Undergraduate Students and Information Technology

In the recently released report from the Educause Center for Applied Research (ECAR), they found that students owned the following devices:

• 83.8% have laptops
• 62.7% have hand-held devices with Internet access
• 45.9% have desktop computers
• 13% have netbook computers
• 3.1% have e-readers

About 42% are considered "power users". Here is the breakdown of Internet-Capable Handheld Device Use among students (click to enlarge):

About 25% of students said they use e-textbooks in their courses, but it appears they use their computers or hand-held devices to access the e-texts, not dedicated e-readers. When asked what Web-based technologies students use in their courses, they said:

• Web-based word processor, spreadsheet, presentation, etc: 36.2% — for collaborative use: 53%
• Wikis (Web pages that can be created and/or edited by a group of people): 33.1% — for collaborative use: 30.7%
• Social networking sites: 29.4% — for collaborative use: 49.4%
• College opinion sites (RateMyProfessors, etc.): 27.1%
• Textbook publishers’ resource sites: 26.1% — for collaborative use: 23.2%
• Video-sharing (YouTube, etc.): 24.3% — for collaborative use: 33.4%
• Blogs: 11.6% — for collaborative use: 37.6%
• College study support (Cramster, Turnitin, etc.): 10.9%

ECAR states the the most important take-away message from their survey is that there is "no stereotypical student when it comes to technology."

2009 Faculty Technology Satisfaction Survey

The Executive Summary of the 2009 Faculty Technology Satisfaction Survey and the full survey results are available on the Campus Portal.

The lack of training opportunities appears to be the main reason for dissatisfaction with campus academic technology and is noted across all applications. Improving faculty training and support opportunities is a top priority for Academic Technology. The new Angel Help Desk featuring 24/7/365 live phone and chat support was just announced. We are also working with the Mayes College and the Teaching & Learning Center to provide a regular series of classroom and online training for faculty. (Note that the Faculty Enrichment Workshops with a focus on technology is happening this Wednesday.)

Faculty appear to be most appreciative of the available classroom technology, with the caveat that certain rooms are still in need of an overhaul. Fortunately, end or year funds have already been spent to implement significant upgrades to Rosenberger (2 new projectors), the STC (6 new screens, lecture capture), Griffith (2 lecture capture systems), and Mayes (video conferencing and lecture capture). Also, extensive renovation of 4 classrooms in 4500 Woodland is almost complete.

Thanks go to the faculty who completed the survey. We welcome your suggestions for improving support throughout the year.