Social media and technology survey

The following is a small sample survey with data from August 2024. Although the sample size is small at 19 respondents, the patterns are perhaps the only insight available at present into where the students are in social media and the technologies that they are using. The data is a part of a larger set of responses going back to August 2023. For context, some of the charts pull from the larger sample. 

Social media

August 2024 data

For the August 2024 responses, Facebook remains the social media platform on which students spend the most time. TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube are in a three way tie for second place.

August 2023 to August 2024 data

By way of context, the larger data going back a year supports the ongoing popularity of Facebook. Instagram is in second place, followed by Instagram and then TikTok. The August 2024 data is well aligned with the data since August 2023. Facebook remains a viable place in which to reach out to students and to communicate with them.

August 2024 data

First check in the morning is dominated by social media sites and messaging apps. Canvas and email are not first check sites. This has implications for communicating information such as a class that has unexpectedly cancelled due to instructor illness or other short notice messages such as a campus emergency shut down.

Technology

August 2024 data

Students still heavily rely on college computers and college computer labs to access the Internet.

August 2023 to August 2024 data

Although a third of the respondents in August 2024 depend on the college for Internet access, the data going back to August 2023 suggests that almost three-quarters of the students have home Internet access. One factor may be that home access may be bandwidth limited. Some online materials may consume more bandwidth than is available in the home. I recall students who were on home ADSL in 2021 and 2022 being unable to play Cengage videos in their CA 100 course. Large PDF files, often favored by faculty, can also be problematic on home connections. Thus students might have home Internet access and yet depend on the broader pipes of the college campus to get their work done.

August 2024 data

A look at what form of home access students have indicates that the majority of students have ADSL or fiber optic connections. 5.6% reported having Starlink or Kacifica access. There are 11% who do not have home access. Given that this survey was online there is the possibility of bias wherein the number without home access is underreported. 

August 2024 data

Legend for the above chart:
  • Dell or other Microsoft Windows laptop
  • Desktop computer in a college library, residence hall, or computer laboratory
  • Android cell phone (Samsung, Motorola, Xiaomi, other non-Apple device)
  • Apple MacBook laptop
  • Apple iPhone
  • Desktop computer off campus
  • Apple iPad tablet
  • Android tablet (Samsung, Motorola, Xiaomi, other non-Apple device)
Roughly 37% of the students are using desktop computers to complete assignments, with another 37% using a laptop computer. About a quarter of the students are using mobile devices to complete assignments. Logic dictates that faculty should be targeting the most limiting platform, even though only a quarter of the students depend on mobile technology to do assignments. If the assignment can be completed by that 25% of the students, then the students on laptops and desktops can also complete the assignment. 

August 2023 to August 2024 data

The data over the past year indicates that students continue to have both laptops and mobile devices. Of note is that 16% of the students report using a desktop off campus, but only 5.4% own a desktop computer. This is likely indicative of their use of a desktop computer owned by someone else in the family, or the use of a desktop computer in a workplace.

August 2023 to August 2024 data

When asked more broadly to list all of the technologies used to complete assignments, the use of mobile technologies to complete assignments climbs to 50.9%. While students most often may use laptop and desktop computers, they are also choosing to use mobile devices to complete assignments.

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