World Wide Web (Www) Among Secondary School Students in Kenya

Abstract

This research was designed to establish how secondary school students in Kenya view WWW and how their attitudes and opinions affect their use of this new medium in an educational context. 155 students from five secondary schools in Nairobi were interviewed to establish what sites they visit and what motivates the visits. Their attitudes about the WWW as well as their computer literacy skills were also probed. The researcher also took time to collect and analyse the web sites that the students actually visit. The findings strongly point out that the students do not visit web sites for academic education. Content analysis of the web sites visited revealed that majority of them were either unsuitable for education or had questionable content. If the students are not motivated to visit the web sites for purposes of education, then does the introduction of the WWW in schools have any potential in facilitating education? Yes, there is potential. However, the stakeholders must work out and implement strategies to prevent distractive use of WWW while promoting beneficial use. This is where the challenge lies. The stakeholders must walk. this tight rope if any meaningful fruits are to be borne from adopting the WWW in the schools.