Tag: research

Pew Internet Report: Teens, Privacy and Online Social Networks

This recent report from Pew Internet & American Life Project reviews How teens manage their online identities and personal information in the age of MySpace.

Some interesting findings:

1. Boys and girls have different views/behaviors on privacy
2. Half of all American online teens use a social network
3. Teens treat various types of personal information differently

This report is important because it is describing tomorrow’s college students. We need to understand students’ use and perceptions about technology. Our IT folks need understand this so that our technology infrastructure can continue to evolve at an appropriate pace. Our administrators need to understand this so that we can anticipate how to respond to issues related to privacy, and ethics, and the many other areas. Our faculty need to understand how students will expect these technologies and behaviors to translate into the classroom. Our Student Affairs folks need to understand how these behaviors will translate into behaviors outside the classroom. The list goes on, but the additional point is that we should be doing this collectively: having conversations across campus about the next generation of students that will be here soon.

(Side note: seems as if these “generations” come more and more quickly. The baby boomer generation is generally accepted as being post-WWII through the very early 1960s, where as “Generation X” and “Generation Y” and now the “Net Generation” have all followed in quick succession.)

University of Minnesota: Tech Surveys

The folks at the University of Minnesota have published results from technology surveys they conducted. They regularly survey both thestudent and faculty populations at that institution, and the results from the 2007 student survey are now available. (My recollection is that they survey faculty recently as well, but those results aren’t up yet.)

A few highlights below; keep in mind that U of Minn has been identified by NC State as a peer institution.

1. Students are experienced in their use of technology, but not sophisticated.
2. Students print a lot.
3. Students strongly support use of significant levels of technology in the classroom.
4. Gender differences exist.

NC State collects some data on this front, but not comprehensively and from this perspective. There are data collection efforts through ITD, the Instructional Services unit in DELTA, LITRE, and FCTL. It would be great to see more collaboration, which may actually be happening through the LITRE assessment group.