Abstract:

The new generations of students are known to use more ICT in their lives (Palfrey & Gasser, 2008; Tapschott, 2008). They have grown up with computers and digital applications and have a natural fluency with technology. It is suggested that this generational shift could have consequences for approaches to learning (Jones, Ramanau, Cross, & Healing, 2010).

To investigate whether the approaches to learning at our University of Applied Sciences should change based on the new generation, surveys on the use of ICT in education were conducted in 2013, 2014 and now again in 2016. The surveys consisted of 5 parts addressing usage of ICT, the use of our digital learning environment, the use of video, digital assessment, and open education. The survey in 2016 is distributed among all our students (around 25,000) last week, the results of this survey will be analyzed the coming weeks.

The results of the surveys held in 2013 and 2014 showed that despite the available support and the possibilities to use new educational technologies, teachers did not use it as often as our students would like to. Main reasons for not using the new technologies are -as mentioned by our teachers- a lack of knowledge, time and appreciation from their management (Alen, Borrèl, Duijn, & Visscher, 2013). To increase the use of the techniques mentioned by our students, new educational models like the flipped classroom, gamification or assessment for learning were introduced in different projects. In cooperation with the different schools at our institution we set up projects to let teachers experiment with technology in- and outside the classroom. Projects were formulated on different levels of ICT skills, for the less comfortable and the more comfortable. For the less comfortable we made eBooks about educational design & technology and digital assessment (CC-BY) as easy accessible reference books. In addition, we organize the flipped classroom course ‘Educational Design in a Digital Learning Environment’ at each school. Mail goal in this course is to provide educators with educational models and hands-on experience with different educational technologies within their own courses. Over the past two years we have successfully educated over 500 teachers in this course. For the more comfortable teachers we set up several projects to experiment with new innovations like learning analytics, e-portfolio’s and digital assessment.

Our main research question is whether the investments we made in our professionalization program to educate the educators in educational technology were successful. Do students perceive that our teachers use more educational technology within their courses? Are our students more satisfied about the use of ICT at our institution? And in addition to this, what kind of innovative technologies would they like to see in their educational programs in the coming years? In this poster session we will share our research findings about the students’ perspectives on the use of ICT in education at our University of Applied Sciences.