A study of the ICT profile of the Open University Malaysia learners

his article reports on the study undertaken to elucidate the ICT profile of the Open University Malaysia (OUM) learners. The information is imperative for the building of the learning communities and bridging the digital divide among learners separated in space and time. The aspects studied were the computer availability and Internet accessibility at home and at the workplace, the usage of standalone and Internet-linked applications and the frequency of usage. The results revealed that a high proportion of the learners have computers both at home and at the workplace with sufficiently high rates of Internet connection at the home computer but substantially lower rates for the computer at the workplace. In terms of the usage of the standalone computer applications, a substantially higher proportion of the respondents use word processing applications, followed closely by educational CD-ROM and entertainment applications. The results also revealed that slightly more than seventy-five percent of the respondents use the Internet Browser as well as the asynchronous communication application but only a few of them utilise the synchronous chat application. In terms of the frequency of usage, the majority of the respondents use the computer at home at least three times a week but considerably less frequently at the workplace. The implications of these findings in relation to the formation of online learning communities and bridging the digital divide in the delivery of open and distance learning courses will be discussed and highlighted. (Authors' abstract)