Trends in College Students' Computer Use and Ownership

Abstract

Data from three surveys of undergraduates at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, collected over a five-year period, are examined to uncover the nature and source of change in students' computer use and ownership. Forty-five percent of the students surveyed in 1996 own their own computer. The results show that personal ownership was replacing reliance on campus computers over the five years. In addition, the proportion of students with no computer experience fell to almost zero. Analysis indicates that these changes were partly due to students' progression through college but primarily due to changes external to this experience. The impact of college experience on students' computer use is clearly evident in the data on word-processor use. The rate of word-processing increases with each year that students attend college; so that, first-year students increase their use of word-processors about 50 percent by the time they become seniors. The increasing use of e-mail, particularly in recent years, may be the most startling finding in this study. In 1996, two-thirds of the students used e-mail, compared to one-quarter in 1993 and one-tenth in 1991. This growth was due to changes external to the college experience—probably the extraordinary growth of the Internet. Nonetheless, the analysis suggests areas where campus policy can have an impact.