What Social Factors Affect Students’ Use of Online Registration: An Exploratory Study

What Social Factors Affect Students Use of Online Registration An searching StudyXiaobing Cao, Ph.D., Institutional detective Robert Brodnick, Ph.D., Director and Assistant Professor Planning and Research University of the Pacific Association for Institutional Research forty- due south Annual Forum June, 2002 (Toronto, Canada)Track 3 Institutional Management and PlanningAbstractWhat Social Factors Affect Students Use of Online Registration An Exploratory StudyThis study investigated how social factors repair college schoolchilds implement of the online enrollment service that was recently offered in a buck private university in Northern California. During the first year, about 31% of the students who pre-registered their courses phthisisd the service. The results indicated that academic and demographic factors stirred students use of the online service. For example, students from certain disciplines (e.g. Pharmacy and International Studies) and high income families were to a greater extent likely to use the online service. It is interesting to notice that the results did not show a signifi arouset impact of gender on the use of online adjustment. Implications are presented for institutions considering alternative registration methods or the implementation of technological solutions to administrative processes.What Social Factors Affect Students Use of Online Registration An Exploratory StudyThe menstruation study focuses on how social factors affect students use of online registration. The online service was first offered at the university in restrain 2001. Using online registration can be viewed as smart technology adaptation. However, updated literature in students current technology adoption is rare. It is worthwhile to investigate how social factors affect college students in adapting the new technology. There are two objectives for this study reviewing relevant literature of the online registration and examining the impacts of social factors on use of the online service. Review of LiteratureAccording to the literature, online registration1 can be divided into three formats of development. The first stage is the 1970s. This is a developing stage in which nearly universities led higher education institutions to experience initial new technology application in nerve (Michael, 1976 Chapman & Gambrell, 1976 Brown, 1979 Hengehold & Keim, 1975 Adams, 1974). During this stage, online registration underwent a period of experiments and testing. Online registration was beginning to be recognized for its operation in assisting university administration.The second stage refers to the decade of the 1980s. During these years, online registration was widely used by universities across the country. New features in the registration process were added and more experience was summarized (Heard, 1987 work & Parker, 1983 Arnett & Posey, 1986 Lonabocker & Long, 1983 Lisker, 1987). This period can be viewed as the stabilized stage. Cook & Parker (1983) conducted a survey of online registration practices among 66 colleges and universities. They found that online registration had improved academic advising.Online registration in the literature review refers to various methods by means of which a registration can be completed, such as, central processor computer,telephone, and wind vane.New technology application had saved time for students, faculty and staff members (1987). Online registration has been clearly confirmed as a successful approach (Lonabocker & Long, 1983 Arnett & Posey, 1986).The third stage includes the 1990s and beyond. This period can be viewed as the enhancement stage. There have been new ways of exploring online registration such as using web service (Swein, 1997), integration of internet technology into all phases of the education process (Thomas, Carswell & Price, 1998), and getting specific groups of students regard in online registration (Kelly, 1998). Thomas et al. pointed out that the inte grative approach has been effective in university administration. The third stage indicates that online registration has been well developed, looking for new ways to enhance the new technology environment through new technology convergence.Theoretical Framework & Research QuestionsSocial cognitive theory (Bandura, 1986) helps explain how human behaviors are affected by both social factors (e.g. family income) and personal factors (e.g. selfconcepts). The theory suggests that different social characteristics of students affect how they adapt themselves into the new technology environment. Based on social cognitive theory, the current study is investigating how social versatiles affect students use of online registration. The following are the research questions. 1. To what extent do student academic variables impact the use of online registration? 2. To what extent do student demographic variables impact the use of online registration?3. What are the do of the academic and demograp hic variables on the use of online registration? MethodologyThe information were extracted from the university student information system. Thedependent variable was the registration method (online vs. walk-in). The independent variables were in two parts academic variables and demographic variables. TheSocial Factors and Online Registration 5 University of the Pacificacademic variables included Major, Class, Grade, and Degree Level. The major was measured by the college or school a student majored in. The manakin described the students class train including freshmen, sophomore, junior, senior, and graduate. The degree level was measured by two categories graduate level and undergraduate level. The grade was measured by the students cumulative GPA. The demographic variables included Gender, Age, Ethnicity, and Family Income. The family income was a two-category variable including families with income =$90,000. The data source was the adjusted gross income reported from FAFSA.Resul tsTo answer research question one, To what extent do student academic variables impact the use of online registration?, a descriptive analysis was conducted. The results showed that the students who used the online registration were more likely those who majored in pharmacy (39%) and international studies (37%). The students who did not use the online registration were more likely those who majored in music (13%). The Chi-square test shows that the relationship between the registration method and major was significant, 2 (6, n=3024)= 43.8, p