: Axel Maireder, Manuel Nagl Supervision: Thomas A. Bauer Department of Communication, University of Vienna

2. Research Questions
Terms, forms and consequences of Internet use in schools
Impact of the school on Internet practices of students (& teachers)

3. Method Exploratory Study Group Interviews
47 teachers
117 students (aged )
10 Austrian schools
Grounded Theory oriented analysis and generating of hypothesis

4. Results Valuation of the Internet by Students and Teachers
Internet Practices of Students:
Information Research & Evaluation
Social Communication
Entertainment
Internet Practices of Teachers in School Contexts
Competences of Students and Teachers
Theses on particular social phenomena in the area of Internet and school

5. Exclusion of Internet Activities in Evaluation Processes

6. Internet activities are hardly ever rated by teachers
No impact of evaluation on school reports

7. As long as information works in tasks, it is ‘good’ information.
As ‘everything‘ seems to work, almost all the information is assessed as ‚good‘.
Students learn that the quality of information is not ‘that’ important.

8. Content follows form:
Less effort is put into information research & evaluation compared to the appearance of assignments.

9. „Wenn die Schüler Hund eingeben [in Google] und auf Hund kommen, dann drucken sie sich die Seite aus. Aber sie haben nichts anderes gelernt als das Wort Hund.“
“If the students type ‚dog‘ [into Google] and come to a dog page, they print the page. But they have not learned anything else than the word ‚dog‘.”

10. Trust in Information

11. Teachers put trust in information originating from institutional contexts.
Students put trust in the ‚Wisdom of the Crowds‘

12. „Ja, aber wenn zehn Leute sagen sie [eine bestimmte Felswand] ist 200 Meter hoch und zwei Leute sagen, sie ist zwei Meter hoch, dann glaub ich den zehn Leuten.“
“Yes, but if ten people say it [a particular rock wall] is 200 meters high and two people say it is two meters high, I believe in the ten people.“

13. „Wenn es in Google vorne ist, muss es ja praktisch stimmen.“
„If it‘s ahead on Google, it virtually must be right.“

14. Misjudgement of time

15. Students lose track of time due to distraction:
> Longer internet use
> Signs of Fatigue

16. „Es ist schon nervig, wenn dauernd wer was will
„Es ist schon nervig, wenn dauernd wer was will. Ich will immer die Hausübung machen, dann schreibt wer auf MSN, dann leuchtet‘s und ich muss zurück schreiben - dann bin ich wieder bei der Deutsch Hausübung. Dann kommt eine Nachricht, dann leuchtet‘s wieder und dann habe ich keine Deutsch Hausübung.“
„It is quite annoying if there is always someone who wants something. I always want to do my homework, then someone writes on MSN, the light flashes and I have to write back - then I am working on my German homework again. Then a message comes in, it flashes again. And finally I don‘t have a German homework.“

17. Students do not assess internet activities as ‚spare time‘!

18. Misjudgement of gross-time as net-time
Loss of motivation to work on

19. Support and Inhibition Networks

20. Students are using online-networks for doing homework.
Through permanent information transfer they know the ‘task-status’ of their classmates.
Need for finishing homework becomes lower if ‘task-status’ is ‘not finished’.

21. „Wenn die anderen nix lernen, muss ich auch noch nicht
„Wenn die anderen nix lernen, muss ich auch noch nicht. Zum Beispiel man fragt: ‚Hast du die Hausübung schon?‘ - ‚Nein, kenn mich nicht aus‘ - O.K, dann mach ich sie auch nicht und schreib sie ab.“
„If the other‘s don‘t learn anything, I don‘t have to either. So I ask: ‘Have you already done the homework?’ - ‘No, I don‘t know what it`s all about’ - okay, thus I don‘t do it either and I copy it from someone else.“

22. Students establish consensus of passivity
Inhibition of task-related processes

23. Loss of Control

24. Teachers feel a loss of control on different levels:
Technique
Student’s Attention
Knowledge Transfer

25. Loss of control is associated with loss of authority
Fear of losing control becomes even stronger

26. Teacher’s Knowledge Gap

27. Awareness of relevance of ICT-knowledge
But lack of practical knowledge in didactics

28. Teachers have applied knowledge through experience
But have no trust in their own knowledge
Strong insecurity in transfering knowledge to students

29. Conclusion

30. Different concepts on the
mechanisms, principles and potential
of the Internet among teachers and students
resulting in different strategies
of Internet use.

31. Teachers lack ICT knowledge
Teachers lack organisational and didactical competence
Need for redefining teacher’s role perception

32. Thanks for your attention.
Exclusion of Internet Activities in Evaluation Processes
Trust in Information
Misjudgement of Time
Support- and Inhibition Networks
Loss of Control
Teacher‘s Knowledge Gap
Axel Maireder, Manuel Nagl Department of Communication University of Vienna