I USA har en hatt nasjonale undersøkelser om studentenes IT-bruk, både privat og på campus, siden 2004.
Selv om dataene ikke er direkte overførbare til Norge, er de så like oss at funnene kan være interessante for debatten som går nå. Et eksempel er at studenter som har laptoper har økt med med 23 prosentpoeng de siste tre årene i USA. Det er nok å gå inn i en studentkantine eller en lesesal for å se at denne trenden gjelder i Norge og.
Funn fra ECAR-undersøkelsen 2009:
“In general, respondents were lukewarm about their instructors use of IT. Fewer than half (45%) of the respondents reported that most or almost all of their instructors use IT effectively in their courses.”
“Instructors who have implemented CMS (Course of Learning Management Systems)technology can take heart from our finding that nearly two-thirds (64.7%)said that they disagree or strongly disagree with the statement ” I skip classes when materials from course lectures are available online”. In fact, ECAR found other research studies that support the idea that posting course materials online can improve student attendance.”
“When asked if the use of IT in courses improved their learning, about half (49.4%) of the respondents agreed or strongly agreed. (11.5% disagreed or strongly disagreed)”
“…respondents indicate they still appreciate the face-to-face learning experience. Our 2009-survey shows the same trend, with 59.6% of respondents saying they prefer moderate IT in their courses and fewer than 6% of respondents preferring the extremes- either no IT (2.0%) or exclusive IT (3.5%) in their courses.”
”..students wrote explicity about a preference for “real books and people” and said that “shiny new tech is still no substitute for well-trained, passionate instructors.”
Online-ressurser - alt fra Youtube-videoer av forelesninger til uformelle chatte-rom - ser ut til å forbedre studentenes læring, og i motsetning til hva en kan tro, ofte føre til større oppmøte på forelesningene.
Se blant annet:
M. Christina Hovea og Kevin J. Corcorana: If You Post It, Will They Come? Lecture Availability in Introductory Psychology. Teaching of Psychology 35 (2008)s. 91-95
Kimberley A. Babb og Craig Ross: The timing of online lecture slide availability and its effect on attendance, participation, and exam performance Computers&Education 52, nr. 4 (Mai 2009): s. 868-881)
En må ikke glemme at folk både spiller og ser fotball live, selv om FIFA 11 er kommet på Playstation 3.