Abstract:

The data for this survey was gathered as part of a wider research project into the Vet School students learning experience at the University of Nottingham. The School was the first new Veterinary School built in over fifty years and, as a result, had the opportunity to develop new innovative practices in education. The School took a novel approach to ICT favouring a paperless environment providing students with laptops instead of printing allowances and housing all resources on a ubiquitous VLE. This approach is in response to several factors – one of which is research published in the field of Higher Education with warns of the need to meet the needs of a new generation of technologically aware students - ‘digital natives’. (Prensky 2007)
The survey was conducted amongst the third cohort of students taken into the new SMVS whilst they were coming towards the end of their first year of study. The survey used a live interactive method utilising Qwizdom Automated Responses Systems (Who wants to be a millionaire handsets) involving all 97 students in the year group. It aimed to identify individuals’ uses of ICT prior to and during Vet School.
The survey findings demonstrate a cohort with a diverse mix of digital habits. Furthermore the research reveals some of the specific affordances and constraints of the Vet School approach to using ICT to support learning. One unexpected finding was that despite an increase in use of technology overall at University, students made less use overall of standard Microsoft packages in their first year at Vet School than they had in their earlier education. One finding immediately useful at the local level was that learners enjoy using videos in self-study situations and desire access to wider ubiquitous video resources. This finding parallels the rise and expansion of the ‘YouTube’ culture. (Wesch 2008) At the wider level, a picture is building of a cohort socially and academically engaged in the use of IT but with some significant variances amongst preferences and habits. This shows that whilst students are increasingly immersed in a digital world they do not behave in the uniform increasingly IT literate manner assumed by Prensky (2001) Moreover students exhibit a wide variance in ICT skills and habits which will require careful understanding, attention and scaffolding by teaching staff to ensure ongoing development.