First Year Student Use of Technology and their Expectations of Technology Use in their Courses

Transcription

1 First Year Student Use of Technology and their Expectations of Technology Use in their Courses Sarah Honeychurch, Learning Technologist Barrie McCluckie, Research Assistant Learning and Teaching Centre March 2014 Contents First Year Student Use of Technology and their Expectations of Technology Use in their Courses Background Headline Figures Access to Technologies... 3 Table 1: Student to hardware technology Prior use of technology Computer Use... 4 Table 2: Current use of computers Web Use... 5 Table 3: Students use of the web Mobile Phone Use... 7 Table 4: Student use of mobile phones Expectations of Technology Technology in their Studies... 7 Table 5: Student views on the usefulness of technologies in their studies by %age Specific Expectations of Technology in relation to their studies... 9 Table 6: Students perception on usefulness of particular technologies at university by %age... 9 Table 7: Students perception on usefulness of particular technologies at university by rank Conclusions Appendices Appendix 1: 2013 Question set Access to technology

2 Use a computer for Use the web to Use a mobile/smart phone/tablet for I want to use technology in my studies because it: I think it will be useful in my university studies to: Appendix 2: Graphs Graph 1: Access to a Desktop Computer Graph 2: Access to a Laptop/Notebook Computer Graph 3: Access to Broadband Graph 4: Access to a Smart Phone Graph 5: Use of Mobile Phone to Access the web Graph 6: Use of Mobile Phone to Send/Receive Graph 7: Access to Technology (Desktop and Laptop)

3 1. Background Since 2007 the University of Glasgow has conducted a biannual survey of incoming first year students in order to ascertain which technologies they are already using and those which they believe will be useful in their studies. In September 2013, 1949 students completed the survey, with all Schools being represented. This report summarises the results of that survey, comparing its findings with the results of previous surveys in 2011 and The 2013 question set is included as Appendix A Headline Figures There is, as might be expected, a general increase in the availability and use of technology. The following points are of particular interest: Most students have internet, with only 2% (n=37) reporting that they have no. Desktop continues to drop, and exclusive is down from 33.4% in 2009 to 21.3% in Laptop ownership continues to rise, with 88.6% of students now having exclusive to a device. Students are more engaged with social networking, with 76.5% now ing social networking sites several times a day and a further 63.2% using Twitter regularly. Smart phones ownership has risen steeply, with 87.2% having exclusive, compared to 61.5% in There is a sharp increase in the amount of students ing via their smart phones. In 2013, 79.3% stated that they ed their s at least once a day, compared to only 19.8% in Access to Technologies As might be expected, there is an increasing to technology and increasing network. Our first year students have ready to a range of technologies and there is a continuing move towards mobile devices such as laptops and mobile phones. This year for the first time we surveyed students about their to tablet computers, with almost half of them having some to one. 3

4 Table 1: Student to hardware technology Basic Technology Ready Access No Access Desktop Computer 88.7% 80.9% 75.5% 11.3% 19.1% 24.5% Laptop/Notebook Computer 92.6% 96.2% 97.4% 7.4% 3.8% 2.6% Tablet % % MP3 Player (e.g. ipod) 97.4% 96.9% 96.7% 2.6% 3.1% 3.3% Digital Camera (not on phone) 88.7% 86.2% 73.3% 11.3% 13.8% 26.7% Mobile phone 99.2% 98.4% 96.5%.8% 1.6% 3.5% Smart phone % 90.0% % 10.0% Memory Stick 94.8% 96.5% 94.9% 5.2% 3.5% 5.1% Video game console 65.9% 55.9% 53.8% 34.1% 44.1% 46.2% Web Cam 74.2% 87.4% 88.4% 25.8% 12.6% 11.6% Broadband 94.7% 91.6% 98.0% 5.3% 8.4% 2.0% 4. Prior use of technology Date in this section reflects how students are using hardware at the point at which they begin their studies at university. 4.1 Computer Use There is a continued downward shift in the amount of students using a computer to play games, and a slight decrease in creative use of audio/video. Use of computers to create presentations continues to rise, with nearly half of incoming students doing this at least once a week. 4

5 Table 2: Current use of computers I use a computer for > Once a week < Once a month Writing documents 91.4% 94.6% 94.4% 8.6% 5.4% 5.6% Creating or manipulating digital images/ 60.4% 59.8% 51.9% 39.6% 40.2% 48.1% Creating presentations 37.9% 46.8% 49.5% 62.1% 53.2% 50.5% Creating or editing audio and video 21.2% 20.1% 18.9% 78.8% 79.9% 81.1% Playing games 65.1% 60.1% 52.9% 34.9% 39.9% 47.1% 4.2 Web Use Use of the web shows a very similar pattern in 2013 to previous years, with most students continuing to use it for social networking, ing video clips and . This year for the first time students were asked about using the web to video chat, with around three quarters saying that they do so. Twitter use has risen sharply from 37.8% in 2011 to 63.2% in

6 Table 3: Students use of the web I use the web to > once a month < once a month Access social networking software 93.5% 97.6% 97.6% 6.5% 2.4% 2.4% Access a school portal, course management system for learning 75.4% 93.8% 93.8% 24.6% 6.2% 6.2% Look up reference information for study purposes 95.0% 98.2% 96.5% 5.0% 1.8% 3.5% Browse for general information 98.3% 98.9% 98.6% 1.7% 1.1% 1.4% To buy or sell 68.0% 75.5% 79.6% 32.0% 24.5% 20.4% To pay bills or shop 66.4% 74.6% 80.3% 33.6% 25.4% 19.7% To send or receive 99.4% 99.3% 99.3% 0.6% 0.7% 0.7% Make phone calls 38.9% 68.9% 74.0% 61.1% 31.1% 26.0% Video Chat 71.4% 28.6% Download or listen to music files 95.3% 95.1% 94.5% 4.7% 4.9% 5.5% Build and/or maintain a website 19.4% 13.9% 14.0% 80.6% 86.1% 86.0% Play networked/ online games 41.2% 39.4% 40.3% 58.8% 60.6% 59.7% Share photos 55.1% 84.2% 86.3% 44.9% 15.8% 13.7% Download podcasts 52.6% 46.3% 33.9% 47.4% 53.7% 66.1% Publish podcasts 4.5% 6.7% 8.1% 95.5% 93.3% 91.9% Contribute to a wiki 10.4% 7.0% 8.2% 89.6% 93.0% 91.8% Read or RSS feeds 52.6% 48.7% 55.6% 47.4% 51.3% 44.4% Upload video clips 21.8% 15.9% 19.0% 78.2% 84.1% 81.0% Access video clips 95.0% 96.9% 97.8% 5.0% 3.1% 2.2% Keep my own blog 23.8% 23.0% 27.4% 76.2% 77.0% 72.6% Comment on other people s blogs 51.8% 37.1% 31.7% 48.2% 62.9% 68.3% Microblog 37.8% 63.2% 62.2% 36.8% 6

7 4.3 Mobile Phone Use In 2013, students were surveyed about use of a tablet for the first time and, due to space limitations, these questions were combined with mobile phone use. There is a dramatic rise in the number of students using mobile technology to , and a large rise in Twitter use. Questions about ing podcasts and scanning QR codes were also asked for the first time. Table 4: Student use of mobile phones I use my phone/tablet to > once a month < once a month Phone people 99.5% 99.6% 99.5% 0.5% 0.4% 0.5% Text / SMS people 99.6% 99.9% 99.6% 0.4% 0.1% 0.4% Take digital photos or movies 86.0% 88.8% 94.7% 14.0% 11.2% 5.3% Share photos or movies 64.6% 69.6% 86.2% 35.4% 30.4% 13.8% Make video calls 19.0% 29.0% 61.9% 81.0% 71.0% 38.1% Access podcasts 31.6% 68.4% Act as a personal organiser (e.g. diary, address book) 68.8% 78.7% 83.5% 31.2% 21.3% 16.5% Access information / services on the web 53.0% 81.4% 94.4% 47.0% 18.6% 5.6% Send or receive 39.9% 76.4% 94.7% 60.1% 23.6% 5.3% Access social networking sites 62.6% 94.0% 86.6% 37.4% 6.0% 13.4% Microblog (e.g. Twitter) 35.6% 66.9% 64.4% 33.1% Read or RSS feeds 31.2% 44.1% 68.8% 55.9% Scan QR codes 21.5% 78.5% 5. Expectations of Technology 5.1 Technology in their Studies Student attitudes to technology remain very similar to those in 2011, with a majority of students stating that technology makes it easier to complete work in their subjects, but in general a large (roughly one third) of respondents giving neutral responses. This might 7

8 suggest that students are becoming so used to technologies being available that they do not see it as something extra to their study practices. Table 5: Student views on the usefulness of technologies in their studies by %age I use technology because: Agree Neutral Disagree Will help me get better results in my subjects 75.6% 44.6% 48.9% 23.6% 40.6% 38.4%.8% 12.7% 11.5% Will help me understand the subject material more deeply 76.5% 42.3% 47.8% 22.5% 42.7% 39.1% 1.0% 13.3% 11.2% Makes it more convenient to complete work in my subjects 90.9% 59.0% 64.0% 8.8% 34.0% 31.3%.3% 5.3% 4.4% Will improve my IT / information management skills in general 70.9% 40.2% 42.2% 27.8% 39.4% 39.0% 1.3% 17.5% 16.9% Will improve my career or employment prospects in the long term 65.1% 35.2% 37.9% 33.5% 38.9% 39.0% 1.4% 22.7% 20.8% 8

9 5.2 Specific Expectations of Technology in relation to their studies Student expectations about the usefulness of technology in their studies remains fairly similar across the years of the survey. Use of the web to course materials remains in the top two places again, with student expectations of lecture recordings rising slightly again, with just over 86% of students wishing to have both to recordings of lectures they have attended and those they missed. Table 6: Students perception on usefulness of particular technologies at university by %age I think it will be useful in my Agree Neutral Disagree Don't Know University studies to: Use the web to reading material for your course? 91.90% 90.40% 91.40% 6.40% 7.40% 6.80% 0.50% 1.30% 0.80% 1.20% 0.90% 0.90% Use the web to written course content materials? 89.30% 89.90% 90.20% 8.40% 7.50% 7.70% 0.50% 1.30% 0.70% 1.80% 1.20% 1.30% Download or online audio/video recordings of lectures you did not attend? 73.20% 85.00% 86.70% 18.10% 10.60% 10.10% 2.40% 1.70% 0.80% 6.20% 2.80% 2.40% Download or online audio/video recordings to revise the content of lectures you have already been to? 77.70% 85.50% 86.30% 15.90% 11.40% 10.90% 1.60% 1.00% 0.90% 4.80% 2.20% 1.80% Download or online audio/video recordings of supplementary content material? 69.30% 79.10% 79.40% 24.50% 16.90% 16.80% 1.30% 1.00% 1.10% 5.00% 2.90% 2.70% Receive alerts about course information via RSS feeds on the web? 76.30% 75.90% 76.90% 16.60% 15.10% 16.60% 2.10% 3.50% 1.90% 5.10% 5.40% 4.60% Receive administrative information about the course via text message on your mobile phone 59.50% 65.30% 70.80% 24.60% 22.30% 21.00% 7.60% 6.70% 3.50% 8.30% 5.80% 4.70% 9

10 I think it will be useful in my Agree Neutral Disagree Don't Know University studies to: Use social networking software on the web to communicate/collaborate with other students in the course? 65.70% 65.10% 70.00% 26.00% 27.20% 23.20% 4.90% 4.50% 4.00% 3.40% 3.20% 2.80% Use the web to complete selfassessments to test your own progress on the course? 67.40% 66.80% 67.00% 24.60% 24.90% 25.60% 2.60% 4.00% 3.00% 5.40% 4.30% 4.30% Use the web to share digital files related to your course 54.50% 60.10% 62.60% 34.70% 31.40% 29.70% 3.80% 3.60% 2.90% 7.00% 4.90% 4.80% Use instant messaging / chat on the web to communicate/collaborate with other students in the course? 63.70% 58.40% 60.80% 28.00% 34.30% 31.70% 4.10% 3.50% 4.20% 4.20% 3.80% 3.40% Create and present multimedia shows as part of your course requirements 58.00% 60.60% 59.50% 32.50% 31.10% 33.10% 2.30% 4.40% 2.50% 7.20% 3.90% 4.90% Use instant messaging /chat on the web to communicate with staff from the course? 42.50% 51.80% 59.10% 41.10% 37.40% 31.40% 7.70% 5.50% 4.20% 8.80% 5.30% 5.30% Receive pre-class discussion questions from your Lecturer via text message on your mobile phone? 46.50% 50.40% 57.10% 32.90% 30.80% 28.90% 10.10% 10.60% 7.40% 10.40% 8.20% 6.60% Receive grades/marks from your Lecturer via text message on your mobile phone? 43.80% 45.20% 54.00% 31.10% 32.40% 30.00% 15.50% 14.50% 10.10% 9.60% 7.90% 5.90% Use webconferencing or video chat to communicate/collaborate with other students in the course? 23.80% 28.80% 33.30% 47.70% 50.90% 50.00% 13.30% 10.10% 8.10% 15.10% 10.20% 8.60% Create and present audio/video as part of your course requirements 25.00% 27.40% 27.20% 46.50% 46.80% 49.10% 10.20% 12.80% 11.40% 18.30% 13.10% 12.40% 10

11 I think it will be useful in my Agree Neutral Disagree Don't Know University studies to: Contribute with other students to the development of a wiki as part of your course requirements? 17.20% 16.60% 18.80% 43.50% 41.70% 45.10% 16.10% 21.80% 16.60% 23.20% 19.80% 19.50% Contribute to another blog as part of your course requirements? 11.90% 12.20% 12.60% 43.20% 40.10% 43.30% 23.50% 28.90% 23.50% 21.40% 18.80% 20.60% Design and build web pages as part of your course 7.10% 12.80% 12.40% 36.70% 42.40% 48.20% 21.50% 19.90% 13.80% 34.70% 24.80% 25.60% Keep your own blog as part of your course requirements? 12.30% 11.40% 9.70% 39.50% 36.90% 42.20% 27.30% 33.00% 27.90% 20.80% 18.70% 20.20% Having Facebook blocked from the machines you use for studying 24.50% 25.70% 34.60% 39.00% 31.80% 25.80% 9.00% 9.50% 11

12 Table 7: Students perception on usefulness of particular technologies at university by rank I think it will be useful in my University studies to: Rank Use the web to reading material for your course? Use the web to written course content materials? Download or online audio/video recordings of lectures you did not attend? Download or online audio/video recordings to revise the content of lectures you have already been to? Download or online audio/video recordings of supplementary content material? Receive alerts about course information via RSS feeds on the web? Receive administrative information about the course via text message on your mobile phone Use social networking software on the web to communicate/collaborate with other students in the course? Use the web to complete self-assessments to test your own progress on the course? Use the web to share digital files related to your course Use instant messaging / chat on the web to communicate/collaborate with other students in the course? Create and present multimedia shows as part of your course requirements Use instant messaging /chat on the web to communicate with staff from the course? Receive pre-class discussion questions from your Lecturer via text message on your mobile phone? Receive grades/marks from your Lecturer via text message on your mobile phone? Use webconferencing or video chat to communicate/collaborate with other students in the course? Create and present audio/video as part of your course requirements Having Facebook blocked from the machines you use for studying Contribute with other students to the development of a wiki as part of your course requirements? Contribute to another blog as part of your course requirements? Design and build web pages as part of your course Keep your own blog as part of your course requirements?

13 6. Conclusions There is a continued increase in student ownership of mobile technology since the last survey, with a continuing shift from desktop to laptop and other mobile devices. Students are increasingly ing information online via their mobile devices, with most students expecting to be able to find useful resources online. As noted in previous years, there are some differences between Colleges, and these are identified in the more detained analysis which will be made available on the Student Voice website ( Overall, findings from the 2013 survey support the activities across the University of Glasgow to enhance learning and teaching through the use of technology and confirm the relevance of our elearning Strategy. 13

14 7. Appendices Appendix 1: 2013 Question set Access to technology 1 Desktop computer 2 Portable computer (i.e. laptop or notebook) 3 Tablet 4 MP3 player (e.g. ipod, mobile phone) 5 Digital camera (not on phone) 6 Mobile phone 7 Smart phone 8 Memory stick (e.g. flash drive, USB stick) 9 Video game console (e.g. Xbox, Playstation) 10 Web cam 11 Broadband internet (ADSL or cable) Use a computer for 12 Writing documents (e.g. Word) 13 Creating or manipulating digital images/photos (e.g. using Photoshop) 14 Creating presentations (e.g. PowerPoint) 15 Creating or editing audio and video (e.g. imovie, Movie Maker) 16 Playing games Use the web to 17 Access social networking software (e.g. Facebook etc.) 18 Access a school portal, course management system for learning 19 Look up reference information for study purposes 20 Browse for general information (e.g. news, holidaying, events, fun) 21 To buy or sell (e.g. ebay, Amazon, air tickets.) 22 To pay bills or shop (e.g. banking) 23 To send or receive (e.g. Hotmail, Yahoo, Outlook) 24 Make phone calls (e.g. Skype) 25 Video Chat (e.g. Skype) 26 Download or listen to music files 27 Build and/or maintain a website 28 Play networked/ online games 29 Share photos (e.g. Facebook, Flickr, Picassa) 30 Download podcasts 31 Publish podcasts 32 Contribute to a wiki 33 Read or RSS feeds (e.g. news or blog feeds) 14

15 34 Upload video clips (e.g to YouTube) 35 Access video clips (e.g. YouTube) 36 Keep my own blog 37 Comment on other people s blogs 38 Microblog (e.g. Twitter) Use a mobile/smart phone/tablet for 39 Phone people 40 Text / SMS people 41 Take digital photos or movies 42 Share photos or movies 43 Make video calls 44 Access podcasts 45 Act as a personal organiser (e.g. diary, address book) 46 Access information / services on the web 47 Send or receive 48 Access social networking sites 49 Microblog (e.g. Twitter) 50 Read or RSS feeds 51 Scan QR codes I want to use technology in my studies because it: 52 Will help me get better results in my subjects 53 Will help me understand the subject material more deeply 54 Makes it more convenient to complete work in my subjects 55 Will improve my IT / information management skills in general 56 Will improve my career or employment prospects in the long term I think it will be useful in my university studies to: 57 Design and build web pages as part of your course (e.g. using Dreamweaver, Wordpress, iweb)? 58 Create and present multimedia shows as part of your course requirements (e.g. PowerPoint/Prezi)? 59 Create and present audio/video as part of your course requirements (e.g. imovie, Movie Maker)? 60 Download or online audio/video recordings of lectures you did not attend? 61 Download or online audio/video recordings to revise the content of lectures you have already been to? 62 Download or online audio/video recordings of supplementary content material? 63 Use instant messaging / chat (e.g. MSN, Yahoo, ICQ) on the web to communicate/collaborate with other students in the course? 15

16 64 Use instant messaging / chat (e.g. MSN, Yahoo, ICQ) on the web to communicate with lecturing and administrative staff from the course? 65 Use social networking software (e.g. Facebook, Myspace, Bebo) on the web to communicate/collaborate with other students in the course? 66 Use the web to share digital files related to your course (e.g. sharing photos, audio files, movies, digital documents, websites, etc)? 67 Use the web to reading material for your course? 68 Use the web to written course content materials? 69 Use webconferencing or video chat to communicate/collaborate with other students in the course? 70 Receive alerts about course information (e.g. timetable changes, the release of new learning resources, changes in assessment) via RSS feeds on the web? 71 Keep your own blog as part of your course requirements? 72 Contribute to another blog as part of your course requirements? 73 Contribute with other students to the development of a wiki as part of your course requirements? 74 Receive grades/marks from your Lecturer via text message on your mobile phone? 75 Use the web to complete self-assessments to test your own progress on the course? 76 Receive pre-class discussion questions from your Lecturer via text message on your mobile phone? 77 Receive administrative information about the course via text message on your mobile phone (e.g. timetable or assessment changes, info on new learning resources)? 78 Having Facebook blocked from the machines you use for studying so that it does not waste valuable time 16

17 Appendix 2: Graphs Graph 1: Access to a Desktop Computer Exclusive Shared Limited No Not sure Graph 2: Access to a Laptop/Notebook Computer Exclusive Shared Limited No Not sure Graph 3: Access to Broadband Exclusive Shared Limited No Not sure 17

18 Graph 4: Access to a Smart Phone Exclusive Shared Limited No Not sure Graph 5: Use of Mobile Phone to Access the web Graph 6: Use of Mobile Phone to Send/Receive

19 Graph 7: Access to Technology (Desktop and Laptop) % % 80.00% 60.00% 40.00% Desktop Computer Laptop/Notebook Computer 20.00% 0.00%