IS 369 Fall 2014 – Group Work 1 – Questions

“A longitudinal study of the effects of internet use and video game playing on
academic performance and the roles of gender, race and income in the
relationships.” Jackson, von Eye….

1. Why is the Internet “the long sought solution” to educational problems?

(Hint: look outside the Article, research on the Web, etc…). Internet use will make
learning ‘‘transformative”, focuses on self-discovery, active engagement, interaction with
others and real-world problems. To help solve educational problems, the internet will
help expand learning in many different ways and students can have access to education
without being there. There is online learning where students can learn and it can will help
people who could not afford to go to school to have a cheaper alternative in learning. It
will help kids who family don’t have transportation to go to school and it will help them
to have the same opportunity to learn.

2. Discuss how the Internet “levels the playing field” and what is meant by that term? Also,
would this be applicable globally – what hindrances are there? The Internet will
presumably level the educational playing field because it will be available to everyone,
everywhere, and any time, regardless of gender, race/ ethnicity, income or other socio-
demographic characteristics. The term “levels the playing field” means that every person
has equal opportunity no matter if they are poor or rich. This would be applicable
globally because of the availability of the internet and computers.

3. This Article was written in Sept. 2010; what has changed (if anything) regarding Internet
usage and pervasiveness in Education since then? Internet usage has been increasing
because of how technology has been more modernized every year. Smartphones has
taken over of lot teens and that they would use them over using a laptop or a computer.
Teens would use them almost everyday whether it is texting or facetiming their friends,
using apps to play games, and even use search engines in the phones. Online classes
make education accessible for students who have the transportation to get to school.
Online education allows students to work at their own pace, around their own without
having be pressured by time. This increased level of convenience and access is a major
development in education.
4. Are K-12 schools using the Internet properly? Why or Why Not? What could these
schools do to enhance learning using the Internet as a tool? K-12 school are using their
internet properly because it has been doing well in expanding Internet access in
instructional rooms. It helps students who cannot be in school physically to have the
same experience of school like if they were there in person. In 1994, 3% of public school
instructional rooms had Internet access, compared with 93% in 2003. Between 1998 and
2003, the student-to-connected-computer ratio went from 12-to-1 to 4.4-to-1.

5. Why is Hypothesis 1 too broad to test for? How would you restructure the Hypothesis?
Hypothesis 1 is too broad to test for because there are other external factors that play into
whether the Internet would help someone who does well or poorly in school. A large
majority of adolescents (81%) play videogames online and 68% of American households
play some form of videogame. I would restructure the hypothesis by performing it on
people who do not play video games and by hypothesizing that teens who perform poorly
in school would perform better with using the Internet.
6. Is Hypothesis 2 a good test? Why or Why Not? Hypothesis 2 is a good test because it is s
serious matter to talk about whether playing videogames will get in the way with a teen’s
academic performance. It gives a good idea how the effect of video games on academic
performance.
7. Briefly characterize the Research Methodology. The study consisted of 482 youth, 227
males (47.1%) and 255 females (52.9%). One-third was African American (32.7%) and
two thirds were Caucasian American (67.3%). Average age was 12 .19 years old, and
median grade level was 7th grade (69.2%), with the next most frequent grade level being
6th grade (19.3%). The participant had to complete Parent/Guardian Surveys and Child
Surveys and they were compensated $25 each time they complete them. They also were
able to enter into a lottery for a grand prize drawing of $500 which is an additional
incentive for participation.

8. In the Article, what did the results demonstrate for Hypothesis 1? Year 1 and Year 2? In
support of Hypothesis 1, grades in school, GPAs and reading skills were correlated with
the frequency of Internet use, replicating the findings of the HomeNetToo project.
However, this relationship only correlates for youth who had below average reading
skills. In year 2, grades in school, GPAs and reading skills were positively correlated
with both the frequency of Internet use and Internet use for communication. The
correlation was significant only for above average GPA students. Cell phone use, which
was positively correlated with GPA for below average students in Year 1 was now
negatively correlated with GPA for average and above average GPA student.

9. In the Article, what did the results demonstrate for Hypothesis 2? Year 1 and Year 2? In
support of Hypothesis 2, videogame playing was negatively correlated with academic
performance, specifically, mathematics skills, grades in school and GPAs. It also
 positively correlated with visual-spatial skills. Videogame playing and visual-spatial
skills were highly related only for children initially low in visual spatial skills. In year 2,
videogame playing was positively correlated with visual-spatial skills and negatively
correlated with grades in school and GPAs. Videogame playing was negatively related to
academic performance, but positively related to visual-spatial skills.

10. Was the sample population (2 races) adequate for this research? Would you have done it
differently, why or why not? Should the sample population have been expanded to be
more representative of demographics? The sample population of African American and
Caucasian American is not adequate to the research. There were heavily focused on the
two races and needed to include more races such as Asian, Hispanic and Native
American.

11. Why was “Internet Use Impact” in Year 2 greater? It was greater because Youth who use
the Internet more will show greater gains in academic performance measures that reflect
reading skills than will youth who use the Internet less. This effect may be qualified by
initial levels of performance.

12. Describe how the test results and findings support the Authors Hypothesis 3 and 4? Both
Hypotheses 3 and 4 receive partial support. Predicted gender and race differences in IT
use and academic performance were observed. For example, Females used the Internet
and cell phones more than did males and males played videogames more than did
females. Caucasian Americans used the Internet more than did African American males,
but not more than did African American females.

13. Describe Hypothesis 5 and 6, as well as the associated test result findings for both year 1
& 2. Hypotheses 5 and 6 predicts changes in academic performance over time as a
function of IT. According to Hypothesis 5, changes in academic performance from Year
1 to Year 2 will be related to IT use. Youth who use the Internet more will show greater
gains in academic performance measures that reflect reading skills than will youth who
use the Internet less. This effect may be qualified by initial levels of performance. Below
average performing youth may benefit more from Internet use than average or above
average performing youth. According to Hypothesis 6, youth who play videogames more
will show decrements in academic performance but increases in visual-spatial skills from
Year 1 to Year 2, compared to youth who play videogames less.

14. Describe the correlation (positive and negative) of the research regarding video-spatial
skills and video-game playing? What exactly is video-spatial skills? The positive is that
video game playing can improve video-spatial skills because how it help’s give the youth
 more creativity in what they do in the future, for example, a teen that plays Minecraft will
help them build things and help them to think outside the box. The negative side is that it
will make their GPA go down. Video-spatial skills are abilities to understand reason and
remember the spatial relations among objects or space.

15. Describe the Authors discussion of the “Race Digital Divide”. Does this still exist today?
Discussions of the digital divide defined the divide in terms of physical access to the
Internet, a divide that has disappeared between the genders and has narrowed but abides
among the races. African American children are less likely to have access to the Internet
than children of other races. Moreover, new types of divides are developing between
those who have broadband access and those who have dial-up access, and between those
who use the Internet in engaging and creative ways and those who use it in mundane,
routine ways. This still exists today but, not as common as past years. Nowadays, people
have more opportunity to have jobs and with financial aid from the government, people
can have access to the Internet and have the money to pay for it.

16. Would charts and graphs be more useful to demonstrate research finding in this Article?
Why or Why Not? Yes charts and graphs be more useful to demonstrate research finding
in this Article because it will help to understand the methodology of the study more better
and to have a clear idea on what the data means in the study. It would make the article
more organized and help to make the readers to read this article not have any confusions
on what the data means.