Transcript IT Fluency - Colorado State University

Student Use of IT from
EDUCAUSE 2007 Survey
Pat Burns, VPIT
IAC Meeting
Feb. 13, 2008
At CSU - ISTeC
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Little enthusiasm for an IT Literacy (the use
of IT) entrance requirement.
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Individual colleges and departments have widely
varying needs
Many already incorporate IT content in freshmen
courses
Widespread support for IT Literacy to the
higher cognitive level of IT Fluency (how to
think about, analyze, synthesize, and use
data, turn it into information
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Trends from EDUCAUSE Survey
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Students owning laptops as the platform of choice (>
75%)
 Commensurate demand for wireless access.
An increasing # of IT leisure devices (music, video,
gaming), and elimination of the gender gap – now as
many females as males.
A trend away from PDA’s towards more powerful (cell
phones that are data enabled.
A trend towards 2+ devices (more than 98% own 2+,
including desktop computers, laptop computers and
mobile communication devices).
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Trends (cont’d)
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Slight increase in the amount of time spent on line,
averaging 18 hours per week. Students in more
technically oriented disciplines, e.g. Engineering and
Business, spend more time on line, on average.
Email and word processing for courses have
become ubiquitous, and the use of Library web sites
is not far behind. Technology basics for courses,
spreadsheets and presentation software, are now
used by nine out of ten students, on average.
The use of wikis is gaining ground.
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Trends (cont’d)
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Younger students use emerging technologies,
including Instant Messaging (IM), more than
older students.
Participation in social networks has grown
dramatically during the past year, to more
than 80% of students.
Most students have access to high-speed
Internet access, with only 8.4 percent still
using dial up.
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Trends (cont’d)
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Student preference for amount of technology in courses
 Remains relatively unchanged, at “moderate.”
 Only 2.8% prefer courses that use technology exclusively.
 However, only 2.0% prefer courses with no technology.
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Students want technology used appropriately in courses.
 Over 95% of students have accessed content in a Course or
Learning Management System (e.g. BlackBoard/WebCT).
 Students rate all aspects of a Course or Learning Management
System as “useful” or better.
 Respondents are most positive about technology’s contribution to
course-related research and in its ability to deliver information in
a timely manner (especially grades), and point to email
communication with instructors as particularly helpful.
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Major Opportunities
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Training instructors on how to effectively
integrate technology and pedagogy,
Improving the speed, reliability and support of
the institution’s network, and
Increasing instructors’ and administrators’
awareness of how their student’s facility or
lack thereof, affects the impact of technology
upon their learning ability.
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But
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In the concluding section, the authors
indicate that even though this was a
technology survey, the overwhelming
importance of curriculum and classroom
instruction came through as major factors.
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