Educause study on student use of computers and the Internet

The 2009 Educause Study of Undergraduate Students and Information Technology is out.

The study reports on the technology students use, how it affects their learning experience and their preferences in IT courses. This year's study held focus groups at 4 schools and surveyed 30,616 freshmen and seniors at 103 four-year institutions and 12 two-year institutions. (Longitudinal comparisons dating back to 2006 are available from only 39 institutions).

A few of their findings about students this year were:

• 44.8% post videos on the Web
  
• 41.9% post on wikis
• 37.3% contribute to blogs
• 35% use podcasts
• 37.7% use VoIP
• 98.8% own computers
• 87.8% own laptops
• 34.5% own both desktop and laptops

As shown below, this activity keeps them online (doing school work and recreation) an average of 21.3 and a median of 16 hours per week.


(Click the image to enlarge it).

For comparison, Nielson reported that the average American television viewer watched more than 148 hours per month during the second quarter of 2009.

The Nielsen report cited above reveals that television viewing is not falling as Internet usage rises -- where do people find the extra time? If you are a student, how do you compare with those in this study?

Many UK children write on the Internet, and those who do consider themselves better writers than those who do not

The UK-based National Literacy Trust has done a survey on Young people's writing: Attitudes, behaviour and the role of technology.

The report, which is available online, outlines findings from 3001 pupils aged 9-16 from England and Scotland, who completed an online survey in May 2009. It explores the link between writing and gender and age differences, socio-economic background, mobile phone ownership, having a blog, and having a social network profile. It concludes with practical and policy implications.

A few of the findings:

• 75% of young people said they write regularly -- online and off.
• 56% of young people said they had a profile on a social networking site, such as Bebo or Facebook. 24% said that they have their own blog.
• Young people who write on a blog were much more likely than young people who do not write on a blog to enjoy writing in general (57% vs. 40%) and to enjoy writing for family/friends in particular (79% vs. 55%).
• Young people with a blog (61%) as well as young people with a profile on a social networking site (56%) also displayed greater confidence, believing themselves to be good writers.
• Owning a mobile phone does not appear to alter young people’s enjoyment of writing, their writing behaviour or their attitudes towards writing.
• Most young people said they used computers regularly and believed that computers are beneficial to their writing
• Nearly 60% of young people believe computers allow them to be more creative, concentrate more and encourage them to write more often.
• Just under 9 in 10 young people see writing as an important skill to succeed in life
• In line with governmental figures, which show that girls outperform boys in writing.
• There was a dip in enjoyment of writing, writing behaviour and attitudes towards writing at ages 11-14, but they recover again in pupils aged 14-16.
• There was not a relationship between economic status (receiving free school meals) and enjoyment of writing, writing behaviour, or attitudes towards writing; however pupils who do not receive; howver, students who recieved free meals lacked confidence, rating themselves as worse writers.

"Academically entitled" students expect good grades for little effort

A recent study by University of California, Irvine professor Ellen Greenberger shows that some "academically entitled" students expect good grades for modest effort and have demanding attitudes toward teachers.

The study asked approximately 400 undergraduates aged 18 to 25 whether they agreed with these statements:

• If I have explained to my professor that I am trying hard, I think he/she should give me some consideration with respect to my course grade -- 66.2% agree
  
• If I have completed most of the reading for a class, I deserve a B in that course -- 40.7%
  
• If I have attended most of the classes for a course, I deserve at least a grade of B -- 34.1%
  
• Teachers often give me lower grades than I deserve on paper assignments -- 31.5%
  
• Professors who won't let me take my exams at another time because of my personal plans (e.g. a vacation) are too strict - 29.9%
  
• A professor should be willing to lend me his/her course notes if I ask for them - 24.8%
  
• I would think poorly of a professor who didn't respond the same day to an e-mail I sent - 23.5%
  
• Professors have no right to be annoyed with me if I tend to come late to class or tend to leave early - 16.8%
  
• A professor should not be annoyed with me if I receive an important call during class - 16.5%
  
• A professor should be willing to meet with me at a time that works best for me, even if inconvenient for the professor - 11.2%
  

She found that students holding these beliefs are more likely to engage in academic cheating, exploit others, shirk hard work and display "narcissistic orientation."

The study found that students who say their parents often compare their achievements to siblings, cousins or friends are more likely to engage in these behaviors, but found no connection between self-entitled attitudes and grades.

If you are a student, do you agree with the above statements? Would other students you know agree with them?

A culture of cooperation or competition?

The Internet applications and skills we teach as part of Computer Literacy 3 often center on collaboration and common interests, but we will fail without a compatible culture and reward system.

Our traditional students may be accustomed to a culture of competition. This point was made in a New York Times article Combat to College, which describes the experience of GI Bill veterans returning to school after serving in Iraq.

These students are different from mainstream students in many ways, but one that caught my eye had to do with their culture of cooperation, which was summed up by John Schupp, a chemistry professor at Cleveland State University, who sees camaraderie in the classroom as crucial to getting the veterans to show up, to stay and to thrive.

“They tell me over and over they wouldn’t have come to college otherwise,” he says. “In the military world it’s the team. The squadron must survive. When you come to school it’s all personal — my books, my grade, my stuff, my notes. They’re isolated, because other students haven’t seen what they’ve seen.”

We discuss willingness to cooperate in my classes, but instilling a cooperative culture among today's students can be difficult.

The Beloit College list of the characteristics of incoming freshmen

The latest version of the Beloit College Mindset list of characteristics of freshman students just came out. The class of 2012

has grown up in an era where computers and rapid communication are the norm, and colleges no longer trumpet the fact that residence halls are “wired” and equipped with the latest hardware. These students will hardly recognize the availability of telephones in their rooms since they have seldom utilized landlines during their adolescence. They will continue to live on their cell phones and communicate via texting. Roommates, few of whom have ever shared a bedroom, have already checked out each other on Facebook where they have shared their most personal thoughts with the whole world.

It is a multicultural, politically correct and “green” generation that has hardly noticed the threats to their privacy and has never feared the Russians and the Warsaw Pact.

A few of my favorites -- regarding technology, US society, and the cold war -- from the list of 60 characteristics are:

• Windows 3.0 operating system made IBM PCs user-friendly the year they were born.
• GPS satellite navigation systems have always been available.
• Personal privacy has always been threatened.
• Employers have always been able to do credit checks on employees.
• Michael Millken has always been a philanthropist promoting prostate cancer research.
• There have always been gay rabbis.
• Schools have always been concerned about multiculturalism.
• Muscovites have always been able to buy Big Macs.
• The Warsaw Pact is as hazy for them as the League of Nations was for their parents.

Does Internet style reading change our brains?

We shape our tools, and then our tools shape us.
Marshall McLuhan

Our writing equipment takes part in the forming of our thoughts.
Friedrich Nietzsche


Nicholas Carr published an article entitled Is Google Making Us Stupid? in which he discusses his and other's inability to patiently read long, complex articles and books. Web documents are typically short and linked to other documents, and we often jump away from an article after skimming or partially reading it.

Carr feels that reading this way has altered his brain structure, which explains his impatience when reading long documents. If Carr's hypothesis is true, today's students, who have grown up using the Internet and Web, will not learn well from conventional books and journal articles.

Carr's article spurred quite a bit of online debate and commentary. For example, this Salon article with several pages of comments.

Are our students reading habits really different than their parent's generation? Is this due to the Web or to other media like fast-cutting, MTV-style video? If we are becoming hard-wired skimmers instead of careful readers, what is gained and what is lost?

Web skills are necessary for work

Since Kemeny and Kurtz introduced the notion of computer literacy, there has been a dual emphasis on job skills and concepts. The following two quotes suggest that Internet skills are needed in the workplace.

Patty Morrison, Executive VP and CIO, Motorola:

The next big thing for my business will be ... the explosion of Web 2.0 and the consumerization of IT. Organizations will need to completely rethink how they will provide end-user services to an incoming workforce that has more technical capability at home/school than the enterprise can offer.

Ray Ozzie, Chief Software Architect, Microsoft:

Over the past ten years, the PC era has given way to an era in which the web is at the center of our experiences – experiences delivered not just through the browser but also through many different devices including PCs, phones, media players, game consoles, set-top boxes and televisions, cars, and more.

More data on student IT experience and expectations

We've discussed our student's preparation -- what they do and do not know when they start school. The Educause Center for Applied Research (ECAR) conducts an annual study of students and information technology.

They have published the following on the 2007 study:

• An abstract
  
• The study methodology, including the student survey and interview
• A presentation highlighting the study results

The highlights include many observations, including these:

What do students do with IT?



How much IT do students want in their classes?


(Unfortunately, the full study requires a paid ECAR membership)

Would you like to include your students in future surveys? If so, contact Judy Caruso, judy.caruso@cio.wisc.edu.

Gathering data on what our students know and don't know

We've talked about what typical students know and don't know about IT. The accepted wisdom is that new students are "digital natives," who know more than we do. However, the knowledge of some digital natives is shallow and brittle -- an inch deep and a mile wide.

Sociologist Eszter Hargittai has studied the content creation and sharing behavior and the digital literacy of undergraduate students at the ethnically diverse University of Illinois, Chicago. Her findings are summarized in an interview entitled A Sociologist Says Students Aren't So Web-Wise After All.

The interview draws upon research reported by Hargittai and Gina Walejko in The Participation Divide: Content Creation and Sharing in the Digital Age. You might also be interested in this article, which defines Hargittai's measure of digital literacy.

It would be interesting to put a version of Hargittai's digital literacy survey on the Net. It could be used to gather data on the general public, employees of organizations, students at other universities, etc. If such a survey caught on, it would be a way to gather data and track trends over time.

What today's students know (and don't know) about information technology

Most of today's students are familiar with email, SMS, Web search, digital cameras, MP3 players, word processing, etc. Four reminders of their familiarity with information technology are:

• The Beloit College Mindset List for the classes of 2010 and 2011
• Michael Wesch's video Vision of Students Today
• Robert Cringley's columns on the desire of students to use their information technology in school.
• A Doonsbury cartoon.

However, like drivers of cars with automatic transmissions, our students may use these tools without having mental model of the underlying technology -- their skills typically outstrip their conceptual knowledge.

Nearly all of today's students can surf the Web, but many do so without understanding that there are multiple Web servers on the Internet and that "Internet" and "Web" are not synonyms. They can email photos, but have no idea why they are so big when they arrive and why it takes so long to download them. They are both inefficient users and poorly prepared for making business and application decisions.

Few have thought about the implications of information technology for individuals, organizations and society, leaving them poorly prepared to make political judgements.

Finally, as Ivan Illich has pointed out, working with poorly understood technology can lead to a feeling of intimidation and alienation.

(For further thoughts on this topic see this post).