How are students actually using technology?
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The 2020 Student Digital Experience Insights Survey in the UK indicates that while a significant majority of higher and further education students have positive experiences with digital learning and resources, there are notable gaps in access and support, particularly for economically disadvantaged students. Key findings reveal that students use a mix of personal and institutional devices, yet many feel they lack adequate opportunities to participate in digital decision-making within their organizations. The survey highlights a strong demand for improved digital skills support and resources in the context of ongoing challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
How are students actually using technology?
- 1. Student digital experience insights survey 2020 UK higher and further education survey findings October 2020 Sarah Knight and Ruth Drysdale
- 2. Questions for discussion •Did the findings align with your students’ expectations and experiences of digital? For both Students and Staff, how do you; •Audit what devices (personal or institutionally owned), connectivity (wifi) and access to resources they have? •Support them to increase their confidence in using hardware, software and resources? •Co-designing technology in the pedagogy to develop students digital capabilities to move from transactional to transformational use of technology? 2
- 3. Digital experience insights surveys • Our insights surveys provide powerful data on how students, teaching and professional services staff (and now researchers) are using technology • Designed to help to understand and improve the digital experience in FE and HE • Provide baseline and benchmarking data to inform organisations’ digital strategy • Annual summative report on each survey for each sector, providing vision and leadership • New question sets for 2020-1 surveys running from October and will reflect requirements for the COVID-19 context https://digitalinsights.jisc.ac.uk/ what-is-digital-insights- experience/
- 4. Student digital experience insights survey 2020: UK higher education (HE) survey findings https://www.jisc.ac.uk/reports/student-digital- experience-insights-survey-2020-uk-higher-education Learner digital experience insights survey 2020: UK further education (FE) findings: https://www.jisc.ac.uk/reports/learner-digital- experience-insights-survey-2020-uk-further-education Student digital experience insights survey 2020: question by question analysis of findings from students in UK further and higher education: https://www.jisc.ac.uk/sites/default/files/dei-2020- student-survey-question-by-question-analysis.pdf
- 5. Listening to the learner voice (FE)
- 6. Listening to the student voice (HE)
- 7. Students’ digital experience and environment • You and your technology • Technology at your university or college • Technology in your learning (or teaching, research or role • Developing your digital skills https://digitalinsights.jisc.ac.uk/what-is-digital-insights-experience/
- 8. Theme 1: You and your technology What personally owned devices do FE and HE students use in their learning? FE learners: •82% smartphone •68% laptop •28% desktop •25% tablet •3% none of these HE Students: •93% laptop •83% smartphone •29% tablet •21% desktop •0% none of these
- 9. Theme 1: You and your technology Attitudes and confidence in using technology Attitudes 49% FE and 54 % HE enjoyed trying out new and innovative technologies 45% FE and 43 % HE were comfortable using mainstream technologies 6% FE and 4 % HE preferred not to use technology unless they had to Confidence 72% FE and 76 % HE either ‘very’ or ‘quite’ confident at trying out new technologies 23% FE and 17 % HE gave a neutral response Only 5% FE and 7% HE said they were either ‘not very’ or ‘not at all’ confident Learners need to understand the potential relevance of new technologies and evolving workplace practices and to build the digital confidence and resilience this requires.
- 10. “Offer long term loans of laptops and/or tablets to students who do not have access to a digital device. Since the outbreak of Coronavirus students from poorer socioeconomic backgrounds have had to spend money (some having to go into their overdraft) on laptops etc because they have depended upon library technology. They are well within their right as a paying student to rely on library technology. They have now have been left without any support and are somehow expected to complete their degree as normal.” HE Student
- 11. Theme 2: Technology in your organisation (FE) Quality of organisational digital provision • 75% of FE learners rated the quality of their organisation’s digital provision as ‘good’, ‘excellent’ or ‘best imaginable’ • 5% rated digital provision as ‘poor’, ‘awful’ or the ‘worst imaginable’ Access to essential services • 68% of FE learners said they had access to reliable on campus wifi • 63% agreed that their organisation let them access online systems and services from anywhere • Only 57% agreed that their organisation supported them to use their own digital devices These figures are lower than is desirable – access to these services is critical to learning both on and off campus
- 12. Theme 2: Technology in your organisation (HE) Quality of organisational digital provision • 85 % of HE students rated the quality of their organisation’s digital provision as ‘good’, ‘excellent’ or ‘best imaginable’ • 3 % HE rated digital provision as ‘poor’, ‘awful’ or the ‘worst imaginable’ Access to essential services • 81 % of HE students said they had access to reliable on campus wifi • 80 % agreed that their organisation let them access online systems and services from anywhere • Only 68 % agreed that their organisation supported them to use their own digital devices These figures are lower than is desirable – access to these services is critical to learning both on and off campus
- 13. Theme 2: Technology in your organisation (1 of 3) Access to digital resources on demand 73% FE and 89 % HE of learners said they had access to online course materials on demand 50% FE and 54 % HE said they had access to file storage and backup 32% FE and 81 % HE said they had access to e-books and e-journals 32% FE and 39 % HE said they had access to online skills training resources 13% FE and 51 % HE said they had access to recorded lectures 5% FE and 1 % HE said they had access to none of these Access to resources that are increasingly regarded as essential to learning is variable - is better signposting needed for learners?
- 14. Theme 2: Technology in your organisation (2 of 3) Which apps or platforms outside of the learning environment have you used to discuss or collaborate with other learners? FE learners HE students
- 15. Theme 2: Technology in your organisation (3 of 3) Involvement in digital decisions • Only 26% of FE learners and 17 % of HE students agreed that they got the chance to be involved in decisions about digital services • 41 % disagreed that they had this opportunity Confidence in how data is collected and used • Only 37% of FE learners and 36% of HE students agreed that their organisation had told them how their data was collected and used • 21 % of FE learners and 27% of HE students disagreed that they were told Our research shows that when students have an opportunity to contribute, all users benefit
- 16. Theme 3: Technology in your learning (1 of 5) Overall quality of digital teaching and learning • 76% FE and 77 % HE of learners rated the quality of digital teaching and learning on their course as ‘good’, ‘excellent’ or ‘best imaginable’ • Only 5% FE and HE students rated it as ‘poor’, ‘awful’ or the ‘worst imaginable’ Who supports you most to use technology in your learning? • 50% FE and 34 % HE cited lecturers on their course as the most common source of support • 18% FE and 25 % HE cited other learners as being the most common • 15% FE and 28 % HE cited online videos and resources • 12% FE and 9 % HE cited friends and family • 6% FE cfnd 4 % HE said other support staff
- 17. Theme 3: Technology in your learning (2 of 5) Digital tools or apps learners find really useful for learning FE learners HE students
- 18. Theme 3: Technology in your learning (3 of 5) Carrying out digital activities On a monthly or more frequent basis: • 86% FE and 90 % HE said that they got digital feedback on their work • 79% FE and 77 % HE worked with data (eg analysis or visualisation) • 68% FE and 55 % HE created a digital record or portfolio of their learning • Although 67% FE and 56 % HE of learners worked online with other learners, 33% FE and 44 % HE said they never did this • Only 28% FE and 20 % HE said they used simulations, virtual or augmented reality.
- 19. Theme 3: Technology in your learning (4 of 5) What is most useful to students? 25 % FE and 38% HE said practice questions online 25 % FE and 24% HE said course-related videos 10 % FE and 18% HE said references and readings 13% FE and 13 % HE said interactive polls or quizzes in class 15% FE and 7 % HE said time working online with other students
- 20. Theme 3: Technology in your learning (5 of 5) What one thing should your university or college do to improve the quality of digital teaching and learning? • Help teaching staff to develop digital skills so they can support students effectively • Record all lectures and upload promptly • Improve consistency and navigation of the learning environment • More interactivity and collaboration in digital learning
- 21. “We are learning independently from home yet the slides are extremely vague nowhere near detailed enough to write 6 essays in 4 weeks and teachers aren’t replying until 2 weeks later if at all MORE COMMUNICATION AND HELP WITH STUDENTS DURING PANDEMIC!!!!!!!!!!” HE Student “I can’t fault my course particularly during COVID they have made their best efforts to allow us to finish our course with endless online resources and guidance to complete quizzes!” HE Student
- 22. Theme 4: Developing digital skills (1 of 2) Organisational support for learners to develop their digital skills • 51% FE and 51 % HE agreed they received guidance about the digital skills they needed for their course • 41% FE and 34 % HE agreed that their organisation provided them with the chance to assess their digital skills (eg for career planning) Discussing learners’ digital skills • 20% of FE and 21 % of HE students did not discuss their digital skills either during induction, during one to one sessions with tutors, in lectures and classes or with other learners
- 23. Theme 4: Developing digital skills (2 of 2) What one thing should your college do to to help learners develop their digital skills? FE learners: HE Students
- 24. The impact of COVID-19 Feelings of disconnection and requests for more contact and support Requests for more recorded lectures Support for basic skills of digital access to learning Requests for loans of laptops The need for staff training on use of digital communication and conferencing for teaching Better remote access to university and college systems A need for consistency in use of technology and feedback methods
- 25. Improving the digital experience of all students • Pedagogy and learning design • Addressing digital access and inequality • Support for developing students’ digital capabilities • Throughout your students’ journey from pre-arrival; induction; on course and progression into the workplace; alumni
- 26. Student digital experience insights survey 2020: UK higher education (HE) survey findings https://www.jisc.ac.uk/reports/student-digital- experience-insights-survey-2020-uk-higher-education Learner digital experience insights survey 2020: UK further education (FE) findings: https://www.jisc.ac.uk/reports/learner-digital- experience-insights-survey-2020-uk-further-education Student digital experience insights survey 2020: question by question analysis of findings from students in UK further and higher education: https://www.jisc.ac.uk/sites/default/files/dei-2020- student-survey-question-by-question-analysis.pdf
- 27. The survey questions for 2020-1 Around 30 questions in four thematic areas: • You and your technology • Technology at your university/college • Technology in your learning (or teaching, research or work role) • Developing your digital skills Questions equivalent/mapped across users Easily visualised in real time via user dashboard Response data shown to be relevant, actionable and comparable https://digitalinsights.jisc.ac.uk/what-is-digital-insights-experience/
- 28. What is a ‘pulse survey’ • One survey, run for short time periods, repeated soon after to identify and resolve issues • Very useful now that the learning, teaching and working experience has changed and is changing unpredictably • Questions refer to shorter time frame: “in the last two weeks” • Can be used with the same set of people, or with different cohorts • Can be run in discrete windows (e.g. start of year, just before Christmas, just before Easter), or continuously
- 29. Get involved Sign up to run the surveys https://digitalinsights.jisc.ac.uk/subscribe/find-out-more/ See our guidance https://digitalinsights.jisc.ac.uk/running-insights-surveys/ Join our Insights community: Click on jiscmail.ac.uk/JISC-DIGITALINSIGHTS- COP and join by clicking on the 'Subscribe or Unsubscribe' button Follow #digitalstudent Register for our online community of practice event on 17th November - https://www.jisc.ac.uk/events/building-digital-capability-and-digital-experience- insights-community-of-practice-17-nov-2020
- 30. Questions for discussion •Did the findings align with your students’ expectations and experiences of digital? For both Students and Staff, how do you; •Audit what devices (personal or institutionally owned), connectivity (wifi) and access to resources they have? •Support them to increase their confidence in using hardware, software and resources? •Co-designing technology in the pedagogy to develop students digital capabilities to move from transactional to transformational use of technology? 30
- 31. Except where otherwise noted, this work is licensed under CC-BY Get in touch… Digital experience insights Sarah Knight Sarah.knight@jisc.ac.uk Ruth Drysdale Ruth.drysdale@jisc.ac.uk https://digitalinsights.jisc.ac.uk #digitalstudent
Editor's Notes
- #6: This slide shows the number of learners who participated in the 2020 learner digital experience insights surveys. The data was collected from 36 colleges between October 2019 and May 2020. The majority of data was collected pre lockdown although the 35 % of data provides us with valuable insights into how students were using technology for their learning during lockdown.
- #7: The data was collected from 28 universities between October 2019 and May 2020. The majority of data was collected pre lockdown and still provides us with valuable insights into how students were using technology for their learning.
- #8: We will share with you the key findings from each of the four themes and highlight some implications for consideration for the new academic year.
- #9: Although a larger percentage of students had access to these devices, more information is needed to ensure we know whether the devices are of sufficient spec for accessing institutional systems and software. How do you gather this information from your students – do they have access to reliable wifi, can they afford mobile data charges and do they have a safe and appropriate place to study if not on campus?
- #11: Digital poverty is a theme running through much of the evidence gathered post lockdown and crucially needs addressing to ensure an equitable experience for all students returning to university,
- #12: Although these figures are overall positive there are areas for improvement for example, ensuring all students have access to organisational systems and services from where ever they are studying. Access to reliable wifi continues to be an issue for learners. With students using their own devices for learning, they will need support with this. Induction processes need to ensure these critical areas of support are picked up and students know how to access support either on campus or remotely.
- #13: Although these figures are overall positive there are areas for improvement for example, ensuring all students have access to organisational systems and services from where ever they are studying With students using their own devices for learning, they will need support with this. Induction processes need to ensure these critical areas of support are picked up and students know how to access support either on campus or remotely.
- #16: Although we have been championing our student partnership work for nearly 10 years, its still disappointing to see that students don’t feel they have the chance to be involved in decisions about their digital environment. The surveys are designed to raise the student voice and be a way for universities to engage their students in an ongoing dialogue around digital. With the increasing amount of data being collected about students, universities have a duty to ensure that students are informed on how their data is being collected and used. They may do this but students are not actively recognising this.
- #21: Students were asked to describe what their organisation could do to improve the quality of digital teaching and learning. 11,301 HE students completed a free text response to this question. This question was designed to yield actionable information to participating organisations. As anticipated, students used this opportunity to raise the issues that they most urgently wanted changed. Their answers do not provide a balanced view of their digital experience, nor do they necessarily reveal the issues that would be at the top of students’ priorities at other colleges and universities. The following figures and analysis should be read with these provisos in mind. Help teaching staff to develop digital skills so they can support learners effectively More quizzes, polls and interactive learning in class Improve consistency and navigation of the learning environment with a simple page structure Make sure everyone has access to a computer
- #24: Individual assessment of their digital skills Time to practice Practical, task-based and ‘real life’ approaches to digital skills Regular support (eg on a weekly basis)
- #25: The survey was designed and launched, and data was mainly collected, before the lockdown on 23 March 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. While the pandemic situation may have influenced how students responded to questions after that date, the questions were designed to refer to an ongoing digital experience and not to one that might suddenly change in the middle of an academic year. Therefore, we cannot know in general whether responses collected after 23 March 2020 were intended to relate to the current situation, or to the ongoing and ‘normal’ digital experience that they were originally designed to explore. However there were some key themes which emerged through the qualitative data collected post lockdown.
- #26: Improving the student digital experience Looking across the survey findings, there are some clear indications of the challenges the sector needs to address to improve the digital learning experience. Three that stand out are: » Pedagogy and learning design » Addressing digital access and inequality » Developing student digital capabilities
- #28: We will share with you the key findings from each of the four themes and highlight some implications for consideration for the new academic year.
- #29: This was wordy compared with other slides – tightened up