Abstract:

The use of technology for educational purposes has gained unprecedented interest over the last decade due to the rapid changes and continuous improvements in technological tools and devices surrounding people everywhere. When higher education arena is concerned, technology offers many promises for learning and teaching. Many attempts have been made to explore creative and productive uses of laptops, tablets, smartphones and other new technologies for university students. This study intends to understand how university students perceive all these new technological changes and their effect on learning and teaching. The study was carried out in a non-profit Turkish university with the participation of 286 students. The survey used in the study was adapted from EDUCAUSE Center for Analysis and Research (ECAR) Study of Undergraduate Students and Information Technology Survey, 2013 with the permission of EDUCAUSE Center for Applied Research, a non-profit organization that supports technology use in higher education by providing different services. The results of this study showed that the students demand more from their instructors and the institution in terms of the effective use of the latest technologies for educational purposes. The study yielded comparative data that would make a contribution to a large-scale research annually conducted by ECAR on several campuses in different countries for almost ten years.

Keywords:

Educational technologies, new technologies in higher education, technology enhanced learning environment in higher education, Turkish context.