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The Collegiate Tech Effect

9/13/2007

By Terry Calhoun

Q2: What method of connecting to the Internet decreased in frequency of use from 2004 to 2007?

Some of the more interesting findings, to me, after a quick read of the "Key Findings" and the "Roadmap," include:

Do They Think That Technology Improves Their Learning?
More than 61 percent of respondents indicate that technology had improved their learning. But then they were asked to select the "most valuable benefit of using technology" in courses, "convenience" was the first choice of 55.5 percent. At first read, this seems like a contradiction, but I think it merely reflects the realities of undergraduate studies. Although the students may value the convenience more highly than anything else, it is likely that convenience itself contributes strongly to learning, especially if it (as they in other places say) helps students communicate better with other students and their teachers, and to better manage their course activities.

How Much Time Do They Spend Online?
On average, they spend about 18 hours a week online. (That's' the average; the mean is about 14 hours, and nearly a fifth spend more than 40 hours a week on line.)

Men spend about 2.5 hours more a week online than women do. Male or female, students who depend on dial-up access spend less time online. (What a surprise.)

There is a continuum ranging (on average) from 16 hours a week to 22 hours a week, that shakes out by major, with those in engineering and business spending more time online than those in life sciences and education.

Differences in 'Class Cohorts'
Some differences appeared as students progress from freshman to senior. One is an apparent decline in the use of instant messaging. I suspect that they just get busier, like the rest of us.

Here's something to make you feel really old, a quote from the full report's Executive Summary: "I use lots of technology, but my sister, who is a sophomore in high school, knows more about technology than I do. I've been too busy to keep up and I am getting outdated. I guess we are all dinosaurs to some extent." Guess who wrote this? Nope, not a young faculty person; it was a graduating senior.

I highly recommend reading the full report. It includes an "Introduction" by Ron Yanofsky and a tantalizing "Executive Summary" by Chris Dede of Harvard University. Just look at some of Dede's subheadings: "Our Tools Shape Our Communicating, Thinking, and Learning"; "Beyond Automation to Transformation"; "New Interfaces, 'Neomillenial' Learning, and Novel Literacies"; and "Throwing Gasoline on the Fire." Maybe I can write about it next week. In it, the contributors include a lot of their broader perspectives on change and shifts in attitudes and usages.

ECAR has gone from a twinkle in Richard Katz' eye to a major resource for higher education in what seems like nearly as quick a time as a student's bachelor's matriculation, although I know it has been longer. I'd like to thank Educause and ECAR for making this report available to everyone.

Answers about which device ownership and which connectivity type usage both decreased: Q1 = PDAs; Q2 = dial-up.

About the author: Terry Calhoun is Director of Communications and Publications for the Society for College and University Planning (SCUP). You can contact him through CT's IT Trends forum by clicking here. View more articles by Terry Calhoun.