ECAR National Study of Undergraduates and Information Technology, 2011

The EDUCAUSE Center for Analysis and Research (ECAR) has experienced a groundbreaking year in 2011, with an aggressive research agenda implementing two versions of its annual National Study of Undergraduates and Information Technology. The initial version was conducted in the traditional ECAR style of collecting data at individual institutions. ECAR provided more than 130 participating institutions with aggregate summary data about their students’ responses compared to the responses of all other participating institutions.

The published report was based on the second version, which used a nationally representative sample to ensure that results are applicable across all undergraduate populations, from community colleges to research universities, from full-time to part-time, from urban to rural. This method allowed us to speak confidently about students’ technology perceptions on a national basis, and we found some interesting results. Did you know that only 8% of undergraduates own iPads? That 37% of undergrads use smartphones for academics? Or that about 20% of undergrads strongly agree that instructors use technology effectively? Join us on this session of EDUCAUSE Live! to learn more about the 2011 ECAR study results and our plans for the forthcoming 2012 study.