Time of Use and Patterns of Internet Consumption in University Students: A Comparative Study between Spanish-Speaking Countries

José Gómez-Galán, Diego Vergara, Eva Ordóñez-Olmedo and María Guadalupe Veytia-Bucheli
Additional contact information
José Gómez-Galán: Department of Education, University of Extremadura, Avda. de Elvas, s/n, 06006 Badajoz, Spain
Diego Vergara: Technological Department, Catholic University ‘Santa Teresa de Jesús’ of Ávila, C/Canteros, S/N, 05005 Ávila, Spain
Eva Ordóñez-Olmedo: College of Social Sciences and Law, Catholic University ‘Santa Teresa de Jesús’ of Ávila, C/Canteros, S/N, 05005 Ávila, Spain
María Guadalupe Veytia-Bucheli: Institute of Social Sciences and Humanities, Autonomous University of Hidalgo State, Actopan, 42039 Pachuca de Soto, Hidalgo, Mexico

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 12, 1-17

Abstract: Today, the processes of virtualization in higher education are decisive. The digital paradigm has an enormous influence on the university world, and will have even more in the future. Knowing how students access the Internet, how they consume it and how long they use it would be of great value for university policy, to facilitate the proper integration of information and communication technologies (ICT). The main objective of this study is to determine the time of use of the Internet by university students in different Spanish-speaking countries in the last eight years (2012–2019). It also aims to determine whether belonging to a common cultural space has an influence on this fact. The broad sample was composed of 2463 subjects from Chile, Ecuador, Spain, Guatemala, Mexico, Peru, and Venezuela. The results show that there is no homogeneity in the time of use and consumption patterns among the countries analyzed. The particular elements and social habits of each specific country, and multiple variables within each of them, condition their use. In conclusion, it can be argued that the integration of ICTs in university contexts is a very complex phenomenon in which multiple factors are present. In this sense, the sustainable educational policies of each country—and even of each university—must focus on their characteristics and idiosyncrasies. Importing practices from other countries, or attempting to apply common patterns of integration, may not be effective because of differences in the very different variables present in each.

Keywords: higher education; icts; consumption; university students; education policy; teacher training; university (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:12:p:5087-:d:374867

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