students’ use of technology in formal and informal learning

Anoush Margaryan, David Nicol*, Allison Littlejohn and Kathryn Trinder

Glasgow Caledonian University, UK* University of Strathclyde, UK

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this licence, visit

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/

decentralisation

user control

prosumption & remix

participation

wisdom of crowds

gap between culture of universities and learners’ lives?

What students think?

full report:

http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/projects/detail/projectfinder/projects/pf2969lr

Survey & interviews:

demographic data

types of tools used

extent of use

purpose of use

examples

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

GCU Strathclyde

Social workEngineering

formal learning (course)

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Never

Monthly

Daily

Informal learning (not course)

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Never

Monthly

Daily

social use (not learning-related)

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Never

Monthly

Daily

what are the tools used for?

mobile phones

- organising project meetings- discussing assignments

- support during pre-exam panic

- “no study materials on my phone please – it’s not a work item”

what are the tools used for?

Instant Messaging

- finding each other on campus

- communicating timetable changes

- arranging to meet- discussing coursework

what are the tools used for?

Social networking (Bebo, MySpace)

• socialising• supporting each other• sharing resources• organising learning in groups• mixed socialising and learning

Would you like to use these tools in your courses?

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Yes No Don't know

low understanding of tools

interdisciplinary differences

low concern with who provides tools

low digital literacy skills

not all young people are “digital natives”

pedagogic approach is a factor

socialising vs creating & sharing knowledge

expectations of learning at university(Litteljohn et al, in press)

Who is in charge?

Do all learners have the skills and

mindset to be in charge?

Self-regulationNetworking skills

Self-efficacyMotivation

Learning literacies

TOOLSLEARNING CONTEXT

private

privileged

public privileged private

privileged

private

ENVIRONMENTS

formal

informal

eg. mobile phone

eg. institutional laptop

eg. SecondLife eg. VLE eg. MySpace profile

physical and virtual