Volume index - Journal index - Article index - Map ---- Back

Comunicar Journal 34: Musics and screens (Vol. 17 - 2010)

Digital tribes in the university classrooms

https://doi.org/10.3916/C34-2010-03-17

Alfonso Gutiérrez-Martín

Andrés Palacios-Picos

Luis Torrego-Egido

Abstract

The discourse stating that the profound changes in ICT of the last decade have also radically altered the way our students learn, and that they can all now be considered digital natives, is increasingly prevalent. However, this paper argues that these changes are not as immediate, automatic or beneficial as the dominant political and technological discourse on the benefits of ICT would have us believe, and that they give rise to many different situations that characterize university teaching and learning practice. Using the ratings of three Likert questionnaires on information processing and communication in three different environments (Moodle, Tuenti and the classroom itself), and applying multivariate techniques (factor analysis and cluster analysis), we have found four clusters: pro-ICT students, anti-ICT students, listless student and neutral student. The presence of such segments of students allows us to conclude that, although computers are nowadays taken for granted in Higher Education classrooms, we are perhaps overestimating both the real impact of ICT on teaching and students’ digital competencies, and that this false perception of reality benefits technology vendors but not methodological and pedagogic innovation, which can only be achieved through the necessary reflection on education matters from educational principles.

Keywords

Higher education, digital literacy, teaching methodologies, cluster analysis, e-learning, social networks

PDF file in Spanish

References

Aydan, H. (2009). A study on the attitudes of the faculty of communication students towards computer usage. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, (1), 1; 2658-2665.

Bigum, Ch. (2004). Sensibilidades de diseño, las escuelas y las tecnologías de la computación y la comunicación, en Snyder, I. (Comp.). Alfabetismos digitales. Comunicación, Innovación y Educación en la Era de la Información. Málaga: Aljibe; 193-208.

Castells, M. (1996). The Rise of The Network Society: The Information Age: Economy, Society and Culture, Volume I. Cambridge, MA, Oxford, UK: Blackwell.

Friedman, T.L. (2007). The World Is Flat, 3.0. A World History of the Twenty First Century. Picador USA.

García, J.J. (2008). E-Learning en la empresa: ¿hay sitio para el aprendizaje informal? Quaderns Digitals, (http://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/articulo?codigo=2566005&orden=152941&info=link) (17-06-09).

Hernández, R., Fernández, C. & Baptista, L. (1998). Metodología de La Investigación. México: McGraw Hill.

Knezek, G., Christensen, R., Miyashita, K. & Ropp, M. (2000). Instrumentos para evaluar los avances en la integración de la tecnología que presenta el educador. Institute for the Integration of Technology into Teaching and Learning. University of North Texas. Dentos, Texas, USA.

Mcilroy, D; Sadler, C. & Boojawon, N. (2007). Computer phobia and computer self-efficacy: their association with undergraduates' use of university computer facilities. Computer in Human Behavior (23); 3 1285-1299.

Moral, F. (2009). Internet como marco de comunicación e interacción social. Comunicar. Revista Científica de Educomunicación, (32); 5; 231-237.

Moravec, J.W. (2008). A new paradigm of knowledge production in higher education. On the Horizon. (16), 3, 123-136. (www.emeraldinsight.com/Insight/viewContentItem.do;jsessionid=8F78F6A3D508A1F258CF3D1DD14F05BC?contentType=Article&contentId=1740566) (17-VI-2009)

Negroponte, N. (1996). Being Digital. New York. First Vintage Book Editions.

Noyes, J. & Garland, K. (2006). Explaining students’ attitudes toward books and computers. Computers in Human Behavior, (22); 351-363.

Pérez, M. (2008). Campus virtuales en universidades presenciales: ¿sueñan los estudiantes con profesores eléctricos? Revista Latinoamericana de Tecnología Educativa, 7 (1); 85-95. (http://campusvirtual.unex.es/cala/editio) (17-VI-09).

Pittinsky, M.S. (Comp.) (2006). La Universidad conectada. Perspectivas del impacto de Internet en la educación superior. Málaga: Aljibe.

Prensky, M. (2001). Digital natives, digital immigrants. On the Horizon (NCB University Press), (9); 5.1-6

Schaffert, S. & Hilzensauer, W. (2008). On the way towards Personal Learning Environments: Seven crucial aspects. eLearning Papers. (www.elearningpapers.eu) (17-VI-2009).

Schulenberg, S. & Melton, A. (2008). The Computer Aversion, Attitudes, and Familiarity Index (CAAFI): A validity study. Computers in Human Behavior, (24), 6; 2620-2638.

Vekiri, I. y Chronaki, A. (2008). Gender issues in technology use: Perceived social support, computer self-efficacy and value beliefs, and computer use beyond school. Computers & Education, (51), 3; 1392-1404.