A decade of first-semester students surveys concerning IT equipment and communication applications and effect of Covid-19 related experiences for first-year students in 2021.

Abstract

Nagler, W., Mair, B., Ebner, M., Edelsbrunner, S., & Schön, S. (2022). A decade of first-semester students surveys concerning IT equipment and communication applications and effect of Covid-19 related experiences for first-year students in 2021. In: EdMedia 2022 Proceedings. Preprint: https://doi.org/10.3217/xx2gq-yfn62, https://repository.tugraz.at/records/xx2gq-yfn62 ///// The technical equipment of first-year students and their preferred communication applications are changing, perhaps also influenced by their experiences in the Covid-19 pandemic concerning digital teaching and learning. This paper presents the 2021 survey of first-year students at Graz University of Technology (N=1,207) and compares the results concerning devices and applications with the results of the surveys conducted since 2011. It is striking that there are no striking changes in the endowment of the that can be interpreted as an effect of Covid-19 pandemic. A question introduced in 2021 about experiences with distance online instruction and experiences with online courses before and after Covid-19 shows clearly that new students' prior experiences with online learning here have dramatically changed as a result of school closures in Austria.

Full text

1
WE CARE ABOUT EDUCATION
TU Graz, www.tugraz.at
A DECADE OF FIRST-SEMESTER STUDENTS SURVEYS CONCERNING IT
EQUIPMENT AND COMMUNICATION APPLICATIONS AND EFFECT OF COVID-19
RELATED EXPERIENCES FOR FIRST-YEAR STUDENTS IN 2021
Walther Nagler
Bettina Mair
Martin Ebner
Sarah Edelsbrunner
Sandra Schön
Graz University
of Technology
June 2021, EdMedia Conference 2022

2
WE CARE ABOUT EDUCATION
TU Graz, www.tugraz.at
License
These slides may be used under the terms of the CC
licence CC BY 4.0 International
(https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ ). Please
use the links and references as sources for individual
illustrations, if applicable.
TU Graz

3
WE CARE ABOUT EDUCATION
TU Graz, www.tugraz.at
Full paper Will be published in the EdMedia 2022 Proceedings:
Nagler, W., Mair, B., Ebner, M., Edelsbrunner, S., & Schön, S. (2022).
A decade of first-semester students surveys concerning IT equipment
and communication applications and effect of Covid-19 related
experiences for first-year students in 2021. In: EdMedia 2022
Proceedings.
Preprint available https://doi.org/10.3217/xx2gq-yfn62,
https://repository.tugraz.at/records/xx2gq-yfn62

4
WE CARE ABOUT EDUCATION
TU Graz, www.tugraz.at
Research Topic
•Annual survey among first-year students at Graz University of
Technology
•Change of IT equipment and communication behavior since 2011
•Experiences regarding digital teaching and learning against the
background of the Covid-19 pandemic

5
WE CARE ABOUT EDUCATION
TU Graz, www.tugraz.at
Research Questions
•
How has the digital equipment of first-year students at TU
Graz
changed throughout the last 10 years (2011-2021)?
•
How is the use of digital communication and social
media
applications changing among first-year students at TU Graz?
•
How did the experiences with online learning of first-
year
students change due to the COVID-19 pandemic and
related
school closures?

6
WE CARE ABOUT EDUCATION
TU Graz, www.tugraz.at
Survey and Sample
•Questionnaire with comparable questions since 2011 (9,693 records overall)
•Survey 2021:
Key characteristics of the study beginners 2021
Number of evaluable questionnaires (N)
1,207
Gender (in percent)
female
33.4%
male
58.7%
diverse
0.3%
(not answered)
7.6%
Age
mean
20.098
standard derivation
2.577
minimum
17
median
20
maximum
51

7
WE CARE ABOUT EDUCATION
TU Graz, www.tugraz.at
Basic IT Equipment

8
WE CARE ABOUT EDUCATION
TU Graz, www.tugraz.at
Wearables and other Digital Equipment

9
WE CARE ABOUT EDUCATION
TU Graz, www.tugraz.at
Communication Applications

10
WE CARE ABOUT EDUCATION
TU Graz, www.tugraz.at
Social Media Tools

11
WE CARE ABOUT EDUCATION
TU Graz, www.tugraz.at
Covid-19 Pandemic: Online Learning and
Teaching
agree
171 15.3%
rather agree
508 45.6%
rather disagree
370 33.2%
disagree
66 5.9%
total
1,115 100.0%
“Online classes were a positive experience for me”

12
WE CARE ABOUT EDUCATION
TU Graz, www.tugraz.at
Discussion
•
No significant changes of IT equipment and
communication
behavior due to Covid-19 pandemic
•
Increased experience with technology-based learning and
teaching

13
WE CARE ABOUT EDUCATION
TU Graz, www.tugraz.at
Contact
Dr. Martin Ebner (head of Educational
Technology team and iMooX)
Graz University of Technology
martin.ebner@tugraz.at