Jisc’s 2018 Digital Experience Insights Survey provides a picture of how students are using technology in colleges and universities across the UK. Almost 38,000 further and higher education students studying at 83 different organisations across the nations of the UK were surveyed.
Digital lives of learners
- Seven in ten HE students use digital tools on a weekly basis to look for additional resources not recommended by their lecturer
- Students regularly use digital technologies in their own learning time
- Eight in ten HE students access lecture notes or recorded lectures at least weekly
- Six in ten FE students use digital devices to make notes or recordings at least weekly
- 94% of HE students own a laptop in comparison with 64% of FE students
- Around 10% of FE students rate Google search as their number one app or tool compared with just over 1% of HE students
- HE students, on the other hand, are twice as likely to cite Google Scholar as they are to cite Google on its own
The digital institution
- 74% of FE students and 88% of HE students rate their institution’s digital provision as above the midpoint in the scale
- A third of all students turn first to their fellow students when looking for support with digital devices or skills
- A third of FE students turn first to their lecturers in comparison with only 8% of HE students
- A lack of reliable, robust and ubiquitous wifi is the main complaint FE students raise in their comments
- 53% of FE students agreed that their institution helped them stay safe online in comparison with only 41% of HE students
The digital course
- 72% of students in a FE college and 74% of those in a university rate the quality of digital teaching and learning on their course as above average
- Only 50% of FE and 69% of HE students think digital skills will be important for their chosen career, suggesting that they are not fully aware of the importance of digital skills in the modern workplace
- Only 41% of students in HE and FE agree that their course prepares them for the digital workplace
- Only about a third of students agree that they were told what digital skills they would need before starting their course and about 40% of FE and HE students agree that they had regular opportunities to review and update their digital skills
Student attitudes to digital
- 64% of FE students and 73% of HE students agree that they are more independent in their learning when digital is used
- A further 57% (FE) 67% and (HE) agree that digital approaches help them to fit learning into their life
- Over a third of all students want digital technologies to be used more on their course than they are currently (FE: 32%, HE: 37%)
- 54% of FE and 56% of HE students like a mix of group and individual work. More HE students than FE students prefer to learn on their own (HE 41%, FE 35%). More FE students than HE students prefer to learn in a group (HE 3%; FE 11%).
Jisc will be releasing additional insights and briefings later in 2018 and will be launching. For more information on the Report, visit the Jisc website.