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Stafford, T.F., 2005. “Understanding Motivations for Internet Use in Distance Education,” IEEE Transactions on Education (48:2), pp. 301-306.
Uses and Gratifications (U & G) is a communications theory paradigm developed to understand
media-use motivations. This research paradigm has recently been applied to understand
motivations for Internet use. Internet U & G typically orient to distinct process-based,
content-based, and socially based motivations for use of the network. This study applies
U & G to examine the Internet usage motivations of technology students enrolled in
an Internet-enabled distance education course and finds that digital content is highly
sought after by students in Internet-supported distance education classes. Distance
education students are also motivated to use Internet communication resources to offset
the lack of social interaction found in normal classrooms. Students' Internet usage
process motivations actually diverge into two distinct areas, related generally to
searching versus browsing in the support of learning objectives.
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