Educause Study on Students and Technology

Educause Center for Applied Research has release this 2010 study based on qualitative data from students at both 4-year and 2-year institutions on how undergraduate student use information technology. The study is 120 pages, but, for a shorter synopsis, you can peruse their key findings which provides information of student use of desktops versus laptops, mobile devices, learning management systems, and social networking.

Trend Toward Self-Paced Online Classes

The Chronicle of Higher Education recently featured the article "Will Technology Kill the Academic Calendar?" which discusses the trend of some community colleges to offer classes that allow students to start and complete the course at any time and that consists of assignments without deadlines. The discussion includes whether this module is primarily financially driven and whether students' needs can really be met without a cohort and the structure of a traditional semester.

Free Tool for Creating Audio

The new free tool AudioPal allows users an easy way to create audio for online. You have the option of recording by phone or by mic, uploading an audio file, or simply typing in text and having it converted to speech. AudioPal will then email you code to allow you to embed your audio widget where ever you would like. This could be a great tool to allow students to work with and share audio in online and enhanced classes and might also be used for creating audio for lectures and tutorial instruction.

Eighty Percent of College Faculty Using Social Media

According to a recent study entitled "Social Media in Higher Education" conducted by the publisher Pearson, more than eighty percent of faculty are using social media and half of those are using social media for teaching purposes. The study also offers some additional interesting data such as 30% of the faculty polled use social media with their students and 52% use video, podcast, blogs, and wikis as part of their classes.

iPads for All New Students

In a post from ReadWriteWeb, Frederic Lardinois reports that two colleges, Seton Hill University and George Fox University, have announced plans to give all incoming students a choice between a MacBook or an iPad. This may be a premature endorsement of the iPad considering it hasn't been tested enough yet and it is not yet apparent whether the iPad will suceed where Kindle hasn't with the textbook market. It remains to be seen whether textbook publishers will be able to leverage the iPad's interactive capabilities to bring new value to students and educators.

The Debate Over Making Lectures Available Online

In the Chronicle of Higher Education article, "College 2.0: More Professors Could Share Lectures Online. But Should They?", Jeffrey R. Young highlights both sides of the issue many professors are considering: whether to make their lectures available to students (and possibly the public at large) online. The discussion includes increased access to class content for students, copyright concerns, managing the recording process, and facilitating the free flow of ideas.

College Technology Index

Peter Schilling, Director of IT at Amherst College compiled a list of data which paints an interesting picture of technology trends and use on his campus. It gives an interesting glimpse into the way college students are using various technologies. You can also check out his 2008 index as a point of comparison.