An investigation of the Information-Seeking Behaviors of Two-Year College Students Enrolled in Technology Programs

Few studies have assessed the online educational information seeking behavior of the technical college students in the Automotive and Aviation technology programs in South Carolina. A survey was designed to inform how technical college students with different demographics use the Internet to gather such information. This survey was administered to 112 technical college students in South Carolina. The results suggest that 65.2% of the respondents are using Internet to gain access information. Interestingly, among the Internet adopters, students in the age group of 35-49 had a higher level of frustration when compared to other age groups. On the contrary, students in the age group of 18-34 experienced a higher level of effort when looking for correct educational information on Internet. 37.7% of the total respondents were active video game players. While 31.2% of the respondents reported to have played PC-based games and 69% of the students reported to have played games on a video-game consoles. This study calls for further research to understand the information seeking challenges of technical college students with a focus on the educational materials on automotive and aviation subsystems and manufacturing processes.