Student Perceptions of Technology in Education: An Empirical Study of American and Turkish University Students

New Internet and communication technologies are rapidly changing our lives. This study was designed to assess the role of technology in education. Two samples were drawn from an American and a Turkish university so that cross-cultural comparisons could be made, and data was collected during March 2010 at both institutions. Findings indicate that the students are increasingly using technology in their daily lives, are very involved in social networks on the Internet, and they want their faculty to include more technology in the traditional classrooms. They did not generally perceive online education as being equivalent to traditional education.