In addition to the technology questions we’ve been asking UVic Law students over the past nine years, we decided for the second year in a row to ask some extra questions about the mobile technology that students are arriving at Law School equipped with. This survey was completed by 139 incoming and transferring law students, which is a strong 90% plus response rate.
Executive Summary:
84% of incoming law students own “Smart Phones” that can browse the internet (up dramatically from 50% last year), with 42% of the total being iPhones, 13% Android and 27% Blackberry’s.
19% of students own tablet devices or ebook readers.
98% of students own laptops, and 16% own both a laptop and a desktop computer.
50% of student laptops are Mac’s, up from 44% last year.
The average laptop price stayed basically the same as last year at $1,186, which is down from $1400 in 2007, and from $2,100 in 2004.
The students’ average typing speed was was 60 wpm.
72% of all students bring their laptops to school almost every day.
55% of students use Gmail as their primary email account (up from 49% last year), 9% use UVic email and 22% Hotmail.
60% of students identified MS Word as their favorite tool for collaborative document editing (down from 67%). 30% favor Google Docs (up from 27%) and 2% OpenOffice.
58% of students report backing up their primary computer on a regular basis. 60% of those backing up do so to an external hard drive and 25% to a cloud storage solution.
97% of students use Facebook (up from 91%) and 92% (up from 80%) would like to see law school events and activities published on Facebook as well as through the online faculty calendar. 25% use Twitter, 21% use linked in, and 16% use Google+.
Smart Phone / Cell Phone Ownership
84% of students own “Smart Phones” or phones with built in web browsers that allow them to surf the internet on their cell phones. That is up dramatically from 50% of smart phone owners last year.On the other end of the spectrum, 2% of students do not own a cell phone at all. This is significantly lower than the 11% of our sample of all law students who reported no cell phone in the spring of 2010. Just as laptop owner ship has been close to 100% since 2007, cell phone is now almost 100% as well.I suspect that over the next two or three years close to 100% of students will either own a smart phone, an iPod Touch, an iPad or Android tablet device.From the library’s perspective this is an important area to watch, as there are a number of interesting new technologies (like QR Codes) that could potentially enhance the library’s services that depend on library patrons having access to the internet on their cell phones along with a camera.
Why would someone use an web based word processor for a school paper instead of Microsoft Word? Here are three reasons:
When collaborating with classmates on a group project, do you get tired of trying to figure out which of the versions that have been emailed to you is the most current?
Do you get discouraged when you are faced with the task of merging edits from 2 or more students into a single document near the end of the group project?
Do some of your edits get lost in the group collaboration email shuffle?
If you’ve said yes to any one of the questions above, then you should take a serious look at using either Google Docs or Microsoft Word Web App for your next group project. That said, here are a few things to keep in mind as you being to collaboratively create and edit documents on the web:
While the look and feel of Microsoft Word Web App is very similar to the desktop version of Word, you cannot add or edit footnotes, end notes, or tables of contents in the online version of Word. You can connect to the file from your desktop version of Word to add and edit those elements in your group document however (on a Mac you’ll need Mac Office 2011 to do this).
Google Docs supports foot notes, end notes and tables of contents in the web browser, but the editing interface is not as rich as the desktop version of Word. For some people this is not a problem. For others it is a show stopper. You can decide for yourself.
In any case, if you need to collaborate on a document, don’t just reflexively email it to your collaborator, instead think about writing it in Google Docs and sending them a link and leave the email document shuffle behind.
How to sync and edit documents from my desktop computer on my iPad is a question that I’ve had ever since I purchased my iPad in April of 2010. The good new is that I finally have a good answer, and ironically the apps that facilitate the editing and syncing are ones that I’ve used for years now, one of which has just recently come to the iPad and iPhone… or at least recently came to my attention. Here’s the equation:
Dropbox + Documents To Go = iPad Document Nirvana!
Here is what you need to turn your iPad into a document editing & syncing machine:
Step 1: If you don’t have a free Dropbox account already, then now is your excuse to finally download and install it on your desktop computer(s). Dropbox is a cloud service that synchronizes files between your computers, and keeps them up to date. It runs on Mac’s, Windows & Linux. For example, I have dropbox running on my Mac laptop and Windows desktop computer. So when I save a file to my Dropbox folder on my desktop computer, that file gets save to my account on the dropbox server on the internet. The next time I turn on my laptop, it checks to see if any files have changed, and then if they have, download the changed files to my laptop. It is a wonderful service if you use more than one computer (or computer & iPad/iPhone). The use of Dropbox is free for up to 2GB of data, and then $10 per month (for $99 per year) for 50GB of data. I personally subscribe to the 50GB plan because I store all my family photos there along with all my documents, but I digress.
Step 2: Install the free Dropbox app on your iPad (or iPhone, or Blackberry, or Android phone if you have one) via the Apple App store. Enter the same user name and password that you setup your Dro
pbox account with on your desktop computer.
Step 3: Again via the Apple App store, and install Documents To Go Premium – Office Suite. Make sure you get the “Premium” version for $16.99, as the basic version does not sync files with Dropbox (or Google Docs). Once you’ve installed the app, press the “Online” button on the bottom nav bar, and then the app will ask you what type of account you want to synchronize with. Select Dropbox, enter your account information, and you set.
That’s it! You’ve now turned your iPad into a legitimate business machine so that you can word process & spreadsheet on the go, and sync everything back to your desktop computer. Enjoy!
Do YouTube and Facebook distract students? Of course they do! On the other hand, can YouTube and Facebook help students with their school work? Until recently I wasn’t sure, but after my partner’s experience with a professor who wasn’t a good teacher, and seeing how YouTube and Facebook saved her and her classmates from poor grades, I’m convinced that these “digital distractions” can be, if used intelligently, excellent Learning Tools.
Being the father of two teenagers, the husband of a partner that has recently gone back to college, and Systems Administrator at a University Law Library, I have a front row seat on how technology is used and abused in the service of homework, research and education in general. When my partner found herself in a college class teaching challenged professor, I was amazed at how she, along with her classmates, used technology to compensate for the poor classroom instruction. Her learning process for each class was as follows: Read the rest of this entry »
Can iPhones and iPod Touches be more than just a distraction for students, but actually help you with your home work and research? Below are some apps that can help turn your mobile device into a tool for better grades. I’ll start off with some serious apps, and move to a handful of less serious tools that show the potential of mobile apps in the future. Read the rest of this entry »
It is one thing to talk about collaborative document editing, and quite another to see it in action. I use this feature every other week to organize rides to away games for my son’s soccer team. Anyone on the team who needs a ride goes to the online spreadsheet I’ve setup, and signs up for a ride. A simple time saving device.
A colleague of mine asked me yesterday what tools I’d recommend for a group of a dozen or so scholars spread around the world to collaborate on a scholarly project. The good news is that there are lots of good tools available for people to use. The bad news is that there are lots of good tools to choose from. Depending on your group’s particular requirements and preferences, you may choose a different tool set than your colleagues down the hall.
That said, here are my primary and secondary recommendations for collaborative tools, along with some rational for my selections: Read the rest of this entry »
In addition to the technology questions we’ve been asking UVic Law students over the past eight years, we decided to ask some extra questions about the increasingly important mobile technology that students are arriving at Law School equipped with. We also asked about previous in class laptop exam experience, and what their estimated typing speed it. This survey was completed by 127 incoming and transferring law students, which is an over 90% response rate.
Executive Summary:
50% of incoming students own “Smart Phones” that can browse the internet.
99% of students own laptops, and 27% own both a laptop and a desktop computer.
44% of student laptops are Mac’s.
The average laptop price dropped to $1,198 from $1400 in 2007, and from $2,100 in 2004.
Of the 72% of students who were able to tell us how many words per minute (wpm) they could type, the average was 60 wpm. Only 14% type less than 40 wpm.
71% of students bring their laptops to school almost every day.
87% of students own MP3 players capable of listening to recorded lectures.
49% of students use Gmail as their primary email account, 6% use UVic email and 26% Hotmail.
67% of students identified MS Word as their favorite tool for collaborative document editing. 27% chose Google Docs, 2% OpenOffice Writer & 5% “Other”.
91% of students use Facebook and 80% of those students would like to see law school events and activities published on Facebook as well as through the online faculty calendar of events.
Smart Phone / Cell Phone Ownership
- I do not own a cell phone - 5%
- Regular cell phone - 45%
- Smart phone – iPhone – 22%
- Smart phone – Blackberry – 15%
- Smart phone – Other - 13%
50% of students own “Smart Phones” or phones with built in web browsers that allow them to surf the internet on their cell phones.
From the library’s perspective this is an important area to watch, as there are a number of interesting new technologies (like QR Codes) that could potentially enhance the library’s services that depend on library patrons having access to the internet on their cell phones. Apple’s new iPod Touch also has a camera built in which will make it very similar in how it can be used to take advantage of potential new library services.
On the other end of the spectrum, 5% of students do not own a cell phone at all. This is significantly lower than the 11% of our sample of all law students who reported no cell phone in the spring of 2010. Just as laptop owner ship has been close to 100% since 2007, cell phone ownership will continue to approach 100% in the next two years.
Now that I can hear the voices of excited Law Students in the hallways of the Fraser Building, I thought I’d take a moment to pass on a little bit of technology advice to help students avoid the most common laptop disasters:
Install Automatic Backup software for your Laptop Computer!
If you take no other advice from me, at least promise me that you’ll start to backup your laptop on a regular basis. I recommend Mozy’s 2GB Free online backup service for all your school work at least. The great thing about Mozy (besides being free for it’s basic service) is that Mozy automatically backs up your computer so you don’t have to think about it anymore. If you combine this with an external hard drive backup system, you have implemented the gold standard in backup: The 3-2-1 Backup Rule.
- 3 copies of all files (1 original, 1 on mozy, and 1 on the external hard drive)
- 2 different backup formats (1 on the Internet at mozy and 1 on your local external hard drive)
- 1 copy off site (this is important if there is a fire, or natural disaster that destroys both your laptop and external hard drive. This happened to a student in the Fall 2009 semester. Her laptop and external hard drive were destroyed in a basement suite fire).
Install up to date Free Anti Virus and Anti Mal-ware software on your windows computer!
a. This is a lot easier than in sounds. First make sure that any other anti-virus software has been installed from your computer, and that you’ve rebooted after uninstalling it.
b. Download Microsoft’s free anti-virus software from their website: Microsoft Security Essentials.
c. Install Microsoft Security Essentials, and you’re done. Wasn’t that easy?
Use Google Docs for collaborative document creation and editing.
If you need to participate in any group projects, then Google Docs will be your friend. It makes collaborative document creation and editing so much easier than emailing Word documents back and forth it is not even funny.
Enjoy the fall semester, and I hope your laptop, web browser and word processor server you well!
84% of students own “Smart Phones” or phones with built in web browsers that allow them to surf the internet on their cell phones. That is up dramatically from 50% of smart phone owners last year.On the other end of the spectrum, 2% of students do not own a cell phone at all. This is significantly lower than the 11% of our sample of all law students who reported no cell phone in the spring of 2010. Just as laptop owner ship has been close to 100% since 2007, cell phone is now almost 100% as well.I suspect that over the next two or three years close to 100% of students will either own a smart phone, an iPod Touch, an iPad or Android tablet device.From the library’s perspective this is an important area to watch, as there are a number of interesting new technologies (like QR Codes) that could potentially enhance the library’s services that depend on library patrons having access to the internet on their cell phones along with a camera.
Step 2: Install the free 
