It may be time for a reality check on classroom technology.
Irecently ran across an interesting report from CDW-G, the Government division of the technology mega-distributor CDW. My university buys quite a bit of product from CDW, primarily computers and computer hardware, so when I saw this particular report I figured it was worth a look.
The company calls this report “The 2009 21- Century Campus Report: Defining the Vision” and it is available at http://newsroom.cdwg. com/features/feature-11-02-09.html. It draws upon some of the conclusions in a similar report from 2008, also available at the same link. Taken together, these two reports tell a compelling story about the availability and use of classroom technology, and the realities of its use.
Before we go any further, it is important to examine any agenda that CDW-G might have in conducting this research. After all, they are a major supplier of technology to K-12 and higher ed institutions, and one might imagine that they’d not be unhappy if the results indicated a problem whose solution pointed to them. Having said that, the company engaged a third-party survey company whose methodology appears to be sound. For each survey, slightly over 1,000 individuals were polled and these were evenly divided between students, faculty, and IT executives.
WHERE ARE WE TODAY?
From the IT perspective, these studies define classroom technology in terms of hardware and services; laptops and WiFi, distance learning, wikis and blogs, video- and Web conferencing, social networking and chat, and course management systems. From the faculty perspective, the focus is on potential obstacles to technology in the classroom, whether or not technology is integrated into every class, and the availability and adequacy of training. From the student’s perspective (and this would seem where the rubber truly meets the road), the reports focus on the use of technology in their classes and whether or not the professor appears to understand the technology that is being used.
It should come as no surprise to anyone that the increasing use of classroom technology is driven by student demand. After all, students understand the technology; in many cases, they understand it far better than the faculty who are teaching them. Moreover, they not only understand and use it, but they also look for it when choosing a university. According to the 2008 study, the availability of technology is a key metric in choosing a school for the majority of students, regardless of their major. Up to 90 percent of students involved in technical and vocational studies indicated that technology was either important or very important in their college selection. Nearly two-thirds of students said that technology was “extremely important” in class preparation. A year later, that particular statistic shot up to 81 percent.
Why the increase year over year? One possibility is that students are feeling the need to be fully prepared to successfully use technology when they enter the workforce. With the nation’s economy still very much in low gear and a job market that ranges from mediocre to grim, students understand the need to be prepared for anything in the tech arena. They know their marketability depends in part on their ability to develop presentations, use industry-specific software programs, and above all, to write well whether for e-mail, business communications, or technical documentation.
ARE WE PREPARING STUDENTS FOR WORKPLACE TECH?
Unfortunately, these reports indicate that both students and faculty lack confidence in their college or university’s ability to prepare them to successfully use technology in the workplace. According to the 2009 study, the number of students who strongly agree that their school is doing a good job of preparing them numbers less than one-third. And among faculty, only 22 percent strongly agree that their institution is doing a good job of prep.
So where is the disconnect? If CDW-G’s report is to be believed, the IT staff believes that the biggest impediment to integrating technology into more classes is lack of budget. The 2009 study notes that half of IT staff saw their budgets decrease this year, but anyone who watches TV news or reads a paper understands that this is a result of a down economy and is to be expected.
The more telling result of the 2009 study is that students say the greatest challenge to integrating technology in their classrooms is a lack of technology knowledge on the part of faculty. In other words, if you’re a faculty member and believe in the use of technology to increase your students’ access to you and to your course materials, the first place to look is in the mirror. You just may be part of the reason that students are concerned about the level of technology preparation for the workforce they receive while in college.
For example, the 2009 report indicates that both faculty and students use Web 2.0 technology outside of the classroom. Among faculty, 36 percent use social networking outside of the classroom and 26 percent use online chat. But in conjunction with teaching, social networking use among faculty drops to 14 percent, and online chat use drops to 17 percent. Both students and faculty agree that office hours are an important means of communication, but faculty members are not always available on campus; I know that I spend an equal or greater number of hours preparing in my home office as I do in my campus office. However, for the last two semesters I’ve made myself available from my home office via Skype, which allows me to see both the student and his or her computer screen.
Am I utilizing all of the classroom technologies to their fullest extent? No, of course not — there’s always room for improvement. But these technologies are recession proof: Skype is free software, and Skype-to-Skype calls are free. Facebook is free. Twitter is free. And the benefits of being able to reach out to students outside the classroom and off campus? Priceless.