Geodesy Students in Slovenia and Information & Communication Technology

The implementation of information and communication technologies (ICT) in university curricula is important for the development of graduates' competences and their preparation for the labour market. ICT use encourages the development of collaboration, creativity, leadership, and other generic and subject-specific competences. In this paper, the results of a survey among Slovene geodesy students conducted in 2009 are presented. The survey focuses on the modes in which students use ICT in learning and on their views of the impact that ICT use has on their studies. The results cover (1) ICT literacy and competences for learning with ICT, (2) actual ICT use in learning and other activities, (3) preferences for ICT use in learning, and (4) assessment of the impact ICT use has on university studies. The results are significant for higher education policy planners, curriculum designers and for ICT infrastructure-related managerial and administrative decision making in higher education institutions; they are also an important source of information for teachers who want to modify their teaching methods. The results of similar surveys in the UK, Germany, the US and Australia are also presented. Findings of the survey among Slovene geodesy students show that they rank their general ICT literacy higher than their competences for learning with ICT. They believe that ICT literacy and competences for learning with ICT should be further developed. Results show that preferences for ICT use are higher than actual ICT use. The impact assessment of ICT use in the study shows that orientation to ``digital'' approaches to learning and the actual use of such approaches are ranked higher than those in which ICT is used for assisting traditional study approaches