Group Admins
Description
The development of digital media and educational technology is a dynamic field in higher education. Accessibility of technology is one thing and how well access is given full play for academic purposes is another, which can be identified as a rhetoric-reality mismatch. Moreover, the increased diversity of student profiles is challenging. According to Moore & Kearsley (2011), educational challenges are evidenced in university curricula, delivery modes and student support systems. Establishing e-learning and distance learning has been seen as one possible solution towards serving the diverse needs of students.
The longitudinal analysis presented here was carried out to investigate changes in students’ media usage patterns. In general, a decrease in the frequency of use of all (digital) media, tools and services from 2012 until 2015 was found. These findings correspond to the current Digitalisation Index in Germany (Initiative D21, 2016), which shows that die index value of people with higher education decreased from 2015 to 2016: People with a higher education are evidently more critical of new developments in digitalisation, they “do not want to be at the forefront of all technology trends” (ibid., p. 27, own translation) and are increasingly wanting to be offline (ibid.).
During the session, participants will gain an understanding of the student body in the German higher education system and of their media usage patterns. Furthermore, an overview of the demand for and supply of digital teaching and learning formats will be provided. These results can be a starting point for institutions to rethink their knowledge on students’ needs and skills, and they show basic developments that may be transferred to other countries’ higher education systems.
References
Initiative D21 (2016). 2016 D21-Digital-Index – Jährliches Lagebild zur Digitalen Gesellschaft. Berlin: Initiative D21. Retrieved from http://www.initiatived21.de/wp-content/uploads/2016/ 11/Studie-D21-Digital-Index-2016.pdf
Moore, M. G., & Kearsley, G. (2011). Distance education: A systems view of online learning. Boston, MA: Cengage Learning
Morrison, G. R., Ross, S. M., Kalman, H. K., & Kemp, J. E. (2011). Designing effective instruction. (6th ed.), Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
