CHAPTER ONE

1. 1.1BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

The Internet is a global network of computers linked together over large distances. It was created by the American Military as a means of communication, and has been in existence since the 1950s. Up until the mid to late 80s, commercial organizations and educational institutions mainly used the internet. The Internet has enabled easy access to many resources and information sharing increased rapidly. The internet is an available source of information used by students in projects and assignments. The rapid development of technology has seen improvement in communication links and a lowering of costs. The implication of this is that, the internet is now more widely available to more people. Since the Internet is now available to a wide sector of the population in the Western World, many educational establishments has seized on its educational potential.

The Internet is a valuable source of information for students looking for ideas for projects and assignments.

Although the word “Internet” has come to mean free information to most persons, it is still being developed. The word “World wide web” also known as “www” is the universe network accessible information, the embodiment of human knowledge.

The Internet is the largest network of access to learning opportunities and services. It is a three level hierarchy composed of backbone network and subnet works. These include commercial (.com or .co), University (.as or .edu) and the military (.mil) networks around the world with various protocols including the Internet protocol.

Aleye (2008) described the Internet as a network of computer where individual computers are connected for greater efficiency and better information management via telecommunication links.

The Internet is an essential offspring of information and communication technology. Uwaifo (2007) defined the Internet as the network of computers. It can also be referred to as the information super highway or international network.

It is a collection of vast information sources of interlinked computers network. Millions of computers worldwide are interconnected and the information services in each computers are made available to all users who have access to Internet (Aina 2004).

There is a great potential for using the internet to increase efficiency levels among students in Universities.

The Internet has the ability to facilitate the movement from the traditional collection policy holding (just in case to access just in time) “holding” means gathering information together in one place for the researchers and other users versus the access model where on demand publishing will enable an electronic version of the work to be transmitted to the acquiring institution This would be made available over the internet to students who are given password to enable them to access the information (Adomi, 2006).

Students are increasingly expected to use the Internet resources while at the university. Students constitute one part of the society who are advantageous to have access at no cost to themselves to variety of electronic information sources such as the Internet. Universities use considerable proportion of their budget to provide this technology for the students to assist them in their learning process.