Student Experiences with Information Technology and their Relationship to Other Aspects of Student Engagement Thomas F. Nelson Laird and George D. Kuh Indiana University Center for Postsecondary Research

Purpose Expand our understanding of the relationships between student uses of information technology and several indicators of student engagement in educationally effective practices

Data Source  National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE)  2003 administration  Annual survey of college students at four-year institutions that measures students’ participation in educational experiences that prior research has connected to valued outcomes  In 2003, NSSE tested items on information technology with those students who took the survey online

Sample  60% female  56% are first-year students  16% transfer students  72% live on campus  94% are full-time students  74% are white  5% African American  6% Asian  4% Hispanic  1% Native American  11% other racial/ethnic background  Male  White or Asian American  Younger  Full-time Over 60,000 students from over 420 four-year institutions  Living on campus  Students with higher parental education  Transfer students  Engaged Compared to paper completers, web completers are more likely to be…

Measures  Information Technology Items  5 Engagement Scales  Academic challenge (  = 0.71)  Active & collaborative learning (  = 0.63)  Student-faculty interaction (  = 0.76)  Enriching educational experiences (  = 0.56)  Supportive campus environment (  = 0.76)  Items from question 1 on the core survey

Information Technology Items  How often do your instructors require you to use information technology (WWW, internet, computer conferencing, online testing, multimedia, etc.), other than word processing, to complete course assignments?  Used computer and information technology when making class presentations?  Communicated with classmates online to complete academic work?  Worked in teams during class using information technology?  Worked in teams outside of class using information technology to complete course assignments?  Used to ask an instructor to clarify an assignment?

Information Technology Items  Expressed ideas to a professor via that you did not feel comfortable saying in class?  Used your institution’s library website to obtain resources for your academic work?  Used another library (local library, another institution’s library) website to obtain resources for your academic work?  Used the WWW to obtain resources for your academic work?  Made judgments about the quality of information you find on the WWW for use in your academic work?  How often do your instructors use information technology in the classroom?

Analyses  Track 1  Descriptive comparisons at the item-level  Construction of an engagement with IT scale  Partial correlations between IT scale and 5 engagement scales  Track 2  Factor analysis with IT and core survey items

Descriptive Results

Descriptive Results (cont.)  Technology and higher order thinking  Of those students who frequently communicated with classmates online, 84% said courses regularly emphasized applying theories or concepts (compared to 70%)  Instructors use/assignment of IT and group work  Of those students who report that their faculty frequently use information technology in class, 59% indicate that they frequently work in groups outside of class (compared to 41%)

Information Technology Scale

Partial Correlations

Factor Analysis with Technology and Core Survey Items  In both analyses, four factor solution preferred  Factors:  F1: Student-faculty interaction  F2: Collaborative learning  F3: Diverse interactions  F4: Academic Effort  Same factors as in analyses done in past years

Factor Analysis with Technology and Core Survey Items

Implications  Engaging IT for academic purposes is effective educational practice  Measurement question: Do student uses of IT constitute a separate form of engagement, an avenue to existing forms of engagement, or both?  Measurement challenge: Can measures of student engagement be improved by tapping student uses of information technology?

For More Information   NSSE website: Copies of the paper and presentation as well as other papers and presentations are available through the website