Last spring, the Office of Institutional Research administered the national ECAR Study of Undergraduate Students and Information Technology on campus in order to gather information about students’ perceptions and desires relating to technology at the University. Of the 3,889 undergraduate students who received the survey, 619 (15.9%) responded.
This morning, several members of TAG met with administrators from Academic Affairs and Planning and Information Resources (PIR) to discuss the survey results. (See PIR’s website for the summary report as well as presentation slides on key findings. The survey instrument and national results are available from EDUCAUSE.)
A few discussion points of particular relevance for TAG and other faculty:
- 95% of students reported owning laptops (up from 89% in 2010). 84% of students reported having a smartphone.
- When asked how many of their instructors effectively use technology, students responded: “All” – 9%, “Most” – 45%, “Some” – 45%, “None” – 1%.
- 63% of students would like their professors to use more lecture capture.
- 53% of student respondents would like their professors to use the LMS (learning management system – e.g., Angel or Desire2Learn) more.
- 61% would prefer courses with some online components.
- 86% of students felt that they were either banned or discouraged from using smartphones in class.
- Some students reported that they wanted their instructors to increase the integrated use of laptops (52%), tablets (30%), and smartphones (30%) in the classroom.
- 11% of students agreed and 2% of students strongly agreed with the statement, “I skip classes when materials from course lectures are available online.”
