Monthly Archives: February 2007

Learning Technology Satisfaction & Trends

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A new report out from IMS called Learning Technology Satisfaction & Trends presents data from a survey of US higher education institutions. According to the report, “31% of the respondents were executive administrators. 7% were deans or academic program or department leaders. 50% were information technology or instructional support staff. 11% were faculty.”

Several interesting things in this report:

  • First, the two top-rated sources of digital content, including all commercial and other sources, were Google Search and Wikipedia. MIT OCW places fourth. McGraw Hill and all the other proprietary content publishers are “clustered in another tier below the leaders” in terms of user satisfaction (p. 40).
  • As a content management platform, Wikipedia beats out WebCT, Blackboard, and DSpace by an average of almost a full point (on a five point scale). “The strong usage and showing of Wikis indicates that the Web 2.0 phenomenon – use of more collaboration and
    collaborative authoring – is blazing a path in higher education” (p. 38).
  • On the course management side, Moodle beats out WebCT and Blackboard by a full half point with a third place finish. Apparently eCollege and Angel users are extremely loyal. Sakai isn’t even on the map.
  • From the Top Findings section (p. 8): “Google Search, Apple iPod, and Wikipedia placed in the top ten list for satisfaction, indicating that non-education specific technologies are being perceived, by those ithat incorporate them, as adding value to the educational experience.” That is, their satisfaction scores were so high as to be in the top ten of all products reviewed across all categories.

Overall an interesting skim…

Learning Technology Satisfaction & Trends

Posted on by

A new report out from IMS called Learning Technology Satisfaction & Trends presents data from a survey of US higher education institutions. According to the report, “31% of the respondents were executive administrators. 7% were deans or academic program or department leaders. 50% were information technology or instructional support staff. 11% were faculty.”

Several interesting things in this report:

  • First, the two top-rated sources of digital content, including all commercial and other sources, were Google Search and Wikipedia. MIT OCW places fourth. McGraw Hill and all the other proprietary content publishers are “clustered in another tier below the leaders” in terms of user satisfaction (p. 40).
  • As a content management platform, Wikipedia beats out WebCT, Blackboard, and DSpace by an average of almost a full point (on a five point scale). “The strong usage and showing of Wikis indicates that the Web 2.0 phenomenon – use of more collaboration and
    collaborative authoring – is blazing a path in higher education” (p. 38).
  • On the course management side, Moodle beats out WebCT and Blackboard by a full half point with a third place finish. Apparently eCollege and Angel users are extremely loyal. Sakai isn’t even on the map.
  • From the Top Findings section (p. 8): “Google Search, Apple iPod, and Wikipedia placed in the top ten list for satisfaction, indicating that non-education specific technologies are being perceived, by those ithat incorporate them, as adding value to the educational experience.” That is, their satisfaction scores were so high as to be in the top ten of all products reviewed across all categories.

Overall an interesting skim…

The Microlibrary

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Our Microlibrary project got a nice write-up in the Salt Lake Tribune today. Obviously there are other projects using similar technology, but I love our focus on elementary school-age kids. Our “Bound to Read” program takes the Microlibrary out to rural schools to teach kids about the history of writing and printing, to teach them how books are made and bound, and gives each child a book of their choosing. We’ve given away over 100 books since October, and have a goal to give away 5000 books to 4th and 5th graders in rural schools in Northern Utah next year.

If you have some extra money you’re wondering what to do with, please consider making a donation to help fund the cost of paper and toner! =) If you’d like help starting a Bound to Read program in your area, leave a note in the comments and I’ll get back to you.