Paula’s E-Musings

As we continually evaluate our services we are always looking for ways to measure how students use instructional technologies and how our services impact the educational experience. ECAR (EDUCAUSE Center for Applied Research) has just released a comprehensive Study of Undergraduate Students and Information Technology that includes a literature review and information gathered in surveys and focus groups. This is the fourth annual study and there are some interesting longitudinal data about student use of technology and emerging trends. The report validates what we already seem to know —  the increased use of the Internet, and especially social networking sites. Although the Millennials use many forms of technology in social and interpersonal situations, there is still ambivalence about its instructional application, and students report that they still enjoy some traditional classroom interactions. 

There’s lots of information in the ECAR report which is a good barometer of student use of technology. As always I find the EDUCAUSE Resource Library an excellent respository of information and this study is no exception.