The FINANCIAL — NEW YORK, NY — The vast majority of today’s college students agree that tablets will transform the way college students learn in the future (81 percent)and will encourage students to buy digital textbooks instead of print (82 percent), according to a new study conducted by Harris Poll. A large majority (74 percent) said that tablets make learning more fun.
The survey was conducted online by Harris Poll on behalf of Pearson between February 13 and March 12, 2014. The respondents were 1,228 U.S. college students, ranging between the ages of 18 and 30, who were enrolled at a 2-year college, 4-year college, university, or graduate school. The survey results were weighted to be representative of the U.S. college student population. The Pearson college student survey is part of a larger study that also included U.S. 4th through 12th graders.
Though tablets are very popular among college students, fewer than half regularly use a tablet (45 percent), and only about one in 10 students (11 percent) regularly use a “hybrid.” The vast majority (89 percent) of today’s college students use a laptop on a regular basis, and 83 percent use a smartphone regularly.
“After four years of conducting this study, we have learned valuable lessons from students on how they use, and want to use, technology for learning,” said Seth Reichlin, Senior Vice President of Market Research for Pearson Higher Education. “College students have high expectations for tablets to transform learning, but our findings show that laptops are still the most commonly used device for school work,” Reichlin added.
Other findings from the 2014 Student Mobile Device Survey include:
A majority of college students use a single mobile device during a typical school day (54 percent)
Only one in 10 students (nine percent) uses three or more devices during a typical school day
Laptops and smartphones are the mobile devices college students are most likely to use every week when doing school work (89 percent and 56 percent, respectively)
One in three students (33 percent) use a tablet for school work on a weekly basis
Nearly all college students have wireless Internet access at home (96 percent) or at school (91 percent)
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