Pressure is growing on educational institutions to increase the use of technology in the high school and college learning environment, according to the results of a new survey, which polled students, faculty, and IT administrators.
The “Learn Now, Lecture Later” survey was conducted by CDW-G, a technology product and service provider for business, government and education, and gathered responses from 1,015 participants. The results highlight a mismatch between current educational instruction and the expectations of students.
As technology has become more embedded in their out-of-school lives, students at both the secondary and post-secondary levels have begun to expect their learning experiences include laptops, smart phones, digital content, student response systems, and recorded lectures. Learning management systems were a priority for college-level students. Faculty members — whether high school or college instructors — said laptops, digital content, and tablets would aid the learning process, though budget constraints were cited as an obstacle.
While slightly more than half of classes are lecture-based, fewer than 40% of students wanted to learn through that model, according to the survey. Only 23% of students in the survey results said they were satisfied with how instructors utilized class time, while 69% said technology should be leveraged to provide more learning tools in classes. Nearly half of the faculty respondents indicated they had shifted from the traditional lecture model of teaching while 20% indicated they were considering a change in the future.
Though students were more likely to opt for technology-driven modes of learning, 11% reported they were being taught through hands-on projects but 17% indicated they would prefer this method. The survey also reported 8% were using distance and virtual learning as an educational tool, but 11% would prefer it. A meager 3% were being taught through one-on-one tutoring, but 8% wanted more of the method.
The survey also found that digital content–course material presented online–had reached high levels of penetration among the respondents. About 74% of higher education students used digital content in comparison to 64% of high school students. For learning management systems (LMS), higher education student usage outnumbered high school student usage 72% to 40%, and the percentage comparison for recorded class lecture usage was 53% to 30%. At the instructor level, 80% of college faculty members had used digital content in connection with a course compared to 66% of high school teachers. It was 67% to 49% in the usage of LMS in favor of higher education faculty.
Higher education faculty members were more likely to have participated in an online class, with 37% reporting that they had. The participation rate in online classes dropped to 15% of respondents who taught at the secondary level.
Among IT professionals, 76% reported an increase in faculty requests for help with technology integration and related professional development although 87% of them indicated a need to upgrade its district or institution’s infrastructure for more technology in classrooms.
The survey was conducted during May and June of this year.
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