Higher education students and technology research

The Educause Center for Applied Research has surveyed undergraduate students annually since 2004 about technology in higher education. In 2012, ECAR collaborated with 195 institutions to collect responses from more than 100,000 students. The report  notes that in answer to the question, “When it comes to your success as an undergraduate, what is the one website or online resource you couldn’t live without?” the most frequently cited sources were Google (33%) and Blackboard (16%); both of these significantly outranked students’ citing the college or university library website (5%). See the 2012 report for a full list key messages, findings, and supporting data.

Blended-learning environments are the norm; students say that these environments best support how they learn.

Students want to access academic progress information and course material via their mobile devices, and institutions deliver.

Technology training and skill development for students is more important than new, more, or "better" technology.

Students use social networks for interacting with friends more than for academic communication.

 

Educause Center for Applied Research. (2012). ECAR study of undergraduate students and information technology, 2012. Washington, DC: Educause.

http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ERS1208/ERS1208.pdf