Multimedia technology in the lives of urban middle school students: Contextual and social influences on multimedia confidence

The purpose of this research was to study variations among urban middle school students in their confidence with multimedia technology. Rarely have researchers examined within-group differences in order to understand the disparities between urban and suburban students in their ownership of computers, Internet access, and other uses of multimedia technology. This study used both quantitative and qualitative methods to examine within-group variations among 124 urban middle school students to understand social and contextual influences on students' patterns of computer use. Specifically, the study examined the influence of time spent on multimedia activities; social support networks for multimedia use; physical access to multimedia technology; and early adoption of multimedia technology on multimedia confidence among students.; Results revealed that students who spend more time on multimedia activities, had larger social support networks that encouraged multimedia use, had more physical access to multimedia technologies and had adopted multimedia technology at an earlier age had higher confidence levels with multimedia technology. Environmental factors such as physical access and the amount of time spent on multimedia activities were the strongest predictors of students' confidence with multimedia. Both quantitative and qualitative data supported the importance of social and contextual factors such as social support network influences from the home and school environment. Future research should include social and contextual factors along with socioeconomic and other environmental considerations when examining students' use of multimedia and the digital divide.