The study lead by Judith Correson Caruso (2004) was started as a result of a two part publication by Marc Prensky (2001a, 2001b) where he coined the terms "Digital Native" and "Digital Immigrant" to describe students' use of technology.

Methodology

• Literature review
• Review of the 2003 study
• Quantitative portion of the study included 9350 freshmen and 9050 seniors with 4373 respondents over 13 higher education institutions
• Qualitative portion had 132 students in focus groups over six institutions

Findings

• Technology ownership
• 93.4% of respondents own a computer
• 70.7% and 57.1% of seniors and freshmen respectively owned a desktop
• 38.5% and 52.7% of seniors and freshmen respectively owned a laptop
• 11.9% overall owned PDAs
• Internet access
• 82.2% of on campus freshmen had Internet access through their university
• 56.4% of seniors used a commercial Internet service provider
• Students' satisfaction with Internet service was based partially on the institutions IT environment
• Students are often frustrated with crowded computer labs
• Patterns of technology use
• The applications students use on their electronic devices are primarily for educational purposes, secondarily for communication, and lastly for presentation
• Students often used computers for writing documents, sending e-mail, and surfing the Internet simultaneously.
• Hours of technology use
• Academic computer use has a strong relationship to students' academic major and class status.
• Level of skill
• Students gave themselves high ratings with regards to the skill they had attained with respect to applications for communication, word processing, and the Internet.
• Seniors ranked themselves higher with regards to tools such as Powerpoint and spreadsheets.
• Qualitative and quantitative responses differed with regards to the skills students attained. Quantitative results showed students had all the skills they need whereas qualitative results showed students only had enough minimal skills to accomplish specific tasks, with no problem-solving skills or in-depth application knowledge.
• Information technology in the classroom
• Students made a note of preference for technology in the classroom
• Previous positive experiences with technology had a major impact on the preference for classroom technology
• GPA did not have a significant impact on technology preferences
• Impact of technology in the classroom
• The activity with the highest impact was "helped me to better communicate with the instructor".
• Benefits of the use of technology in the classroom
• Students identified convenience as one of the primary benefits of using IT in class.
• Good use of technology helped students learn
• Barriers to the use of information technology in the classroom
• 16.7% of students reported using IT in the classroom felt like extra work
• 14.1% of students reporting having trouble running applications on their computer
• 13.4% of students had limited access to a printer
• 9.7% of students had a lack of technical support
• Course management systems
• Use of technology was most often defined as using a course management system
• Students who had a stronger preference for technology in the classroom had a lower preference for using a course management system
• There was a positive correlation between a higher percentage of students using a course management system with a higher positive assessment of the content management system at that institution.
• Course management system features used
• Students Perceived benefits of using a CMS

Future trends

• Information technology use in the classroom is primarily for convenience rather than for improving learning
• Six trends are likely to lead the way for improved information technology adoption for instruction:
• Data mining
• Increased student and instructor information literacy to pair with academic standards
• Improvement of information technology quality and usability
• Proliferation of scholarly information
• Integration of new technologies, potentially including virtual reality, simulation, video games, or modeling
• Improved planning and creation of work plans for implementations of technology in learning

Conclusion

• Technology is primarily being used for convenience, communication, and management
• Results are only a snapshot
• Students have a working understanding of technology, but need more in-depth improvements

Caruso, J. B. (2004 September). ECAR study of students and information technology, 2004 Convenience, connection, and control. Educause Center for Applied Research. Retrieved on September 5, 2006, from http://www.usit.uio.no/it/suit/stud2004-rapport/ecar.pdf

Prensky, M. (2001, October). Digital natives, digital immigrants. On the Horizon 9(5). Retrieved November 25, 2005, from the Marc Prensky Web site: http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/Prensky%20-%20Digital%20Natives,%20Digital%20Immigrants%20-%20Part1.pdf

Prensky, M. (2001, December). Do they really think differently? On the Horizon 9(6). Retrieved November 25, 2005, from the Marc Presnsky Web site: http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/Prensky%20-%20Digital%20Natives,%20Digital%20Immigrants%20-%20Part2.pdf