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Internet use among secondary school students and its effects on their
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Conference Paper · March 2017

DOI: 10.21125/inted.2017.0680

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 INTERNET USE AMONG SECONDARY SCHOOLS STUDENTS AND
ITS EFFECTS ON THEIR LEARNING
Mustapha Almasi, Haruni Machumu, Chang Zhu
Vrije Universiteit Brussel (BELGIUM)

Abstract
Internet represents the greatest collection of human knowledge and has enabled many communities in
the world to manage communication and solve problems faster. The Internet has made it possible for
students, teachers, and educational technologists, to communicate, create content, services,
applications and innovations for their staple endeavors. With the Internet access, a wide range of
ideas, teaching and learning resources, techniques and innovations have been widely shared. This
study explored internet use among secondary school students and its effects on their learning. Mixed
methods research with the descriptive design was employed and data were collected from 310
students using questionnaires, semi-interviews and observation. The results unveiled that majority of
students 170 (54.8%) had accessed to the internet through smartphones, internet cafes 100(32.3%)
personal computers,15(4.8%) via schools infrastructures, and homes 25(8.1%). Findings report that
although the internet uses for educational purposes had improved among secondary school students
most of them used the internet as a social media for chatting and socializing, watching movies and
listening to music. Wastage of time, delay on schoolwork submission, poor academic results and
school dodging were reported among effects associated with the internet uses among secondary
students. However, educational related websites widely used was the National Examination Council of
Tanzania (NECTA), e-SHULE, and e-School programme. The results of this study shed light on the
most effective use of the internet in the teaching-learning process among students on the proper use
of the internet.
Keywords: Internet use, secondary students, student learning, learning outcome, Tanzania.

1 INTRODUCTION
The Internet represents the greatest collection of human knowledge ever assembled and has been
widely used by students and their teachers for teaching and learning. As it has been pondered, the
internet has changed the way teacher teach and the way students learn and do school academic
work. However, the internet access and use among secondary school students contribute to their
academic work and improves their final grades. This study examined internet use among secondary
school students and its effects on their learning. In the context of this paper, the term learning was
used to answer the question as to what extent students learn when they use the internet. Students’
learning is based on their self-expression of what study materials they access, how they access them
and when they access study materials, and how they use the materials. This study aims to assess the
use of internet among secondary students and its effects on their learning. More specifically, the study
explores the access and use of internet among secondary school students; find out the types of
internet programmes that students access on the internet, explore the effects of the accessed internet
applications on students’ learning. This study is sought to answer the following research questions:
First, how are students knowledgeable about internet access and use? Second, what are the types of
internet programmes that students access on the internet? , and finally, what are the effects of the
accessed internet applications on students’ learning?

1.1 The concept Internet and its uses

The Internet is a global computer-based information system composed of many interconnected
computer networks. Each network may link tens, hundreds, or even thousands of computers, enabling
them to share information and processing power. The Internet has made it possible for people all over
the world to communicate with one another effectively and inexpensively (Encarta, 2009). Drawing
from early work of Ersoy and Yaşar (2003) cited in Tutkun (2011), the internet can be described as the
net of connections that covers the entire world. Using computers and the internet has become an
indispensable part of daily life. Based on usability Kılıç and Karaaslan (2004) opine that the internet is
able to produce desired information easily and smoothly. In concomitant to internet use

Proceedings of INTED2017 Conference ISBN: 978-84-617-8491-2

6th-8th March 2017, Valencia, Spain 2379
the term Internet access refers to the communication between a residence or a business and an
Internet service provider that connects to the Internet. However, in this paper Internet access refers to
student access to the internet connectivity via personal computers, laptops, tablets, or smartphones in
such a way that the student is able to obtain information from the internet.
It is well informed on the literature that Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) used to
acquire knowledge have had a significant effect on the development of human beings during the
second half of the twentieth century. For this reason, the 21st century is often referred to as the
“knowledge society”, “knowledge period” or “knowledge revolution” (Tutkun, 2011). The innovation has
led to the greatest changes in the way teachers teach and students learn via innovative educational
technologies. Innovative ICTs have had major effects throughout all fields of studies, exclusively in
education. In the 1980s, with the sudden proliferation of personal computers, the viewpoint that using
ICTs during the teaching-learning process would improve the quality of education (Machumu &
Kisanga, 2014) and solve problems became widespread (IBE, 1997) cited in Tutkun (2011). However,
the recent introduction of third and fourth generation (3G and 4G) mobile services and wireless
broadband networks is boosting the internet sector. The internet offers interminable choices of
information available to all and has become a symbol of change which affects education process by
offering an alternative, creative learning method (İşman & Dabaj, 2004).
In recent years, there has been a growing interest to know how computers and the internet can be
best utilized to improve effectiveness and efficiency of teaching and learning processes in both formal
and non-formal settings. As there is a shift of theories explaining learning processes, ICTs become a
handmaiden for learning activities in all levels of education. In developing countries, the central
concern to educators interested in using the internet for learning has been ‘what do people learn from
the internet’? The study of literature suggests that the content of media such as television and the
internet as well can have four broad types of effects on people including behaviors and attitudes,
beliefs and values, knowledge, and cognitive skills (Moeller, 1996; Mazzuki, 2010; Kikwa, 2010;
Mahumbwe, 2012).
Christopher and Maria- Goretti (2012) report that internet usage and world population statistics for
March 31, 2011, showed that 5.7% of the population in Africa use the internet which is the second
lowest in the world, while Asia statistics showed to be the highest with 44% of internet use (Internet
World Stats, 2011). However, recent data on internet users by regions has shown that a dramatic
increase in Africa having 9.8% with Asia standing at the peak with 48.2% (Miniwatts Marketing Group,
2015). In Tanzania context, in 2015, the country reported having an estimate of the population of 51
million people 14.9% are internet users as of December 2014. This is a big increase compared to 11%
Internet users reported by Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority in 2012 (Kasumuni, 2012;
Miniwatts Marketing Group, November 2015).
In addition, with the upraised awareness the potential that ICT has demonstrated in improving the
quality and access to education, the government, through the Ministry of Education and Vocational
Training has recently developed an ICT Policy for Basic Education (2007) that among other things,
structures the adoption of ICT within the education sector. The policy considers issues of
infrastructure; curriculum and content; training and capacity development; planning procurement and
administration; management, support and sustainability and monitoring and evaluation.
References to ICTs are also noticeable in all three policy documents that govern the education sector
in Tanzania in general. These are the Education and Training Policy of 1995, the Primary Education
and Development Plan (PEDP) 2002-2006, and the Secondary Education Development Plan (SEDP)
2004-2009, and the newly deployed Education and Training Policy of 2014. Together with Big Results
Now (BRN) manifestation, the country aims to build a strong ground on the application of computers
and the Internet in classrooms, to start the country introduced computers studies in pre-primary,
primary and secondary schools. However, both PEDP and SEDP prioritize ICT-based information
management at all levels and the introduction of computer courses into primary and secondary
education systems.

1.2 Internet access and uses

The internet is presently being used as a source of teaching and learning materials. Most private and
some public secondary schools in Tanzania have computer labs used for teaching and learning.
However, very few computer labs are connected to the internet. Alternatively, teachers and students
use their mobile phones to access Internet services for academic work. Aboderin, Fadare, Kumuyi,
and Lawal (2011) argue that the introduction of the computer into our classrooms will assist in solving

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educational problems and enhance students’ achievement. In Turkey, for example, most university
students at the graduate level (87.5%) use the internet (TUİK, 2009), while 82% of these cannot bear
the thought of daily life without access to the internet (Eğitişim Career Institute, 2010). The internet, in
particular, has provided people especially students with a foundation for meeting their information
needs (Christopher & Gorreti, 2012). Many private schools can boast of computer laboratories, but
only few can pride themselves on Internet access. The internet has come to befriend, dwell with, and
live beyond, both, the teacher and the student (ibid).
However, the use of the internet has been known to have a number of advantages as for example,
Oral (2004) as cited in Kutkun, (2011), maintain that providing information and communication
technologies for teaching-learning processes will have some advantages: students will play a more
active role, discussions of courses will contain more detail, students will become more independent,
communication between students and teachers will become level and direct, students will easily
process new student-based education material, student skills will increase, and the hierarchical
structure between teachers and students will be more flexible. It is also known that students will also
be able to access information pertaining to their courses and activities from different sources quickly
and without difficulty (Taşpınar and Gümüş, 2004), and will be able to evaluate these sources and
synthesize them.
In his study, Kutkun (2011) inform that female students use the internet in a more functional sense
than male students. Several studies reveal that students using ICT facilities mostly show higher
learning gains than those who do not use. For instance, Kulik’s (1994) study in the United States
showed that students who used computer tutorials in mathematics, natural science, and social science
scored significantly higher on test in these subjects. The findings also indicated that primary school
students who used the tutorial software in reading scored significantly higher on reading. In developing
countries, significant barriers have been identified often referred to as “the digital divide”-that limits the
ability of some countries to take advantage of technological developments. Access is chief among
them.
Similarly, apart from internet access been an obvious challenge in developing countries, initiatives
have been made to improve and reform education, challenges related to teacher preparation,
curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment associated with ICT and internet uses. For example, a newly
established Halotel mobile company under its corporate social responsibility project donated 19
computers connected to internet that are used by students to carry out their private studies (Mbashiru,
2016). The firm has pledged to connect 450 public schools to the internet. As of current Lugoba
secondary schools enjoy a computer lab connected with internet. However, the internet has many
advantages to students, teachers and other users as discussed by various scholars. But the question
remains, do our students utilize these advantages to their fullest or do they use the internet for matters
that are not really beneficial to them? This paper examines the use of internet among secondary
school students and its effects on their learning.

1.3 Effects of Internet uses among secondary school students

In 1990s debates on the effects of the Internet use among secondary schools, students were the
business of the day. In some parts of the world, parents, teachers, and communities at large where
against the uses of the Internet in schools. The notion against the Internet uses in schools was
triggered with the assumptions that the technologies were new to teachers, lack of know-how among
teachers increased tension against internet uses, and also, parents were against of additional cost
related to accessing the internet itself. However, the Internet uses among schools students whether at
home or schools increased dramatically. High computer, smartphones ownership, and household
Internet connectivity rates have increased Internet use among secondary school students (Chen,
Hsiao, Chern & Chen, 2014). It should be noted that students Internet use includes activities related to
schoolwork as well as more general activities. Internet-based activities in schools may have several
impacts on students life at schools and thereafter. Studies have reported that has either a negative
influence or no significant influence on student learning performance or other outcomes (Davis, 2001;
Kandell, 1998; Odaci, 2011; Odaci & Kalkan, 2010; Widyanto & Griffiths, 2006; Young, 1996).
Research of (e.g. Young, 2011) suggested that excessive Internet usage among students have
negative effects on students’ academic success.
However, another study by Odaci (2011), found that there is no statistically significant relationship
between problematic Internet use and academic procrastination. Many factors have been in place to
determine the inconsistent of the results including, generational factors generational differences, the
available applications, the Internet usage tasks, and the research tools used (Chen, Hsiao, Chern &

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Chen, 2014). That is, not all internet usage is of benefits to students and all people all the time, for
example, pornography use and excessive chat among secondary students has a relatively negative
effect on their academic success and life after schools.
According to both access to, and use of, the computer and the Internet are heavily stratified by
educational level, income, age, gender and minority status (Fuchs & Woessmann, 2004; Kuhlemeier &
Hemker, 2007). In a nutshell, the Internet is used in daily life in educational settings; as a result, its
usage among secondary school students should be used appropriately so as to yield academic
success. If secondary-education teachers are to tailor their instruction to the needs of all students,
they need to develop an understanding of the extent to which incoming students have access to and
make use of internet at home (Downes, 2002) and they need to familiarise themselves with the digital
skills students bring to the learning situation (Lauman, 2000; Leu, 2002).

2 METHODS

2.1 Context and design of the study

The study involved students from two secondary schools and diverse internet cafes suggested by
teachers from two visited secondary schools. The visited Internet cafes were suggested based on two
criteria closeness to two schools about 0.5-2 kilometers from school environments and second those
attract a high number of visitors including students and their teachers in Ilala municipal of Dar es
Salaam city. Ilala municipal is within the city center of Dar es Salaam city, the largest city in Tanzania
which is also a highly-populated city in the country with many internet users including students, were
the reasons for its selection among others. Most of the students had access to the internet via home,
mobile phone, schools and internet café. This is a mixed method research design utilizing multiple
data collection approach to the in-depth understanding of the phenomena under study. That is, both
quantitative data and qualitative data were collected. First quantitative (via survey) and second
qualitative (via interviews and observations) data were collected.

2.2 Participants
The subjects were 310 students from two secondary schools whereby 235 (75.8%) students were
directly recruited from schools and the remaining 75 (24.2%) students from internet cafes in Ilala
Municipal. Off these 150(48.4%) students were female and 160 (51.6%) students were male with the
average age ranging from 14 to 20. In order to obtain students from the two secondary schools under
study who visited the internet cafes who by researchers experience, seemed to be students. The
following questions were asked to students who visited internet cafes on their consent to participate in
the study (1) are you a secondary school students? (2) Which secondary schools do you belong? (3)
Which form (class) are you? These questions were asked to students before they start using the
internet. 170 (54.8%) students were in the third year (form 3) and 140 (45.2%) were in the fourth year
of their study (form 4). The students were taking both science and arts subjects.

2.3 Instruments and data analysis

Data were collected in three installments based on diverse instruments. First, quantitative data were
collected by the use of developed students’ internet use (SIU) survey questionnaire based on
characteristics students engaged in context (i.e. internet access, use for learning). Second, semi-
structured interview guides (SIG) were developed and used to collect data from students who were
found in internet cafes as well as those who used to have a personal laptop, tablets and internet at
homes. Lastly, observation sheet (OS) was developed to collect data in schools and internet cafes.
The study begins with the collection of quantitative data followed by qualitative data. The SIU
questionnaire consisted of both open-ended and closed-ended questions. The SIG questions focused
on internet effects on students learning. The interviews lasted for 30 minutes on one to one basis.
Informed consent was obtained from schools and students themselves. The observation done was
merely watching of what students accessed on the internet in the classes and internet cafes centers
without them being notified by researchers. In the internet cafes, researchers used internet providers
and system operators to observe what were mostly searched by students by filling observations
sheets. Most data collected were qualitative and were analysed using content analysis. Quantitative
data were analyzed by the use of table, frequency and percentage; however, Cronbach’s Alpha was
used to find out the reliability of instruments used mainly SIU and found to at .700 which is
appropriate.

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3 RESULTS

3.1 Descriptive statistics

Students were asked to display their identity by filling questionnaires presented to them asking
different information including year of study (class), whether having smartphones or not, having a
laptop or not, age and gender as a part of SIU. Table 1 depicts general descriptive statistics of
students involved in this study. The study reveal that very few students involved in this study have a
personal computer (laptop) and desktop at homes 40 (12.9%) while the majority 270 (87.1%) have
not. 170 (54.8%) of students declared to own their smartphones while 140 (45.25) of students have
not. Based on these data it seems that very few students have access to the internet access via
desktop and personal handheld devices such as laptop and tablets.

Table 1 Descriptive statistics of participants.

Characteristics Categories of inquiry Frequency Percentage

Year of study (class) 3rd year (form3) 170 54.8
th
4 year (form 4) 140 45.2
Smartphones (tablets, mobile phones) Have 170 54.8
Have not 140 45.2
Laptop & desktop computer (at homes) Have 40 12.9
Have not 270 87.1

3.2 Access and use of internet among secondary school students

To gauge students’ knowledge on the internet they were asked to provide their understanding on the
concept of the internet. During the survey students were asked whether they knew anything about the
internet, 304 (98.1%) of students agreed that they knew while only 6 (1.9%) of students said that they
did not know it. Interestingly, the students who claimed to have no knowledge of the internet
mentioned having been using it for uploading photos, chatting with friends, downloading music and
watching movies. The students described the internet as the tool for providing answers, chatting with
friends; a network that provides services and brings the society together, and also as a place to learn
many things you do not know. These students’ description of the internet as a network of services
bringing people together probably reflects their use of the internet as a social media for chatting and
networking with friends and relatives. Other students described it as a tool that aids students to learn
new knowledge and solve various problems while others misinterpreted it with a photocopying tool. On
the other hand, when they were asked to identify general accessibility of internet based on different
outlets, a total of 290 (93.5%) of students claimed to have access to the internet while 20 (6.5%) had
no access. This shows that in surveyed schools majority of students have access to the internet. That
is, students use the internet for different purposes.
The findings of the current study show that 170 students (54.8%) accessed the internet from their
mobile phones, 100 students (32.3%) accessed the internet from the internet cafes, other 25 (8.1%)
and from homes and 15 (4.8%) from their personal computers and schools. Therefore, most students
accessed the internet from the mobile phones, followed by the internet cafes, and lastly from their
homes through personal computers or from school computers. This indicates that mobile phones
have become the major means by which students access the internet thus putting internet closer to
students as they have their mobile virtually twenty-four hours. During the interview, students admitted
that smartphones had been used to access the internet than any other means because of being
personal, flexible and mobile. One of the students had the following to divulge “with my smartphone
internet access is no longer a problem to me, what I need is only buying internet bundles then I can
chat, send a short message and download music and learning resources”. Occasionally, very few
students were observed in their respective school internet lab accessing the internet, at this time, it
was unveiled that students were free to ask any questions to instructors. Although they were free to
ask anything, it was observed that students were given only an average of two hours per week to
familiarize with the internet under the close supervision of the instructors.

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 Table 3 Students’ means of accessing the internet.

Internet accessibility Frequency Percentage

Mobile phones (smart phones) 170 54.8
Internet cafes 100 32.3
Homes 25 8.1
Personal computers and schools 15 4.8
Total 310 100

Table 3 presents results on how often students accessed the internet. The findings indicate that the
majority of students 100(32.3%) had access to the internet once a week, about 15(4.8%) accessed at
least once a month. Again, about 25(8.1%) accessed once a month, 90(29%) accessed at every time
and 80(25.8%) did access at every day. It was observed that a good number of students oscillating
from 50 to 100 access via internet cafes and school internet lab once a week. On the interview, those
with smartphones outnumbered those without smartphones. Surprisingly, some of the interviewed
students who were having personal laptop divulged that they had accessed the internet at least once a
month.

Table 4 Internet access by students.

Internet access Frequency Percentage

Everyday 80 25.8
Every time 90 29
Once a week 100 32.3
Once a month 25 8.1
At least once a month 15 4.8
Total 310 100

In connection, to access and use of Internet, students’ knowledge on information retrieval was
explored to gauge their techniques on the ways used to search learning materials on the internet. This
was done to find out the knowledge of students in using the internet. It was assumed that students
with good searching skills or proper knowledge of searching will spend a short time getting what they
want. Searching learning materials and other information on the internet could be boring and
frustrating when one does not know how to do it. Based on interviews, the findings indicated that most
students used Google and Mozilla search engines for searching anything on the internet. Surprisingly,
no student reported to use other specialized search engines such as Google Scholar, Yahoo Search,
AltaVista, or even the popular search engines like Bing, and Ask, InfoSpace, and info.com.
During the interview, one student had the following to share “frequently I search information through
Facebook, YouTube and blog browsing and opera mini browser”. That is, is indicated that majority of
students had little knowledge of searching materials on the internet as they mostly used the Google
and Mozilla engines while the majority and social networks like Facebook and YouTube. Another
student had the following to share “I used Facebook and WhatsApp to organize social issues with my
colleagues, it is easier for to share information with friends, however, to me YouTube has changed the
way I learn, and I get everything there”. Importantly, one student lamented that “we have a group
discussion on WhatsApp where we share our ideas on how to tackle difficulties issues pertaining to
our studies”. It was observed that most students normally use email for communication with their
teachers and parents if necessary. A student was noted saying “I do Skype with both students and
parents because our teachers won’t accept Skype way of communication and getting in touch with
course information”

3.3 Types of internet programmes/materials accessed

The accessed programmes on the internet were measured by first tallying all the programmes
students accessed and then finding out the frequency basing on the nature and the content of the

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programmes. Findings from observations indicated that most of the observed students 170(54.8%)
accessed the programmes via internet cafes used the internet for entertainment and socializing
purposes such as chatting on Tweeter, Facebook and Instagram. During the interview students with
smartphones revealed that they used software applications like Imo app, and WhatsApp messenger
for downloading and uploading photos, videos, and audio, listening to music, searching for friends,
playing games and watching movies. Results also showed that students also used the internet as a
source of information 79(25.5%), for searching and watching sports news and features, listening to
religious songs, and watching a variety of news on internet televisions. Other students 61(19.7%)
used the internet for studying purposes such as solving difficult questions, searching lesson notes and
new ideas, asking and answering questions on the internet. Students who used the internet as the
study source reported that they learnt various subjects from the internet such as history, obtained
subject notes, got help through the internet, viewed photos and diagrams, read books, asked
questions and got answers for NECTA and other questions. Studies done in the United States among
middle and high school students also indicate that students use the internet for a variety of reasons
such as a medium to communicate, to find information, to have fun (Daniel, 2005), and that the
percentage of children specifically discussing schoolwork online outpaces the percentage that spends
time downloading music (Nagel, 2007).
However, when such students were asked to name the educational websites they visited, they only
mentioned a few websites such as the NECTA, dictionary.com, Wikipedia and www.history.com.
Interestingly, the NECTA website does not provide any study materials and is only used to display
various final examination results of past students. The findings further signposted that the websites
mostly visited by students by students included Facebook, Twitter, BBM, gameloft.com,
dictionary.com, WhatsApp messenger, ESKIMI, YouTube, and Netlog. Other websites visited were
DTV.com, livescore, Wikipedia, Barcelona.com, ITV.com e –mails such Gmail. The only educational
related website was that of NECTA. Judging from the nature of the websites visited, entertainment,
socialization and information based websites were the most visited types.

3.4 Effects of the Internet use on students’ learning

Students’ assessment of their learning was based on their self-expression of what materials they
accessed, how they accessed it, and when they accessed it. Researchers determined students’
learning using content analysis that is the content of the internet materials that students accessed
frequently. The presence of pornography, issues of cyber crimes and cyber bullying, and chatting so
much on the internet were mentioned as negative effects of the internet. That is students learned
things that were not of beneficial to them and that they were even exposed to the kind of threat
(cyberbullying) that they had never experienced before. Internet use was also mentioned to be a
waste of the studying time as students often spent time on non-educative websites. Some students
reported the internet as being a tool which was used to allure them to engage in sexual activities. As
one of the students in class four, during the interview declared “mobile phones with access to the
internet had been used by some students to download bad movies and photo and then share with
others”. This happened through social media such as Facebook, MySpace and WhatsApp. The
internet was blamed for keeping students away from studies as they concentrated on downloading
others’ photos, music and videos. Students also reported being stuck with bad friends on the internet.
Despite the negative effects of internet access mentioned, the internet was positively declared to have
helped students to learn and receive learning materials; receive and send information and documents.
During the interview one of the students’ leader revealed that “I have been always directed by
teachers to search information related to the next topic of Mathematic subject and share the same with
my fellow students”. That is to say, some of the students had been engaged in searching study
programmes and share with others in the class. Students also reported to be accessing the form 4
final national results, getting updated news in a fast way, chatting and socializing with various people;
accessing comedy, weather forecasts, sports news as well as sending money to buy various things
through the internet.
Researchers also sought to know the effects of the internet on students’ assessment. The majority of
students 145 (46.8%) said internet had no effects on their assessment, 110 (35.5%) agreed that the
internet had adverse effects on their assessment (the outcome of learning) while the rest 55(17.7%)
was not sure. Those who agreed to the question mentioned things like wasting too much time on
social networks such as Facebook, MySpace, Webkins and Tweeter instead of spending time learning
things related to schoolwork. They also mentioned the pornography as consuming students’ study
time and being detrimental to the moral of the one watching it. They also claimed that the internet

2385
slows or kills their thinking because they know they can easily get answers from the internet instead of
using their brains to think creatively and that they waste so much time chatting, face booking and
sending messages. Those who said no argued that the internet is full of useful information, so it is the
user who decides what to use. In an interview, students revealed that their teachers encourage then
using internet while at home for schoolwork and personal readings. Conversely, the internet provided
them with quick answers and solutions to various assignments and questions provided in class.

3.5 Usefulness of the Internet in studying for secondary school students

In response to the question on the usefulness of the internet in studying various secondary school’s
subjects, students who said it was somehow useful were 105(33.9%), those who said it was average
were also 28(9%) while those who said it was most useful were 175(56.5%) and 2(0.6%) said it was
completely not useful at all. The findings unveil that most of the students were knowledgeable about
the importance of the internet on their studying. With the only little number of students who were not
aware the effectiveness of the internet for their study, it is sufficient to argue that the internet had
changed the way secondary school students learn. During the interview, students mentioned the
following as indicators of the usefulness of the internet in their study, save time for long hours on
discussions issues, free and smooth way to share ideas online, they get materials in diverse
modalities such as video via YouTube and answers of most difficult questions. One of the students
lamented that “majority of teachers and students found the internet useful as a resource material”.
This implies that students consider the internet as a useful resource for learning and discussion
platform. When the students were asked, what should be done to make students use the internet
effectively, the responses were as follows: The government should provide directions to schools and
train teachers on the use of the internet. Schools should persuade students to use the internet and
teach them about its benefits and close or block bad websites. Computers with internet facilities
should be readily available in schools. Students should be encouraged to often access the internet.
Internet cost should be reduced. Students should not watch pornography and immoral movies.
Students also suggested that there should be limits on the use of the internet. However, cooperation
with private and all stakeholders and communities at large was called up. It was revealed that private
public partnership would be the best solutions to implement all the effective ways students mentioned.

4 DISCUSSIONS
Based on the results, internet accessibilities among secondary schools is of paramount importance for
their academic success and daily undertaking in schools and their life after schools. Our study
contributes to the understanding of the effects of the internet access and uses among secondary
school students conducted in Ilala District of Dar es Salaam city in Tanzania. Findings suggest that
effects related to internet access and uses depend on other factors like parental guidance, school
management, behavioral issues and recruitments of students because some schools and internet
cafes have installed software that monitor internet uses among students. Internet uses among
secondary students prepare them for further studies in tertiary education where the internet use is
higher than secondary schools. As Brafi and Arthur (2011) found that about 92.9 % of the tertiary
students in their study knew how to use internet services while about 7.1% stated that they did not
know how to use the Internet. Also, a study by Kikwa (2010) found that 98% of the respondents used
the internet. However, in context, assessment of the use of internet among students showed that
students enjoy searching issues related to social affairs rather than educational purposes. This is
consistent to Mazzuki (2010) who established that only a few respondents were able to access the
internet for academic purposes. That is, the majority of respondents accessed internet for other issues
as reported on the findings of this study.
In addition, this study provides useful avenues on how to manage internet use among students in
secondary schools. As it has been known that managing students in secondary schools is an issue
which needs clear guidance policy, internalized individual student moral values and user-friendly
schools-rules. The observed restrictions on computer and internet services in schools were
appropriate only to some extent while the study recommends free access to the internet and technical
assistance to students and teachers. Installation of web management system could help students to
access educational programmes only while at schools rather than giving them restricted the time and
sometimes access to school internet lab were denied among students due to improper managerial
reasons. Schools management wanted to monitor the use of internet and assure them that the internet
is there for educational issues and not otherwise. An earlier study on internet access found that
students were found to access the internet from their homes and cyber cafes since they were denied

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access to their respective school (Christopher & Gorreti, 2012), however, most of the students in their
study used smartphones as alternatives to access the internet for educational activities. As a result,
students voted internet as most useful in their studying.
However, results also suggest that students’ ability to access educational resources on the internet
depends on their skills and knowledge to retrieve information. The ability of individual to retrieve
information helps to get the right information on time and use them wisely. In this regards, most of the
internet materials accessed by students reported to related with their social affairs like downloading
and listening to music. Educational programmes were retrieved only to a small amount and only when
students want to solve educational related problems. For example, Ojedukun (2001), as cited in Arthur
and Brafi (2011) found that 37.8% of the respondents used the email to communicate with friends and
relatives and 13.5% with students while 20.9% used it for entertainment and sports, 19.6% for news,
15.5% for academic materials and 15.5% non-use of the web. However, studies have shown that
Internet chat room were used by students for communication purposes (Mahumbwe, 2012). That is,
most students used the internet for socializing, entertainment purposes such as chatting, listening to
music, playing games, watching movies, uploading and downloading photos. Another activity include
chatting on the internet was the most, followed by watching movies, videos, and listening to music,
while studying or accessing learning materials was the last. Educational related materials which were
mainly visited by students participated in this study showed that students with mobile phones that can
access internet use them to retrieve subject core concepts and learning notes. This is in line with
(Katz, 2005) that student search for the definition of concepts and references; also, extract materials
relating to their study.
Learning in this paper has been conceived as is a term which includes all the processes and products
which describe the nature and extent of student’s learning (Child, 2004:360). Therefore, in the context
of this paper, the term learning was used to answer the question as to what extent students learn
when they use the internet. Although internet access and use by students in secondary schools is a
part of learning, it has been associated with some negative effects on students’ academic
achievements. Based on the findings internet use among secondary school students reported having
the following effects on their learning; waste of time while viewing non-academic programmes such as
listening to music, gaming, searching for friends on social media, chatting, watching movies and
downloading video and photos. A study of Colley and Maltby (2008) showed that the internet use
assisted them to make new friends or meet their study partner from other places, renewing old
friendships, accessing information and advice, studying online and negative aspects of the technology.
In another study, Brafi and Arthur (2011) showed that relatively greater number of the respondents
stated that the internet facility has led to improved communication with others while others mentioned
that it helped them upgrade their knowledge. Other respondents stated that the Internet has helped
them to improve their research skills and indicated that the Internet made their learning easier.
Kuhlemeier & Hemker (2007) found that home access to e-mail and the extent to which students use
the home computer for surfing, e-mailing, chatting and text processing accelerated students’ computer
skills and educational achievement. However, using the internet made students more active, develop
high interest, develop teamwork, ask questions and answer questions consistently during the lesson.
So far in Tanzania, only 17% of teachers in secondary schools received training on the use of the
internet (Kikwa, 2010). Apart from that, Mapunda (2004) found that teachers’ knowledge and levels of
access to the internet in Dar es Salaam was very low even though they knew the role it played in
enhancing learning. The findings from this study divulge that there is few computers lab connected to
the internet in most schools in Tanzania and students showed some demand on the internet. More
computers should be provided with internet access in the various secondary schools and be there a
significant improvement in internet speed to ensure fast and efficient use of internet services; internet
services must be affordable and that education on the use of the internet must be provided.

5 IMPLICATIONS, LIMITATIONS AND CONCLUSION

In the lights of the findings of this study, it can be concluded that the internet is a useful tool for
providing various sources of information and learning but its use is left to the consumer to make
his/her choice of what to go for. Students’ learning is negatively affected as students themselves
portrayed in their misuses of the internet which are the largest source of human knowledge ever
assembled. The introduction of smartphones and laptop computers has brought the internet closer to
students, but professional use of the internet is something students should be guided and taught
about, otherwise socializing in mostly adverse ways and chatting or as students called it themselves,
“gossiping” will remain the main uses of the internet among students. Although general Internet use

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has no significant relationship to student learning performance, professional Internet use has a
positive relationship to learning performance (Chen et al., 2014). It should not be left to the student’s
prudence alone to decide what to go for on the internet, but training to both teachers and students is
necessary to enhance the wisest use of the internet. The results of this study could have important
implications for the most effective use of the internet in the teaching-learning process if students were
to be educated on the proper use of the internet.
A curriculum on the subject of internet use could be created and integrated into school subjects or
taught separately as an extra curriculum (Tutkun, 2011). These implications are based on the findings
that the internet has effects on the outcome of students learning as implicated in other studies such as
those of Pelgrum, Brummelhuis, Collis, Plomp, Janssen Reinen (1997) cited in Pelgrum (2001). Again,
basing on the findings of the study, it is recommended that students be given proper knowledge on the
use of the internet for the greater good and not just chatting and gossiping. The government should
train teachers on the use of ICT, particularly the internet so that they may be competent to help
students utilize the internet for better use. The presence of better internet facilities at schools may help
to have time for teachers to guide and direct students on the good use of the internet as a teaching
and learning resource material.

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