It’s a Mobile World
Happy new year to all. Earlier today a colleague sent me a link to a survey conducted by Eduventures to determine technolologies used by full-time college students aged 18 to 24 years. Results indicate that 79 percent of students own laptops, 49 percent of students own desktops, and 30 percent own both. Not surprisingly 97 percent of those surveyed own cell phones and 73 percent own media players.
These statistics most certainly have implications for higher education and the resources and services that we provide. Students expect wireless access across campus. As more faculty are podcasting lectures and uploading presentations we can be assured that most students have their own mp3 players. (Nevertheless our Memorial Library continues to loan out mp3 players and peripherals such as microphones.) As cell phones that are ubiquitous are becoming more sophisticated it’s not surprising that the most recent Horizon Report cited the cell phone as an emerging instructional technology to watch.
The 2008 Horizon Report will be issued in the next month or so. I wonder what technologies will be highlighted this year and what we can expect to see our students using in 2008. No doubt there will be more mobile technologies emerging that will continue to challenge us to create new applications for learning.