Abstract:

The current media technologies available to our students , are a challenge to formal education. It seems that educators continue to ignore that students live in a world where they are immersed in media technologies, and are timidly integrating them into teaching and learning processes, without acknowledging the fact, that media technologies are intertwined with all aspects of students ‘ daily lives. This study attempts to provide an overview of the importance of media technologies for a sample of Mexican undergraduate students.

This exploratory research paper takes the Uses and Gratification approach (U&G) to examine the ways in which media technologies function as entertainment, social interaction, information and learning sources for college students in Mexico. Based on an online survey of 276 students, the study yields insights into the motivations driving Internet and traditional media usage among young people enrolled at different colleges in the country. The basic U&G question is: Why do people become involved in one particular type of mediated communication or another, and what satisfaction or gratifications do they receive from it?

A brief summary of findings is provided below:
Surprisingly students had not entirely discarded “old technologies”, especially television which they report watching an average of two hours a day. Fifty four percent does not read newspapers, but 46% spend daily at least 30 minutes or more, consulting the major headlines, either in print or online formats . Although students grew up in the video games era , the results indicate that 45% does not play videogames anymore. All students in this study are avid Internet surfers, and report being connected an average of 4 hours a day searching information, music and movies, emailing, texting messages and accessing social media. For instance, 56% report that they enjoy very much being the first person that disseminates a new piece of information among their friends, through their preferred social network, which is Facebook. If we sum all the reported hours spent by students with media technologies on a typical day, they will add to 14 hours! , which seems impossible if they also attend classes, study, play sports and sleep. But to them being multitasking multimedia users is the rule: During class, they take notes, answer e-mails, send messages and view information on their computers, which they prefer over tablets.

Definitely, students also use media technologies for academic work. They consider themselves proficient in cyber surfing and the use of productivity tools, such as word processors and spread-sheets. Ninety percent of students reports using media technologies “to learn things that college professors do not teach on class”. Seventy five percent use them “to prepare classes and academic projects”. Startlingly, only 21% of the students indicate that professors use media technologies and learning platforms as teaching-learning tools, despite the fact that the technological infrastructure in their colleges was rated by most students(72%) as “good” and “very good”.

Although the study leaves many questions un-addressed about students and media technologies , the findings provide a map of media use by an undergraduate body of students enrolled in urban higher education institutions in Mexico, that might help professors reconsider the use of media technologies in learning activities.

Keywords:

Uses and Gratifications, Electronic media, Digital technologies, Undergraduate students.