A comparison of student use of Email in four South Pacific countries

This paper reports on a survey that was carried out on students attending the University of the South Pacific (USP) in four different countries. USP has upgraded its satellite communication system, and is implementing a strategic move towards e-learning. The aim of the research was to compare student´s use of computer mediated communication in the different countries. The results of the survey show that students are more likely to use e-mail to contact their peers rather than their lecturers. They also reveal significant differences between e-mail use by main campus students and those at regional centres, with regional students being much more likely to use their own language when sending e-mail.