How Canadian and Chinese High School Students Access and Use ICT: An Exploratory Study

Abstract

This paper reports the findings of an exploratory study that examined two secondary schools: one from a big city in eastern China and the other from a middle-sized city in eastern Canada. Data were collected using a paper-based survey questionnaire that included multiple- choice, open-ended, and scaled questions. Responses indicate that ownership and access to ICT devices were quite similar between Canadian and Chinese participants, but the learning and use of ICT between the two groups of participants differed due to various reasons. Results seemed the Chinese participants relied more on classroom learning, and teachers of the Chinese participants did not integrate much use of ICT outside of the classroom. The findings of this paper support the literature about ICT integrated teaching that indicates the need for Chinese educators to make more efforts in making full use of available ICT for teaching and learning purposes when ICT access becomes a less critical issue.