The Study

A survey was recently administered to study how today's college students are using and composing with technology. This 10-question survey was taken by students enrolled in a first-year composition course at a regional state university. These questions provide information on demographics (questions #1-7), technology skills (#8), and uses of technology (#9-10) to determine what technologies students are consuming and composing themselves with today. The following list provides a breakdown of items in questions #9 and #10 on student uses of technology:

Items Gauging Student Consumption of Different Technologies Items Gauging Student Composing Themselves with Different Technologies
I read email I send instant messages

I play games online

 I send email

I read online discussions or bulletin boards

I participate in chat rooms
I read group websites or wikis, such as MySpace.com, facebook.com or wikipedia.org

I participate in online discussions or bulletin boards

I read personal journals or web logs ("blogs") on the Internet, such as on blogger.com

I contribute to group websites or wikis, such as MySpace.com, facebook.com or wikipedia.org

I listen to sound/audio files on the Internet

I maintain a personal journal or web log ("blog") on the Internet, such as on blogger.com

I view image files/video clips on the Internet

I create Word or other word processing documents
I use the Internet for research, news, and other informational purposes

I include links to web pages/sites in my Word documents

I use the Internet to shop or make purchases

I include sound/audio files in my Word documents

I view PowerPoint presentations on the Internet

 I include image/video files in my Word documents

I view the personal web pages/sites of other people on the Internet

 I publish my Word documents on the Internet

 

 I create PowerPoint presentations
  I include links to web pages/sites in my PowerPoint presentations
  I include sound/audio files in my PowerPoint presentations
  I include image/video files in my PowerPoint presentations
  I publish my PowerPoint presentations on the Internet
 

I create and publish my own web pages/sites
  I include links to other web pages/sites in my own web pages/sites
  I include sound/audio files in my web pages/sites
 

I include image/video files in my web pages/sites

Up The Hypotheses The Study The Results The Conclusions

Credit: Tulley, Christine. Student Survey. English 305: E-Rhetoric and Writing. The University of Findlay. Findlay, OH. 2005. http://www.findlay.edu/academics/colleges/cola/academicprograms/undergraduate/ENGL/programinfo/courseinformation.htm.