Undergrad 2.007
EDUCAUSE Center for Applied Research (ECAR) recently published their 2007 report on the usage of information technology by undergraduate students.
In addition to exploring student ownership of technology (laptop & iPod being standard school supplies these days) and how Information Technology impacts learning, the report provides some interesting insight into technology behaviors, preferences, and skills of undergraduates. Table 3 - Student computer & internet activities (p.6 of the Key Findings Report PDF) indicates:
- 94.7% of students use the library on the university/college website
- 81.6% use an online social network such as Facebook
- 41.7% access or use wikis
- 27.8% engage in blogging
- Younger students tend to use social networking more than older students (88% of 18-19 year olds vs. 69% of respondents 40 years old or older.)
- Email & PowerPoint are ubiquitous skills
Though this report focuses on undergraduate education, it’s still important for medical librarians to recognize these trends, especially if you’re involved with students of the health sciences. After all, a 2007 freshman Biology major may be your resident in 2016.
Interestingly enough, Life Sciences majors spent the least amount of time doing online activities, averaging about 14 hours a week online. Which is still 2 hours a day. Compare that to the amount of time you spent on a computer as an undergrad. (Even this 30 year old spring chicken remembers having to hoof it to a computer lab to check her email, which happened maybe twice a month.) How times have changed.
A final point of the survey asked the question, “Does technology improve learning?” Undergrads put this responsibility on the shoulders of instructors. “Rarely do students attribute I(nformation) T(echnology) related learning problems to their own limitations.” (p 14) ECAR offers several ideas on ‘optimizing technology effectiveness’:
- developing instructor technology skill sets
- training instructors on integrating technology into their teaching
- improving institutional network reliability (i.e. making the course management software work properly)
- increasing instructor/administrator awareness on how students differ on technological savvy & access to technology resources
As medical librarians, how could we adopt some of these solutions? Are we already doing it? How does this translate to hospital libraries and consumer health? And is any of this even our responsibility? Read the report & draw your own conclusions.