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Student use of technology continues rapid evolution
Thursday, October 29, 2009
UW-Madison students continue to freely adopt new technology tools for classwork, communication, and entertainment. The annual Student Computing Survey conducted in spring 2009 by DoIT amplifies earlier findings that students quickly evaluate new products and computing applications as they come to market and begin using many of them.
Text messaging is a good example of an emerging technology that has achieved broad use. Eighty-three percent of students reported using it in 2009, up from 75% last year, and 65% in 2007. Other popular technologies that students reported using were MP3 players (81%), social networks such as Facebook and MySpace (80%), flash drives (78%) and digital cameras (73%).
While cell phone usage remained stable at 77%, the use of hand-held Web devices (such as iPhone, BlackBerry and other smartphones) continued its rapid increase - from 6% in 2007 to 12% in 2008 to 24% in 2009.
Even in an age of mobile, handheld computing, 70% of UW students continue to use the campus computer labs. Among their reasons, they cite the labs' convenience and the availability of software and hardware (printers and other equipment) that they might not own. In addition, many students are reluctant to carry their laptop with them during the day.
Ninety-three percent of students own a laptop, up from 87% in 2008. Desktop use in 2009 declined to 26% from 31% in 2008.
The number of Mac OS (X or earlier version) users grew from 28% last year to 33% in 2009. Users of Windows (Vista or earlier version) declined from 75% last year to 73% in 2009.
Students continue to exhibit risky behavior with their computers. Fifty-two percent rarely or never back up their important digital data, continuing a worrisome trend. In 2009, 65% updated or patched their computer software within the last month, up from 62% in 2008.
Most students (83%) say they are aware of the issue of illegally downloading music and movies (copyright infringement), but those aware of the penalties for illegal downloads declined from 79% in 2008 to 74% in 2009.
Other findings from the 2008 Student Computing Survey:
• Ninety-one percent of students are either satisfied or very satisfied with the technology that UW-Madison provides.
• The top technologies for schoolwork were wikis (45%), Gmail (42%), Google docs, such as Writely and spreadsheets (39%), and YouTube (31%).
The full report is online at www.doit.wisc.edu/about/research/