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Digital decision
Survey shows technology plays large role in students’ choice of uni.
The integration of new and emerging technologies into learning spaces is a key factor influencing prospective students’ choices for higher education. Results from a Accenture survey of 1500 students – made up of those studying and recent graduates – from Australia, India, Singapore, the UK and the US found that an average of 85 per cent of respondents cited digital capabilities as highly important in their decision.
Australian respondents were the least likely to do so( 75 per cent), whilst Indian students put the greatest stock in their future university’ s technical prowess( 98 per cent).
In addition, 70 per cent of all respondents called for greater integration of technology into teaching and learning pedagogy.
“ Like successful government programs and businesses, universities need to rise to the challenge of addressing demands for digital services amongst current and prospective students,” Accenture spokesperson Ryan Oakes said.
The findings come as Australian universities are increasingly designing learning spaces around new technologies. Education Central, a new and innovative building at James Cook University, has this year garnered multiple awards for its success in this area.
In unveiling their new business schools, both UNSW and UTS have also been keen to point towards the integration of technologies as the core element within the overall designs.
Meanwhile, of the nationalities Accenture surveyed, Australian students were the only ones found to report university open days and campus visits as more helpful than online resources when researching their prospective university destination.
The finding follows a similar study released earlier in 2014 that found most students still considered direct personal contact with a university representative more important than information gleaned from its website. ■
Don’ t stop the press – yet
Survey shows younger readers still like news on paper but only when they have the time.
With the bulk of print news circulation in freefall, Charles Sturt University has revealed some mildly heartening research findings for print media companies: many young people apparently still love reading their news the old-fashioned way – on paper.
The study, carried out by researchers at CSU’ s School of Information Studies, was not all good news for print media, however, with the findings revealing that for most, the use of paper-based news was limited and predominantly seen as a leisure activity, not as a means of keeping track of major events.
Research leader Dr Asim Qayyum began the study by conducting in-depth interviews with a sample of 20 of the university’ s regionalbased students to explore general perceptions and attitudes towards print, online news media and other sources used to seek out news.
His team then used specialised software allowing them to record the screen movement, eye tracking and keystrokes of the students as they searched for news and information online.
“ The current generation still talk about getting a nice feeling about holding a newspaper and reading it," Qayyum said. " Although it ' s not for serious news seeking and often the young people see reading the paper as a leisure activity.”
Qayyum said the study also found that young people turned to the printed newspaper for local news as a high-quality reliable source of information about upcoming events, rather than simply a summary of past happenings.
“ Most people said they would prefer to read an editorial opinion in the printed newspaper, a more professional opinion, rather than read an online blog, which they described as being the views of somebody on the street,” he explained.“ In terms of the quality of articles published electronically, in our study people trusted news articles they read online, as long as the website looked professional and ranked high in Google search results.”
Meanwhile, the study also found that young people maintained a strong reluctance to pay for online news content on the basis that it had previously been free. ■
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