Learning online: Factors associated with use of the Internet for education purposes

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Larry McKeown and Cathy Underhill
Science, Innovation and Electronic Information Division
Statistics Canada

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Before the Internet was launched commercially in 1993, few people outside of the scientific and academic worlds knew much about this new technology. The Internet has since changed the way many Canadians conduct their everyday activities, from viewing weather, news and sports to banking and paying bills. It has also changed the way some are pursuing learning opportunities. In 2005, over one quarter of adult Canadians - an estimated 6.4 million - used the Internet for education, training or school work. Such use of the Internet has the potential to help encourage lifelong learning and to reduce obstacles to learning, such as cost and distance.

In Canada, issues around access to higher education continue to receive considerable research and policy attention. For instance, there are concerns that rising tuition fees have become a potential impediment for individuals from lower-income households to pursue postsecondary education.¹ Likewise, distance appears to play a role in postsecondary participation. Individuals living close to a university or college can reduce their costs by living at home while going to school; others who live further away from a university or college do not have this option, however, and so their costs of pursuing a postsecondary education are higher.² An important question is whether online education reduces or reinforces these existing gaps in access to education.

This article investigates the use of the Internet for education-related reasons based on findings from the 2005 Canadian Internet Use Survey (CIUS). After providing an overview of Internet use in Canada, the article describes selected social, economic and geographic characteristics of those going online for education-related reasons. It then examines specific reasons for going online for education-related purposes, including distance education, self-directed learning and correspondence courses. Finally, it examines urban and rural differences among those using the Internet for distance education.

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From access to impacts

Early Internet research examined the readiness of Canadians to adopt this new technology, with a focus on penetration rates and types of household connections.³ Subsequent research began looking at how individual Canadians were starting to use the Internet⁴ and the extent of, and reasons for, the so-called 'digital divide,' or the gap in Internet use between certain groups.⁵

With increasing Internet prevalence and use, research has moved beyond the matter of access to examine differences that can be observed in the diversity and variety of uses.⁶ For instance, studies are now investigating the impact of Internet use on society, including how the Internet has influenced the daily time-use and socialization patterns of Canadians.⁷ Another study has assessed some of the expected outcomes of the information society - which have so far not materialized - such as the 'paperless office,' the demise of traditional retail, and 'the death of distance'.⁸

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Many Canadians using the Internet for a variety of reasons

An estimated 16.8 million adult Canadians (68%) used the Internet for personal non-business reasons during 2005 (see Box 1). The survey findings point to age, income and education as important factors influencing Internet use. For example, an estimated 85% of individuals between ages 18 and 44 went online in 2005 compared to just 50% of those aged 45 years and older. Of those individuals living in households with incomes of $80,000 or more, an estimated 86% went online compared to just 60% of those living in households with less income.

Although older persons are less likely to use the Internet today, this is a cohort rather than an age effect. Since most current users will continue to use the Internet as they get older, age should become a less important factor over time. And if the relative cost of access, bandwidth and computer equipment continues to decline, income may also become less of a factor in Internet use. Education, however, continues to be an important determinant of Internet use. In 2005, eight out of ten (80%) Canadians with some postsecondary education used the Internet, compared to only about one-half (49%) of adults with less education.

Just over 15 million adult Internet users, or 90% of users, were estimated to have accessed the Internet from home. The most common reasons Canadians went online from home included emailing (91%), general browsing (84%), searching for information about weather or road conditions (67%), making travel arrangements (63%), and viewing news or sports (62%). More than four out of ten (43%) Internet home users reported going online for education, training or school work.⁹ Who were these Canadians and what were the specific education-related reasons for such Internet use?

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Who is going online for educational purposes?

Canadians can be divided into three groups according to their Internet use (see Box 2). Just over one-quarter (26%) of adult Canadians, an estimated 6.4 million, went online during 2005 for education, training or school work.¹⁰ Just over one-third (34%), or 8.5 million, also went online, but not for education-related reasons. Finally, one-third (7.9 million adult Canadians) reported never having accessed the Internet for personal or non-business reasons. This typology excludes a residual group – those who used the Internet, but not from home.¹¹

Like Internet use in general, going online for education, training or school work is related to individual characteristics (Table 1). For instance, Education users tended to be younger and to have more education than either Other users or Non users of the Internet. They were also more likely to be in the paid labour force. Canadians who used the Internet for education-related reasons were less likely to be married compared to those who did not use the Internet for this purpose, reflecting their lower average age.

Note: Estimates among groups are significantly different with the exception of "sex", where there was no difference, p < .01
Source: Statistics Canada, Canadian Internet Use Survey, 2005.

More Canadians going online for education-related reasons were students. Indeed, nearly 80% of all full- and part-time students reported going online for education, training or school work. There were no apparent differences in the propensity of men and women to use the Internet for this reason. The pattern for general Internet use by socioeconomic characteristics is similar to that of education-related uses.

Residents of Newfoundland and Labrador, New Brunswick and Quebec reported the lowest rates of Internet use for education, training or school work, at around 20%, and those living in Ontario reported the highest rate (32%) (Table 2). There was also an urban-rural difference in use of the Internet (see Box 3). Those in rural areas and small towns were less likely to use the Internet for this purpose (20%, versus 31% for urban residents).¹²

Note: Among Education users, provincial estimates (Newfoundland and Labrador, New Brunswick, Quebec, and Ontario) are significantly different from Canadian average of 26%, p < .01
Source: Statistics Canada, Canadian Internet Use Survey, 2005.

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Education users more engaged

Individuals going online for education-related reasons also differed from those who did not in terms of their online behaviour. Education users were more likely to report accessing the Internet every day and spending 5 hours or more online (Table 3). They also reported, on average, more types of uses. Not surprisingly, slightly more reported accessing the Internet from home using a high-speed connection. On balance, those going online for education, training or school work appear to be more "engaged" Internet users than individuals who did not go online for these reasons.

Note: All estimates between groups significantly different, p. < .01
Source: Statistics Canada, Canadian Internet Use Survey, 2005.

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Research, the most common education-related use

Approximately 71% of Canadians who used the Internet for education-related reasons reported a single type of use, while the remaining 29% reported two or more uses. The most common type of education-related use of the Internet was to research information for project assignments or for solving academic problems. It was estimated that approximately 4.2 million adult Canadians used the Internet for this specific reason, comprising two-thirds (66%) of those who went online for education, training and school work (Chart 1).

Just over one-quarter (26%) of those going online for education-related reasons reported doing so for distance education, self-directed learning or to take correspondence courses. Other common types of education-related uses were to communicate with administration or to obtain transcripts and to communicate with teachers or peers, including submission of school work.

Those living in urban areas were more likely to report going online to research information for assignments than those from rural areas and small town areas (66% versus 62%). However, urban Canadians were less likely than those from rural areas and small towns to report using the Internet for distance education, self-directed learning or correspondence courses (25% versus 29%). This suggests that relatively more Canadians from rural and small-town communities were using the Internet for distance learning.¹³ The higher propensity of rural Canadians to use the Internet in this way suggests that electronic distance learning could be a possible solution to the postsecondary access problems facing rural youth.

Chart 1
Proportion of education users by type of use

Note: Respondents who reported going online in 2005 for education, training or school work were then asked "For what specific educational purposes did you use the Internet, during the past 12 months?"
Source: Statistics Canada, Canadian Internet Use Survey, 2005.

This particular finding warrants a further examination along a more refined urban-to-rural gradient, based on both distance and population density, to determine if residents from rural and small town areas in closer proximity to cities exhibit different behaviours from those from more rural and remote regions of Canada.

To account for proximity, rural and small town areas were classified using metropolitan influence zones (MIZ, see Box 3). Using a gradient based on urban size and MIZ revealed that over one third of Education users from rural areas and small towns with weak or no urban influence reported going online for distance education, self-directed learning or correspondence courses (Chart 2). Not only was this the highest rate along the gradient, it was also a full ten percentage points higher than that for residents from rural areas and small towns with a moderate to strong urban influence.¹⁴

Chart 2
Distance education more prevalent in smaller and more remote communities

Note: Proportion of Education Users reporting distance education, self-directed learning, or being engaged in correspondence courses, by population size along the urban-rural gradient. Estimates are significantly different from "Weak to no MIZ" with the exception of "Cenus Agglomerations", p < .05
Source: Statistics Canada, Canadian Internet Use Survey, 2005.

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Summary

The Internet has fundamentally altered the way many Canadians conduct everyday activities. During 2005, just over one-quarter (26%) of adult Canadians, an estimated 6.4 million, went online for education, training or school work. As expected, younger persons and students were more apt to report this type of use. Urban residents were also more likely than their rural and small town counterparts to go online for education, training or school work. This may reflect, in part, the lower Internet use rate among those living in rural areas and small towns, even after taking into account other factors, including age, income and education.¹⁵

Of those Canadians who went online for education, training or school work, about two-thirds (66%) did so to research information for project assignments or for academic problems. Just over one-quarter (26%) did so for distance education, self-directed learning or correspondence courses. While residents from rural and small town areas were less likely than their urban counterparts to report going online to research assignments, they were more likely to report going online for distance education, self-directed learning or for correspondence courses.

The higher rate for distance education reported by rural and small town Canadians was driven largely by those living in communities less influenced by urban centres (i.e. weak to no MIZ). An important policy question is whether online education can help reduce potential barriers to accessing education, such as cost and distance. It appears that rural and small-town Internet users from more remote communities are in fact more apt to go online for distance education. While more definitive research on this matter is required, this finding does suggest that the Internet and its infrastructure can be harnessed as a tool to help overcome the barrier of distance in education.

References and notes

1. Zeman, K. (2007). "A first look at provincial differences in education pathways from high school to college and university," Education Matters. Ottawa: Statistics Canada, Catalogue Number 81-004-XIE - June 2007, volume 4 number 2.

2. Frenette, M. (2003). Access to college and university: Does distance matter? Analytical Studies Branch research paper series, 201. Statistics Canada Catalogue number 11F0019MIE.

3. Dickinson, P. and J. Ellison. (2000). "Plugging in: The increase of household Internet use continues into 1999." Connectedness series number 1. Statistics Canada Catalogue number 56F0004MIE.

4. Dryburgh, H. (2001). Changing our ways: Why and how Canadians use the Internet. Statistics Canada Catalogue number 56F0006XIE.

5. Sciadas, G. (2002). "Unveiling the digital divide," Connectedness series number 7. Statistics Canada Catalogue number 56F0004MIE.

6. Montagnier, P. and G. Vickery. (2007). Broadband and ICT access and use by households and individuals. OECD Working Party on the Information Economy.

7. Veenhof, B. (2006). "The Internet: Is it changing the way Canadians spend their time?" Connectedness series number 13. Statistics Canada Catalogue number 56F0004MIE.

8. Sciadas, G. (2006). "Our lives in digital times." Connectedness series number 14. Statistics Canada Catalogue number 56F0004MIE.

9. This is an increase from the 25% of those using the Internet in the past month during 2000 to search for information about education or training estimated by the General Social Survey (Dryburgh, 2001).

10. Respondents who answered yes to using the Internet at home during the past 12 months for education, training or school work.

11. Due to the survey design, respondents who went online during 2005, but not from home, were not asked about specific uses; there was insufficient information to classify them. On average, these approximately 1.8 million adult Canadians (7.4%) were younger and more educated.

12. Although this would seem to argue against the belief that the Internet can overcome distance barriers for education, it does not take into account the presence of a local university or college.

13. In absolute terms, an estimated 1.3 million urban residents engaged in this behaviour compared to just over 300,000 residents from small town and rural Canada.

14. A logistic regression model was used to separate the effect of geographic location from other factors that influence Internet use for distance learning. Living in a weak to no MIZ community was significant with just age and income as continuous control variables but became weaker as other variables were added such as education, language of interview and presence of children.

15. See for example, McKeown, L., Noce, A., and P. Czerny (2007). Factors influencing Internet use: Does rurality matter? Rural and Small Town Canada Analysis Bulletin, volume 7, number 3. Statistics Canada Catalogue number 21-006-XIE.