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The amount of technology in classrooms varies widely from “we have no internet” (1 out of three undergraduate schools in Germany) to a top ten list of the most innovative colleges using technology like “hotseat – a twitter-like interface allowing micro discussions.”  While in July I wrote about the increasing grade of acceptance of digital textbooks and devices, now a new study even claims that digital devices are saving students time - and add some fun to getting your chores done.

Before we’re drooling on the wonderful results of the study, let’s admit that a majority preambled that “the e-books were awkward, hard to navigate, the collaborative features are hard to use” – many even said they simply don’t like reading on the devices. This does not take me wonders regarding many the offered eBooks and tools so far – if it’s not cool, you will not use it. Solution: build a cool platform, offer hight quality digital content (tagged reasonable prices to it) and be truly observant on students needs. Now here we go with some not too surprising, maybe a little tummy-driven base facts:

In that named recent study by CourseSmart and Wakefield Research it was found that nearly all of the students (98%) that own a device have used it in school.

• The survey revealed that technology has become a significant part of students’ everyday lives with the average using three devices daily.
• A majority (67%) can’t go more than one hour without using some sort of digital technology, with 40% not lasting more than 10 minutes.
• Print textbooks are losing their reputation of being indispensable. Only 5% of students say textbooks are the most important item in their bag and a majority of students say they are more likely to bring a laptop (51%) than a print textbook (39%) to class.
• 79% of those college students report they have done a quick search on a mobile device or tablet to verify something right before a test or a quiz.
• according to the study, the majority of 68% is saving two hours or more each day and nearly one in six students (14%) saving five hours or more.

And there a few things that show how technology really influences the way we learn and how much we learn: 

• Nearly 3 in 5 students (58%) report that they frequently are unable to complete required reading in time for class and of those, a majority (51%) said they would be more likely to do so if they had digital textbooks that could be accessed on a mobile device, eReader, laptop or tablet.
• Online courses are gaining popularity with 58% of students reporting they have taken an online course, motivated primarily by being able to take the class when they please to (63%), not having to physically be in a class (48%) and being able to learn at their own pace (47%).
• Online has gained some influence in certain administrative areas (a majority of students (79%) have submitted assignments or papers online) and rehearse situations: 71% have taken online tests and quizzes.

Social Media Components now and then

• While 10 or even five years ago students hesitated to phone call or mail a professor (let alone invite them to private parties) now 18% of the asked students have received materials from their professor via Facebook.
•  84% of students have had professors post a class syllabus online and 78% of students have received class news and updates from their professors via campus systems, such as learning management systems or student portals.

Those Numbers are impressive now – but what if we imagine colleges and universities would in fact use the possibilities, todays technical development holds? Think of multimedia homework and papers, enhanced digital thesis material, created on your tablet in a simple framework like “wordpress for assignments” with video widgets and different layers of data. Think of the full library of your campus (the digital one, the worldwide web one) sorted by relevance for you always at hand. Think of your Greek-claas as a tandem with Athens, just starting a hangout within a textbook because you’d like to know the correct pronunciation - match with colleges in different states or even countries to find students and professors struggling with your subject. Work in collaborative projects with students from Ghana and India because of their special interest and knowledge.

Think of a system that allows you to really work with your books and devices without redirecting you to wikipedia, dozens of blogs and social networks because you as the intelligent user created a surrounding that provides only relevant information, that makes you work concentrated so you can put the device at the side for more than 10 Minutes. Think of being productive because you use the technical improvements not the other way around. In the near future, we will see the rise of metadata and semantics and once we combine this with a perfect work surrounding and significant tools, education enters a new stage. Again:  if it’s not cool, you will not use it. Let’s make something cool.

Infograph, source see below: