Information Resources and Technology held a presentation on Wednesday to go over the findings of its technology and academic success survey.
The 2016 Educause Student Technology Survey was conducted by IRT in the spring semester in order to discover what types of technology help students succeed.
Jen Schwedler, director of the IRT Technology Learning Center, discussed the results of the survey and showed attendees how to use academic tools.
“I think the point in sharing the results was that we value student input on what their IT needs are,” Schwedler said. “We want students to give us input so we can make decisions about what we could do to better support their needs and the faculty who are teaching these tools.”
One major result of the survey was that students would like their professors to make more use of technology. 80 percent “wished instructors used SacCT more” and 78.1 percent said that they would like more Lecture Capture in their courses.
Lecture Capture is a tool that allows faculty to record their class section and stream it live or post it for future use. Classrooms that are equipped with a high-powered camera and microphones in the ceiling are able to record the class.
For now, Schwedler said that Lecture Capture is only available in some classrooms in the Library, AIRC, Del Norte and Douglass Hall.
Angelica Rodriguez, a senior and communication studies major, was notified of the event through her student email and decided to attend to get participation points for a class.
Rodriguez said that she found the presentation informative and agreed that more professors should use SacCT Blackboard to upload grades, post Lecture Captures and remind students of upcoming assignments.
“If I had to leave early for one of my classes, I’d have to ask a friend in the class or send an email to the teacher, ‘Can you let me know what the homework is?’ kind of thing,” Rodriguez said. “It would be helpful if I could just look online and not bug anyone.”
Based on the feedback from students, Schwedler said IRT can conclude that consistency is needed in the use of SacCT Blackboard and that Lecture Capture is something they should expand on.
“It looks like Lecture Capture was something that would be really popular with students,” Schwedler said. “So, by knowing what our students need to help enhance their education with IT can help us make decisions on how to strategize around what to purchase and how to do our training to support faculty.”
