Students Using Technology

Locations

And what do you usually do on your commute?

While I’m on. . riding on the train?

It’s an internet phone, but I don’t have internet . . .

It’s a hour and a half. I live in the Bronx so I come all the way from the Bronx over here. I’m all the way up on 228. . . so it’s, like, a complete trip. [laughs] A complete trip.

Yes. On the train or the bus.

My homework. Because I have long days. So, I do my readings, my . . . Sometimes I type papers on my cellphone.

Students Using Technology

Maura A. Smale, Associate Professor, Library, NYC College of Technology

Mariana Regalado, Associate Professor, Library, Brooklyn College

!!!

CUNY IT Conference, December 5, 2013

Undergraduate Scholarly Habits Ethnography Project

Student Tech by the Numbers

Distractions

We wanted to know:

Where are students doing their academic work?

Why do they choose those places? How do they make them work?

What tools do they use or need?

Methods:

30 student interviews @ each campus

• Photo Surveys: 10 students photograph 20 objects, locations, or situations related to scholarly habits
• Mapping Diaries: 10 students record, map, and sketch their activities over a typical school day
• Retrospective Research Process Interviews: 10 students describe and sketch the process of completing a research assignment

10 semi-structured interviews with faculty at each campus

What did we learn

from students?

Frustrations

CUNY undergraduate tech use

(CUNY Office of Institutional Research, 2010, 2012)

U.S. undergraduate tech use (2010 data)

(Pew Internet & American Life Project, 2011)

I would prefer to study on campus because I find that I’m much more productive on campus. The main reason is because the campus doesn’t have a refrigerator.

It says it’s a ‘Learning Resource Center’ but in actuality it’s a ‘Hang Out With Your Friends and Look at Your Cousin’s Wedding Pictures Center’.

. . ‘on Facebook.’

The Student Experience

Student Study Locations

It’s just the general demeanor of it. Like it’s not a very academic place. Which is ironic, because it’s a library.

On campus:

• In hallways
• In stairwells
• In lounges
• In empty classrooms
• In the cafeteria
• In computer labs
• At their (campus-based) job
• On quads / other outdoor locations

In the college library:

• Open tables
• Carrels
• Secluded
• Near service desks

At home:

• The bathroom
• On a bed (own / someone else’s)
• At a desk
• At the kitchen table
• On the sofa
• On the floor

On the commute:

• On the train, subway, bus or ferry
• Standing / sitting

Off campus:

• In parks
• At a bookstore (with wifi)
• At the public library

Yeah, the carrel desk. ‘Cause I have, like, some privacy which is, uh, a thing lacking at…So, I have some kinda privacy when I study in those types of things.

The Take-Away

Processes

When I go home, I get distracted easily. My mom's there, watching TV, or the computer is always there. Here, it's very quiet, you can't talk, I can concentrate a lot better, and I'm actually doing a lot better now in school than last semester.

I got home, started on my laptop and started up some torrents for some PDF books that I needed, 'cause yeah, as much as this library is well equipped with computers and stuff it's fairly limited in what you can do with them. Like, certain things it's just more comfortable to do at home.

Academic Technology

Essential Technology

Just plug the PDF to research and read it really fast. And I make notes. . . make annotations on it. And then I just export that out.

The Blackberry keeps me organized.

. . it’s like basically a handheld organization device.

[I bring my laptop] mmmm . . . maybe once a week. Because it’s heavy. Plus my books. It’s heavy. It kills my back. Because I’m in school from 11:00 until 8:30.

I like being independent and mobile, but honestly I can't live without my glasses.