Exploring ICT Usage Among AIOU Students and Gratification of Their Academic Needs

This research deals with ICT usage among AIOU students and Gratification of their academic needs. It is beyond any doubt that ICT is playing central role in facilitating and promoting Distance Education. This research is supported by the Uses and Gratification of Mass Communication. The researcher chose a sample of 367 students enrolled at AIOU. A closed ended questionnaire was developed by the researcher.Out of 367, majority 334 (91%) questionnaires were completely filled in and returned by the respondents. The findings of this research documented that majority of the respondents (74.9%) were using ICT for educational purposes. It was also observed that most of AIOU students (63.8%) were using laptop to meet their academic needs. The findings of the research also supported that majority of respondents were satisfied with ICT usage for performing their different academic tasks ranging from understanding of subjects to preparation of assignments and presentations. The mean value of students’ gratification with ICT was (3.3565) which was above average value of 3. It means that students were gratified with ICT to a greater extent.