Students' uses and gratifications for using computer-mediated communication media in learning contexts

Abstract

Despite a growing stream of research into the use of computer-mediated communication (CMC) media in higher education, there remains limited understanding about the students' motivations for using CMC alongside non-CMC media within a learning context. This article identifies seven dimensions of motivation from the perspective of uses and gratifications (U&G), including information seeking, convenience, connectivity, problem solving, content management, social presence, and social context cues. It was found that each CMC satisfied different motivations for its use, and that overall CMC best fulfilled information seeking, convenience, connectivity, and content management motivations. This study also identifies a number of similarities and differences between CMC and non-CMC media in terms of the motivations for their use. Finally, the study concludes with a discussion of the implications for Information Systems (IS) researchers, higher education, and organizations. © 2010 by the authors.