How Students Use Tech
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Wednesday, August 10, 2011
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A cool infographic courtesy onlineeducation.net:
About Steven L. Taylor
Steven L. Taylor is a Professor of Political Science at Troy University. His main areas of expertise include parties, elections, and the institutional design of democracies. He is the author of Voting Amid Violence: Electoral Democracy in Colombia and is currently working on a comparative study of the US to 29 other democracies. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Texas and his BA from the University of California, Irvine. He has been blogging at PoliBlog since 2003.
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Aside from a large survey class, I’m trying to wrap my head around how one would use Twitter to increase engagement. Specifically, why it would be more efficient than the Old School method of having students raise hands and call on them. Or just calling on them.
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@James Joyner: I had a similar thought. Maybe as some kind of rolling participation/connectivity thing?
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I entered college just before digital technology became as prolific in the classroom as it is today. My freshman year, laptops in the classroom probably numbered 3% of the population. By my senior year it was probably around 60%-70%. Undoubtedly, students do love their technology. That said, I wonder how much of the drive towards a technology filled classroom is from the students, and how much is from the university?
It seemed like every year I was in school, some classroom mandated a piece of technology for their class. Whether it was these odd remote control devices for taking quizzes/attendance (that was pushed by the university proper), mandatory software that served purely as a supplemental/study aid (such as note-taking software, or ‘portfolio building’ programs–not Photoshop or Matlab or some other essential software to certain degrees), or mandatory use of browser based programs instead of good ol’ pen and paper assignments, it seemed the proliferation in the use of technology in the classroom was just as much driven top-down as it was bottom-up.
That trend was amplified by Professors experimenting with new methods of reaching students, such as publishing video podcasts of lectures that, while not necessitating the use of an mp3 player, certainly encouraged it. Indeed, I never owned an mp3 player until lectures were podcasted (I bought a Zune, because I am that unhip).
None of this is to say that I’m making judgement on the rise of technology in the classroom and on campus, but to simply say that the causation isn’t as simple as some articles make it out to be.
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@Neil Hudelson: Zune=fail. J/k…but really.
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Uh…what are the other 18% using to write their papers?
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@Timothy Watson: Papyrus.
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