Students' uses and gratifications for using computer-mediated communication media in learning contexts

Date
2010
Authors
Guo, Z
Tan, FB
Cheung, K
Supervisor
Item type
Journal Article
Degree name
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
The Association for Information Systems (AIS)
Abstract

Despite a growing stream of research into the use of computer-mediated communication (CMC) media in higher education, there remains limited understanding about the students‘ motivations for using CMC alongside non-CMC media within a learning context. This article identifies seven dimensions of motivation from the perspective of uses and gratifications (U&G), including information seeking, convenience, connectivity, problem solving, content management, social presence, and social context cues. It was found that each CMC satisfied different motivations for its use, and that overall CMC best fulfilled information seeking, convenience, connectivity, and content management motivations. This study also identifies a number of similarities and differences between CMC and non- CMC media in terms of the motivations for their use. Finally, the study concludes with a discussion of the implications for Information Systems (IS) researchers, higher education, and organizations.

Description
Keywords
Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC) , Motivations , Uses and Gratifications (U&G) perspective , e-learning , Media choice , Repertory Grid Technique (RGT)
Source
Communications of the Association for Information Systems: Vol. 27, Article 20.
DOI
Rights statement
Authors may include a copy of their article on their Web page as long as it is clearly noted that AIS owns the copyright and use for profit is not allowed. Such an author version must be identical to the final published version, and include a link to CAIS.