1. O NLINE L EARNING AND I NTERNET U SE By Linda Thompson EDTC 5103

2. H YPOTHESIS People below age 35 are more likely to prefer using online learning methods for academic, personal, or news about the world around them.

3. S URVEY I created five questions to survey respondents about their preferences for academic, personal, and news related learning. I used www.surveymonkey.com to construct and administer the questions. The actually survey is at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/B23HY9K.www.surveymonkey.com http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/B23HY9K I received 40 responses from co-workers, college students, and friends.

4. L IKERT S CALE Respondents were asked to choose one of the following responses to each question: Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree Each response was rated. 5 Strongly Agree 4 Agree 3 Neutral 2 Disagree 1 Strongly Disagree

5. D EMOGRAPHICS Respondents’ ages ranged from 15-65.

6. P ERCENTAGES OF A GES

7. G ENDER More Females responded than Males.

8. Q UESTION 1 I LIKE USING ONLINE TUTORIALS TO LEARN NEW COMPUTER OPERATIONS OR PROGRAMS.

9. Q UESTION 1 A NALYSIS Responses from people ages 15-25 and 26-35 indicated that they prefer online tutorials less than people ages 36-45, 46-55, and 56-65. The data for this question suggests that older people are more likely to use tutorials when learning new computer operations and programs. The Hypothesis is not supported using this data.

10. Q UESTION 2 I ENJOY TAKING COLLEGE COURSES ONLINE.

11. Q UESTION 2 A NALYSIS Respondents for 15-25 and 26-35 were Neutral, neither agreeing or disagreeing with the question. Respondents age 36-45 indicated they enjoyed online courses. Respondents ages 46-55 and 56-65 choose Disagree and Strongly Disagree. The data indicates that younger people enjoy online classes and older people do not enjoy them. According to the data people ages 36-45 enjoy online courses the most of all the respondents. Data seems to support the hypothesis.

12. Q UESTION 3 I WOULD CHOOSE ONLINE COURSES OVER REGULAR CLASSROOM INSTRUCTION.

13. Q UESTION 3 A NALYSIS Responses from the 15-25 and 26-35 groups indicate that they prefer regular classroom instruction more than online courses. The older groups 36-45, 46-55, and 56-65 chose online courses over regular classroom instruction. According to the data presented they hypothesis is not supported.

14. Q UESTION 4 I WOULD PREFER ONLINE NEWS SOURCES VERSUS TRADITIONAL PRINT MEDIA.

15. Q UESTION 4 A NALYSIS Respondents ages 15-25 and 26-35 seem to prefer online news sources over traditional print media. Respondents 36-45 also seemed to prefer online news sources. Responses from people 46-55 and 56-65 indicate they preferred traditional print media. The hypothesis would be supported according to the data.

16. Q UESTION 5 I ACCESS THE INTERNET AT LEAST ONCE A DAY.

17. Q UESTION 5 A NALYSIS Respondents in all categories access the internet on a daily basis.

18. D ATA Data from Q 2 and Q 4 generally support the Hypothesis. Data from Q1 and Q 3 do not support the Hypothesis. Data from Q 5 indicates that it was not a good question. I would rewrite the statement this way, “I access the internet at least once a day to learn new information.” and redo the survey. According to the data collected on this survey the age group most likely to use tutorials, take online courses, and learn news information online is the middle age group 36-45.

19. C ONCLUSIONS Q uestion 1- Data suggests that respondents in the 36-45, 46-55 and the 56-65 age groups would use tutorials to learn new computer operations or programs. The younger age groups are fairly neutral on this question. Question 2 - Data again shows that the 36-45 age group would be more likely to enjoy an online class. The younger age groups might enjoy the online class, but the oldest age groups’ (46-55, 56-65) scores indicate they would not enjoy the online class. Question 3 – Data from the middle age group (36-45) and the oldest age group (56-65) shows they would be most likely to choose online courses over traditional classes. The younger age groups (15-25 & 26-35) and the second oldest age group (46-55) would not choose the online class over the traditional classroom. Question 4 – Data reveals that the middle and younger age groups, 45 and younger, would choose the online news media for news information. The older age groups 46 and above would not choose online news sources. Question 5 – Data shows almost all respondents access the internet daily.