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MANAGEMENT RESEARCH







Examining the impact and usage of ICT on UK
university students









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Table of content
INTRODUCTION: ................................ 3
AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: ..................... 3
LITERATURE REVIEW: ......................... 4
RESEARCH PHILOSOPHY: ................... 5
RESEARCH APPROACH: ...................... 6
DATA SET & METHODS ...................... 6
ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS: ............... 7
TIMEFRAME (USING A GRANT CHART)
.......................................................... 7
REFERENCE: ....................................... 8




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Introduction:

Information and communication technology (ICT) plays a central role in our extremely
globalized and interdependent world, in where events occurring in the other side of the
world could directly affects us. ICT enables, among other things, to communicate, share,
manipulate, produce, and stock information using different platforms such as radio,
internet, television, etc..
The focus here will be on the relation between education and ICT, in particular the impact
the latter has on students studying in a university environment. The aim here is to take a
deep look on the impact and usage of ICT on UK students, but because of the large number
of UK universities and therefore the huge number of students, the focus will be emphasized
on the University of the West of England students.
Combination of ICT and education has completely changed the way of teaching, and
consequently the way students acquire, use and share knowledge. On the one hand the
huge amount of accessible documents, articles, and books has permitted students to work
more efficiently but on the other hand the quality of work expected has risen as well,
therefore putting more pressure on students. The quality of service delivered to students
also improved, administration, teachers, thanks to ICT, can answer in fast way to students
queries. If used efficiently ICT in education definitely improves the quality & delivery of
education and quality of student care service (Dr Shantaram, 2009). And in a more global
view it has enabled humanity to share scientific and technological progress on a very large
scale.
This research paper will demonstrate the impact of ICT on students, how the students feels
about ICT, does ICT actually helped them efficiently, is there a relation between the overall
grade and the use of ICT.


Aims and objectives:
My aims and objectives are to figure out the points cited below:
-Deep analyse of how student use ICT in their studies in university
-Analysis of the impact ICT have on students
-Understanding the relation between ICT and higher education
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Literature review:

The ICT world is changing really fast, innovation in this industry is something common and
constant, as researchers and companies continuously invents new technologies to make
companies more competitive, but also to make our live easier.
Cloud computing is one of these new innovations that had change the ICT industry. As
defined by Rajkumar (2009) Cloud computing is the externalization of our data on distant
infrastructure, hence the word cloud. These stored data will be provided on line as a
service to clients in a pay-as-you-go manner (Etro, 2009). The benefits are multiple; among
other things it permits to save cost (no need to pay on expensive hardware to stock
information), you gain space (since the information are stocked on distant servers), and you
only pay what you have used (Etro, 2009). A lot of small to medium enterprises (SME) have
benefited from this innovation, therefore becoming more competitive by using it; in fact the
cost of stocking data can be quite high for such firms (Kourik, 2011).
Another recent ICT innovation is the 3D printing; basically the latter allows you to print 3
dimensional materials. The process is quite straightforward, you finalize your drawing on
your computer and then you send it to the printer, it will then deposits the necessary
material (plastic or metal) via a controlled nozzle, layer by layer, until the product is formed
(Bendemra, 2012). This technology is actually transforming several industries, in the Health
and medicine industry per example an entire jaw has been printed and successfully
implemented in a hospital in the Netherlands, using metal powder as a material for printing.
Nevertheless, there is a long way to go before printing organic tissue and bones, because
that means organic material would be needed as ink (BBC, 2012).
The application of ICT techniques and concepts had great impact on several businesses, in
the banking service per example; ICT directly affects the relationship between banks and
their customers but it also facilitate interaction between banks and their other branch
(Agboola, 2003). Some of the ICT infrastructures that banks use are, amongst other things,
the substitution of postal mail to electronic mail, the reinforcement of their security as
digital fraud can be costly in both financial term and in term of the bank reputation, the
Automated Payment System (ATM) which nearly every bank has already adopted, and the
use of SMS alert in which Banks automatically and instantly sends notification to the
customer on transactions that has been made (Ramboll Management, 2008).
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ICT also had a great impact on a specific sector of the service industry, the education sector,
more specifically, the higher education. The latter is one of the most important sectors for a
country in term of economical, social, and political development, in fact as said by Mandela
(2003) Education is the most important tools you can use to change the world. So it is
worth to look at the impact ICT has on this sector.
According to Oliver (2002) ICT have impact on Higher Education on many level. First of all
ICT has an impact on what is learned, universities are nowadays favouring curricula that are
more competency and performance-based. These curricula tends to require access to
variety of information sources, but also access to a variety of information forms and types,
and it also demonstrate that teachers are more mentors and coaches rather than content
experts. ICT is able to provide strong support to these requirements; the latter usage is also
changing the learning process from the student point of view as well as the teacher (Oliver,
2002).
ICT also have impact on how student learns, according to Reeves and Jonassen (1996), ICT
are tools that encourage and support independent learning. Students can by themselves
using computers, or other ICT instructional infrastructure, learn and gain knowledge.
Time and space are also affected when it comes to usage of ICT for students learning
process. In fact ICT has an impact on when and where students learn. According to Moore
and Kearsley (1996), the concept of flexibility in the delivery place of educational program is
not new. But the growing use of ICT have improved and encouraged this flexibility. Tools
such as blackboard in University of West of England per example demonstrate the fact that
students can study anywhere they want as long as they have access to Internet.
Several literatures are available on the relation between ICT and higher education; however,
the aim of this research paper is to look at this relation from the students point of view
using the appropriate research methodology.


Research Philosophy:
The aim of this research is to understand the impact of ICT on UK university students;
therefore the usage of both quantitative and qualitative is necessary. On the one hand
quantitative research is necessary because surveys will give me an overview of a large
number of students feeling about ICT. On the other hand qualitative research will be the
exploratory phase in where it will provide insights to the study in term of developing
hypothesis trough understanding the opinion of students.
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Thus, the appropriate research philosophy here will be the positivism approach. According
to Cohen and Crabtree (2006) this approach presuppose that there is an objective reality,
but also that people can know this reality and finally that symbols can accurately describe
and explain this objective reality. In this research paper the objective reality is that ICT has
an impact on the students, and objectively everyone knows that, now the quantitative and
qualitative method will help to bring out the how they feel about ICT, in other term it will
help to explain this objective reality.


Research Approach:
When it comes to research approach, we usually refer to two broad methods of researching,
which are the inductive and deductive approach. The latter reasoning work from the more
general to the more specific also called top-down approach, whereas the inductive
reasoning work from the specific to the more general also called bottom-up approach
(Burney, 2008)
For this research the use of inductive approach will be more appropriate because this study
involves making conclusions from specific observations. In fact the aim here is to observe
and to analyse student usage of ICT in a specific environment (UK Universities), to finally
bring out theories and conclusions.

Data set & methods
Data collection and sampling can be time consuming and demands a lot of effort, for these
reasons all the students in the UK will not collaborate in the investigation of this study. The
focus will be on a specific university, and for this research the chosen university will be the
University of West of England. A multi method approach will be used to collect data; it will
be a combination of surveys and focus group interviews.
Secondary data will also be used to conduct the research, it will be based on articles,
research reports and Internet website. The secondary data will mainly relate to the impact
of ICT on university students (in the European Union), so I can compare it with UK students,
it will be interesting to point out differences or similarities.
For the surveys, the study will use a combination of close-ended and open-ended questions.
The questionnaire itself will be short because of the open-ended questions, in fact the latter
can be time consuming and may require more effort to analyse all the answers.
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The questioner will be composed of 7 to 8 questions maximum, so that way it will be
possible to target a large number of students, and perhaps expect a large number of
answers. The question will be easy to answer, per example How often do you use ICT per
week for study purpose? or What type of ICT do you use mostly use when it comes to
study?.
Nevertheless with the focus group interview, it will be possible to get more elaborate
answers, in fact with focus group it is possible to get or at least to get closer to what people
are really thinking. The interview will composed of 4 to 5 open-ended question, and will be
per example How ICT has contributed in your university studies? or What could you
improve in term of ICT in your university?

Ethical considerations:
For this research I will put a great effort, amongst other things, on the following points:
-Honesty:
I will stay honest in all parts of this research, towards the people I will ask for participation
but also toward myself. I will certainly not fabricate or misrepresent data.
-Respect for Intellectual Property
I will not steal or reproduce others work as it is mine, and I will always give credit where
credit is due.
-Objectivity
I will be objective in the research, which means I will not let my point of view distort the
content of the research.


Timeframe (Using a Grant chart)
MONTHS MONTH
1
MONTH
2
MONTH
3

WEEKS 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4
ACTIVITIES
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Literature review XXX XXX XXX XXX
Read methodology
literature
XXX XXX XXX XXX
Develop questionnaire
and focus interview
group questions
XXX XXX
Distribute questionaire XXX XXX
Analaysis of
questionaire
XXX
Focus group interview
& Analysis
XXX XXX
Gathering and
analyzing secondary
data
XXX XXX
Submit draft to tutor XXX
Revise draft and
format
XXX
Print and final
submission
XXX


Reference:
Mujumdar, D., & Shantaram, S. (2012). Use of ICT for ODL, Blended Learning, Research,
Administration & Management.
Etro, F. (2009). The economic impact of cloud computing on business creation, employment
and output in Europe. Review of Business and Economics, 54(2), 179-208.
Buyya, R., Yeo, C. S., Venugopal, S., Broberg, J., & Brandic, I. (2009). Cloud computing and
emerging IT platforms: Vision, hype, and reality for delivering computing as the 5th utility.
Future Generation computer systems, 25(6), 599-616.
Kourik, J. L. (2011, April). For small and medium size enterprises (SME) deliberating cloud
computing: a proposed approach. In Proceedings of the European Computing Conference.
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BBC (2012,February), Transplant jaw made by 3d printer claimed as first. Available at
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-16907104, [ Accessed 6 April 2014]
Jonassen, D. & Reeves, T. (1996). Learning with technology: Using computers as cognitive
tools. In D. Jonassen (Ed.), Handbook of Research Educational on Educational
Communications and Technology (pp 693-719). New York: Macmillan

Hamza Bendemra (2012, October), Explainer :what is 3D printing and whats it for?.
Available at http://theconversation.com/explainer-what-is-3d-printing-and-whats-it-for-
9456. [Accessed 6 April 2014]
Rambll Management( 2008 September), ICT and e-Business impact in the Banking Industry,
A Sectoral e-business. Available at http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise. [Accessed 7 April 2014]
Agboola, A. (2007). Information and communication technology (ICT) in banking operations
in NigeriaAn evaluation of recent experiences. African Journal of Public Administration and
Management, XVIII, 1, 1-102.
Oliver, R. (2002). The role of ICT in higher education for the 21st century: ICT as a change
agent for education. Retrieved April, 14, 2007.
Cohen D and Crabtree B(2006), Qualitative Research Guidelines Project. Available
at :http://www.qualres.org/ .[Accessed 3 April 2014]
Aqil Burney (2008), Inductive&Deductive research approach. Available at
www.drburney.net. [Accessed 8 April 2014]
Moore, M. & Kearsley, G. (1996). Distance Education: A Systems View. Belmont, CA:
Wadsworth.