Director of Education Technology Services Cole Camplese has released some preliminary data from a 2009 survey of students and technology called FACAC. Here is a breakdown of some of the more interesting statistics from the survey.

• The top student technology services that students utilize are ANGEL, eLion, the Penn State Portal and the VPN system.
  • Other services that haven’t had much traction in past years have started to catch on. ePortfolio represented 16% of student utilization, Blogs received 10%, Podcasting made 7%, the Digital Commons reached 6% and the Gaming Commons registered in at 2%.
• The survey revealed that ITS is behind the curve in serving up services to mobile internet devices like iPhones, Blackberries, Netbooks, etc.
• 82% of students surveyed said they use Facebook.
  • In that 82%, 68% use the service to upload and share photos.
• 16% of students surveyed reported using Twitter.
• 16% use YouTube to share videos.
• 83% report owning a laptop.
  • 80% of laptop owners report that they use the computers to access Facebook and Twitter.
  • 53% say they play games on laptops.
  • 24% edit video on their laptops.
  • 23% take notes in class on their laptops.
  • 14% blog via laptop.
• 63% own a digital camera that isn’t a cell phone.

Most of these statistics show what most of us already realize: students are using more and more technology in conjunction with their education. It’s also nice to see that blogging, podcasting, and video editing are being utilized inside the classroom.

Given the rising presence of technology in the classroom, I can’t even imagine the impact it’ll have 10 years after I graduate. I can see a scenario where a student can play a game projected privately in one eye and pay attention to the robot lecturer with the other.

I wouldn’t be surprised if, during our lifetime, even the Nittany Lion will be a robot.

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