Research + News | Topic: Technology

E-mail Is Useful, But Texting Is Transforming College Campuses

US Colleges Scrambled To React To The Coronavirus Pandemic. Now Their Very Existence Is In Jeopardy

In the span of roughly two weeks, the American higher education system has transformed. Its future is increasingly uncertain. Read the article here.

Is Higher Ed Ready For The Tech Expectations Of The Teens Of 2022?

What will these teens expect of tech based on their current experiences? Read the article here.

Laptops Are Great. But Not During A Lecture Or A Meeting.

Step into any college lecture hall and you are likely to find a sea of students typing away at open, glowing laptops as the professor speaks. Read the article here.

The Case Against Laptops in the Classroom

Some teachers and professors are rethinking allowing laptops and other electronics in the classroom. Read the article here.

Searching the Web in Class is a Bad Idea

A study by Michigan State University scholars, funded by the National Science Foundation, found that “even the smartest college students suffer academically when they use the Internet in class for non-academic purposes.”

From the report:

“All students, regardless of intellectual ability, had lower exam scores the more they used the Internet for non-academic purposes such as reading the news, sending emails and posting Facebook updates…

The study also showed students discounted the effects of Internet use on academic performance, reinforcing past findings that students have poor awareness of how their smartphones and laptops affect learning.”

Read the full report here.

Trends Redefining Information Age

Barna Group report uncovers 3 trends that are redefining the information age.

1. People feel modern life is accelerating and becoming more complex.

2. People want to be culturally informed, but they are becoming accustomed to skimming content.

3. People are moving beyond mere facts and information, and are looking for holistic integration of faith and life.

David Kinnaman, president of Barna Group explains:

“There are two major forces going on here: Every year people have less time and every year they have more content being thrown at them. This is forcing them to develop the habit of skimming in response to information and content. We are becoming a nation of ‘info grazers.’ For content producers—whether publishers, writers, pastors, teachers, journalists, filmmakers and so on—this means the information age is becoming the distraction age. Consumers are easily distracted and overwhelmed by having to sift through the clutter every day. This feature of modern life is exponential with the rise of digitized information.”

Read the full report here.

How Technology is Changing Millennial Faith

Barna Group research explores the unique spiritual and technological trends among Millennials.

From the report:

“This digital world is the playground of Millennials, or those ages 18 to 29 in this current Barna study. Millennials certainly stand apart in their unsurpassed digital savvy. They’re also in a class of their own when it comes to faith experience and practice. Yet what happens when the unique spiritual characteristics and technological trends among Millennials collide?”

Read the full report here.

Tech Nudge: Proding Students Into and Through College

An article by Education Sector at American Institutes for Research explains the many ways that colleges use communication technology to “nudge” students through daily college activities and decisions. From the article:

“By giving students information-driven suggestions that lead to smarter actions, technology nudges are intended to tackle a range of problems surrounding the process by which students begin college and make their way to graduation… New approaches are certainly needed. Just 58 percent of full-time, first-time college students at four-year institutions complete a degree within six years. Among Hispanics, blacks, and students at two-year colleges, the figures are much worse. In all, more than 400,000 students drop out every year. At a time when post­secondary credentials are more important than ever, around 37 million Americans report their highest level of education as ‘some college, no degree.'”

Read the article here.

Download the full article (.pdf) here.

Beloit College Mindset List for the Class of 2017

The annual Beloit College Mindset list for the entering class of 2017 has been released. Now in its 15^th year, it continues to reflect the world view of entering first year students. This year’s entering students in the class of 2017 were born in 1995. From the website:

“When the Class of 2017 arrives on campus this fall, these digital natives will already be well-connected to each other. They are more likely to have borrowed money for college than their Boomer parents were, and while their parents foresee four years of school, the students are pretty sure it will be longer than that. Members of this year’s first year class, most of them born in 1995, will search for the academic majors reported to lead to good-paying jobs, and most of them will take a few courses taught at a distant university by a professor they will never meet…”

Read the full list here.

Watch a video from the authors here.