Predicting Middle School Students’ Use of Web 2.0 Technologies
Joan E. Hughes, Michelle Fulks Read, and Sara Jolly Jones
The University of Texas at Austin
TechEdges.org
Key Literature:
Survey reports show that 92-93% of 12-13 year olds are on the web (Madden et al., 2013; Purcell, 2012)
Access to this participatory culture requires digital media tools and particularly the use of Web 2.0 technologies
(Jenkins, 2006)
Exclusion from these activities may contribute to and even widen the education gap between youth (Jenkins,
2006; DiMaggio and Hargittai, 2001)
Research Questions: 1. To what degree do middle school students, by ethnicity, gender and school:
engage in Web 2.0 activities out of school?
engage in Web 2.0 activities in-school?
engage in traditional technology activities in-
school?
are assigned required computer-based homework?
have access to technology gadgets at home?
have limits on home computer use set by a
parent/guardian?
2. What relationship(s) exist between middle school students’ out of school Web 2.0 use and their school, gender,
ethnicity, grade level, parent limits on computer use, required computer-based homework, home-based technology
gadgets, in-school Web 2.0 use, and in-school traditional technology use?
3. Does gender, school, or ethnicity each moderate the relationship between total home gadgets, in-school Web 2.0
activities, and in-school traditional technology activities with Web 2.0 activities out of school?
Table 1
Characteristics of Participating Middle Schools
School
Porter Walnut Verona
Year built 1953 1995 1996
School type Metropolitan Suburban Rural
Students (#) in School (6-8 grade) 973 1,317 812
School Per Pupil Instructional Expenditure ($) 4,215 4,065 5,365
Economically Disadvantaged (%) 40 12 53
Students (#) in District 82,000 32,034 32,034
Accountability Rating Academically//Acceptable Recognized Recognized
Table 2
Counts and Percentages of Ethnicity breakdown within School for Participating Students
School
Ethnicity Porter Verona Walnut Total
Caucasian 116 (54.95%) 113 (57.65%) 385 (74.04%) 614 (66.24%)
African American 16 (7.58%) 12 (6.12%) 9 (1.73%) 37(3.99%)
Hispanic 66 (31.28%) 53 (27.04%) 53 (10.19%) 172 (18.55%)
Asian 2 (.95%) 4 (2.04%) 42 (8.08%) 48 (5.18%)
Other 11 (5.21%) 14 (7.14%) 31(5.96%) 56 (6.04%)
Total 211 196 520 927
Data collected: student, teacher, and leader surveys, student focus groups, teacher and leader interviews
Results:
Technology use differs across the schools, with Walnut students reporting the most (92%) and Verona students
reporting the least (71%)
About 30% of these students reported their parents limited their home computer use
The model showed a significant overall prediction of Web 2.0 activities out of school and accounted for 25.09%
for the variance. F(34, 892) = 8.79, p = 0.000, R2 = 0.251, Adj R2 = 0.222
o School (F(2, 892) = 7.42, p = 0.001)
o Ethnicity (F(4, 892) = 3.05, p = 0.016)
o Grade (b = 0.448, t(892) = 2.08, p = 0.037)
o Homework (b = 0.783, t(892) = 2.74, p = 0.006)
o Total Gadgets (b = 0.785, t(892) = 4.77, p = 0.000)
Students of Hispanic ethnicity reported statistically less use Web 2.0 activities out of school) than their peers of
Caucasian, African American, or Other ethnicities.
Figure 1: Interaction Graph Between School and In-school Web 2.0 activities. Bands represent 95% confidence
