2008 Woodie Awards
Internet a tool for students' study habits
Beth Kramer
Issue date: 9/27/07 Section: News
A recent survey shows that students use the Internet for more than just Youtube and Facebook. The survey, released over the summer, found that college students use the Internet as a study tool, not a study distraction.
Houghton Mifflin, a textbook publishing company, commissioned the survey, which aimed to discover if college students were using the Internet when they studied.
Houghton Mifflin hired independent researcher Marta Loeb to conduct the survey to prevent any bias. Data from NMU aligns with their findings.
"We wanted to understand how today's 'wired' student generation uses online learning tools," said Katie Rose, vice president of marketing for Houghton Mifflin..
A total of 896 students were surveyed nationwide. Fifty-nine percent said they use online study tools to compliment their studying habits. Online quizzes were the most popular study aid, according to the survey, with 78 percent of students using them.
The survey also found that students use online course outlines to help them with classes.
Loeb found that while students use the Internet as a study aid, the Web is not replacing textbooks as a study source.
Traditionalism holds firm at the Olson Library as well. Over 42,000 books were checked out of NMU's library last year. Yet only 3,245 accesses to the Net library e-book collection were made, said Kevin McDonough, electronic services librarian.
Though the Internet is far from replacing hard copies of books, it still remains woven into NMU's educational process.
There are currently 787 classes at NMU using WebCT, said Kathy Saville, instructional technologist.
Economics Professor Tawni Ferrarini is one of 285 NMU professors who take advantage of the online learning resource.
Ferrarini said that she finds online quizzes a useful teaching tool, as they ensure that students are keeping up with the reading prior to class. She said that the WebCT learning tools give her students a richer learning experience and make her job easier.
Houghton Mifflin, a textbook publishing company, commissioned the survey, which aimed to discover if college students were using the Internet when they studied.
Houghton Mifflin hired independent researcher Marta Loeb to conduct the survey to prevent any bias. Data from NMU aligns with their findings.
"We wanted to understand how today's 'wired' student generation uses online learning tools," said Katie Rose, vice president of marketing for Houghton Mifflin..
A total of 896 students were surveyed nationwide. Fifty-nine percent said they use online study tools to compliment their studying habits. Online quizzes were the most popular study aid, according to the survey, with 78 percent of students using them.
The survey also found that students use online course outlines to help them with classes.
Loeb found that while students use the Internet as a study aid, the Web is not replacing textbooks as a study source.
Traditionalism holds firm at the Olson Library as well. Over 42,000 books were checked out of NMU's library last year. Yet only 3,245 accesses to the Net library e-book collection were made, said Kevin McDonough, electronic services librarian.
Though the Internet is far from replacing hard copies of books, it still remains woven into NMU's educational process.
There are currently 787 classes at NMU using WebCT, said Kathy Saville, instructional technologist.
Economics Professor Tawni Ferrarini is one of 285 NMU professors who take advantage of the online learning resource.
Ferrarini said that she finds online quizzes a useful teaching tool, as they ensure that students are keeping up with the reading prior to class. She said that the WebCT learning tools give her students a richer learning experience and make her job easier.
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
Hmm
posted 9/01/08 @ 2:51 AM EST
Beth, I don\'t know about you but I regularly use the internet for both for academic work and for slacking off. What kind of survey *IS* this?
My guess is that people are just BSing on the quiz answers and lying about their study habits. (Continued…)
Post a Comment