What undergraduate students from tecnologico de monterrey, state of Mexico campus, learn within digital environments: Differences by gender, and use of digital media, and social media

Abstract

Although the first phase of this study analyzing the e-learning of undergraduate students in Campus Monterrey at Tecnologico de Monterrey resulted in several premises about how and what students learn on digital media (DM), the analysis of this paper1 focused on transforming those premises into research questions and measuring them. Thus, the main objective was to discover if there were any gender differences in the use of digital media (DM) and social media. E-learning theory (Haythornthwaite & Andrews, 2011) was mainly used to discuss the findings. A survey of undergraduate students enrolled in courses at the Department of Languages, in the Campus State of Mexico, was applied to collect data. Approximately 650 students answered the survey. Significant gender differences were found in the use of DM, as well as differences of purpose for its use and that of social media. By and large, this study suggested that the idea of Millennials as a generational movement using DM technologies is a questionable one, at least for the case of students in this age category at the State of Mexico campus, and that future study should consider an alternative reason.