Preliminary results of pilot study concerning use of emerging technologies by students within an introductory history course

The preliminary data gathered through self-reported data from the students provide a more diverse image than the one often described in the popular press. The most popular Internet activity was visiting Facebook and Myspace social networking Web sites. Nearly two-thirds of the students had done so before the fall semester. About half the students had composed material on collaborative wiki Web pages. Listening to podcasts was the least frequently accessed service. While more than half of the students have been downloading music from the Internet, less than a third had listened to podcasted shows. Students expressed that they were very confident of their computer skills and ability to create material for the Internet. However, about a third were very concerned about privacy issues on the Internet. Preliminary data analysis suggests that this may adversely limit some students from accessing selected Internet learning tools. During the Fall 2006 semester, the most popular Internet resource was the wiki Web page that contained the students’ self-generated exam study guide. Nearly three-quarters of the students used it and rated it highly effective from their point of view for helping them academically. The podcasts were used by about half the students in the class. This was about double the rate of listening to podcasting when compared with earlier semesters. Their ratings of the podcast were more mixed with nearly an equal number rating it low, medium, and high. An interesting result was that most students just went to the podcast Web site and downloaded the individual episodes for listening. A much smaller number took the additional step of subscribing to the podcast. This replicates reports from other podcasters who noticed that some listeners preferred to download from the Web rather than subscribe. While the average student probably has lots of experience with visiting Web pages, the additional steps for subscribing to podcasts seem to discourage the additional effort