WiFi network access usage and importance to

University students

Abstract: This study investigate the potential

impacts of Wifi to University students through
various approach and Interviews. Assessing the
correlation between network access and academic
performance. The investigation also aims contribute
to the valuable insights for promotion of academic
performance to University students

INTRODUCTION
WiFi network is a kind of network access which is
put to simplify the access of network in a certain
Population wherby in most universities it is put to
help students and lectures in various ways such as
saving the costs of buying bandle and it also eases
the access of network during searching, it also
accelerate good performance to University students
due to wide access to various materials form
internet.
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
Due to the the growth and spread of cheaper and more
user-friendly computer, software (eg. Smart phones,
portable computers, Microsoft word etc) the use of
internet by students has increased dramatically the
internet allows students to widen their academic
performance, experience, access important academic
information and communication with others within
academic community (Tella2007). Also. Holcomb et Al.
(2007) argued that the academic attainment by students
depends on their capacity to comprehend, read and
communicate at high levels using internet technologies.
Despite the many noticeable advantageous of the
internet in academic achievement to students, very little
is known on the level of use of internet by university
students in Tanzania particularly to the University
students of Dar es salaam. Therefore, the present study
aim at assessing the importance of Wifi to University
students in Dar es salaam.

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY.

The general objective of the study is to examine the
internet access (WiFi) and usage among the students
found at the University
01: To determine the usage of internet by university
students of Dar es salaam.
02: To establish the level of access and usage of internet
by university students of Dar es salaam.
03: To identity the importance of free Wifi to University
students of Dar es salaam.
The results of the study will be useful to both the
students, University as well as other universities in Dar es
salaam. The study will also improve the knowledge of
internet access and usage to the existing literature for
future reference.

LITERATURE REVIEW
Access and usage of internet by university students (WiFi)
The internet is one of the many sources students may use in
searching for information. It help students access the latest
information of certain subjects which they are undertaking.
One of the major benefits of the internet is it's function in
University learning. The usage of internet by university
students should concentrate on improving students in
education outcomes in paying usage in the University.
Isibika (2013) indicate that the use of mobile learning has
been increasing very fast due to the development of
internet and mobile technology, wireless technology offers
an excellent platform for libraries.
Students and teachers are the majority users of the internet
they might use it chiefly or for academic purposes rather
than for leisure purposes Olatukon(2008) study shows the
majority uses internet for assignment preparation.

Factors influencing internet and usage (WiFi)

Individual personal characteristics could manipulate one's
use of internet access. The probability of internet utilization
is expected to decline with the age of the user.
According to Luambano and Nawe(2004), use of internet by
students particularly for academic purposes is hugely
influenced by their teachers. Students will only use internet
if work given by their teachers is vital for them to use
internet facilities such as WiFi. Nwagwu et al(2008) in their
investigation factors influencing the use of internet they
pointed out that the use of internet service is for academic
purposes through e-mails.

Importance of network(WiFi ) access and usage

It's clear with no doubt that internet is significant to the
academic society, therefore introducing WiFi network to
University can have significant effect on performance of
students especially when internet is conceptualized as a
tool that bears actual changes in educational approach.
Also it provides huge variety of electronic information to
the study of engineering. Improvement of wide room for
aquiring information from different writers as well as
improving academic performance to University students.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
University of Dar es salaam is located nearby Mlimani
city, is among the universities found in Dar es salaam
which provides students with access to internet through
WiFi network. The network is spread in various places in
the University in colleges such as UDBS network, CoHU,
CONAS, COSS and in both Old and new libraries.
Purposive sampling was used to select the above settings
to be included in the study area. These areas were
chosen simply because they are mostly used by students
in their studies and they are quite to enable better
studies. Twenty(20) students were randomly selected
from each college hence making total of (120) samples,
Bailey (1994) argued that a sample or sub sample of 30
sample is a bare of minimum for students in which
statistical data analysis can be done. Simple random
technique was used as it provides each case in the
population with an equal opportunity of being included
in the sample.

PRESENTATION AND DISCUSSION OF THE RESEARCH FINDING

Availability of Internets in the University enable students in
study areaIn order to determine the availability of Internet,
the respondents were asked to indicate if their schools had
computer abs and also if it were connected to Internet. Out
of 120, 119 (99.2%) respondents indicated that ther schools
had computer abs while only one (0.8%) student did not
know the existence of school computer lab. For those who
said that university had computer abs, majority 89 (74.7%)
indicated that their computer labs were connected to
Internet as shown in the explanation.
Ths shows that majority of the Universities where
respondents studied, Internet servces was availabe. And for
those respondentswho were not aware of internet
connection in ther schoo computer labs should be sensitized
by their schoos’ top management so that they become
aware of this connection and hence increase internet usage
that will hep raise their academic performance. These
results support the earier results by Olatokun (2008), that
school is the most common place where Internet should be
avaiable for students to use in their academic issues.

The findings show that many respondents were using

wireless technology as many students indicated that were
using smart phone to access Internets services.
This could be due to the reasons that mobile phones are
cheap, easily to use, avalable and affordabe by majority of
Tanzanian compared to computer.
Mtega et al.(2013)pointed out that mobile phones have a
potential of mproving the teaching and learning processes
as the devices are cheap compared to other ICTs which can
be used for teaching and learning. n order to determine
Internet accessiblity n the selected university, respondents
were asked to indicate the level of Internet accessiblity and
majority of the respondents 58 (48.3%) indicated that
Internet accessibility in ther schools was intermedate while
only 26 (21.7%) stated that the Internet accessibilty in their
schools was highly.
On the issue of Internet services usage, respondents
wereasked to indcate how often do they access and use
Internet and majority 52 (43.3%) said that they only used
Internet services whenever needed to do so, 23 (19.2%)
indicated daly while with very much astonishment 34
(28.3%) pointed out that they had never used Internet
servces.
For those who said that they were using Internet services
regardless how often, they were told to indcate the average
time they normally spend when usng the services. Majority
of the respondents 49 (40.8%) pointed out that they were
using an average time of one to two hours, 26 ( 21.7%) said
31 mnutes to one hour while 19 (15.9%) sad that the
average time they used in Using Internet servces was ess
than 30 minutes.

CONCLUSION

Based on the analysis done from the study, it can be

concuded that university students are largey usng Internet
services for entertainment rather than learning purposes.
Also students only used Internet services only when they
were needed to do so and its accessbiity was intermedate.
However, lack of Internet searching skils, slow Internet
speed and cost of Internet were also noted as the major
problems that were facing students on Internet use.
RECOMMENDATIONS
Based on the results of this study the folowing
recommendations were provided; There is a need for
creating awareness on the importance of using Internet
services in accessing schoo earning materals among
university students.
In particular, government should provide support by
encouragng the use of Internet in Universities and teachers
should provide assignments that wil force students go
online looking for solutions instead of rely only on hard
copies resources.
The University should provide frequent training on the use
of Internet to students so that they can be able to search
learning materials on the Internet.
And analyss should be done to determine individual and
schools’ limitations and strength in terms of computer
applications knowledge and skils with regards to Internet
servces usage in schools. This should be done periodicaly.
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