Successful Models for Using Technology in the Classroom

Students Want to Learn More About Technology

In the Fall 2009 semester, Building Information Technology Skills (BITS) provided around 90 hours of technology training to UWEC students, faculty, and staff in 94 group workshops. By far, the two most popular workshops requested were for Video Editing (including the Digital Story Telling series, iMovie, and Premiere Elements) and for Dreamweaver (28 workshops for Video Editing, 13 for Dreamweaver).  The demand for multimedia and Web design training continues to increase. The following table demonstrates our interactions with students, instructors, and staff and shows the need for an increased amount of instruction for Web design and multimedia assignments.

Note: Two workshops are not shown.

After a typical BITS workshop, students are asked to fill out a survey regarding the quality of the service. We asked 1,161 students over the course of the last several semesters to evaluate the workshop experience. Using a one to five scale, with one being “poor” and five being “excellent,” most students rated the overall experience highly (M = 4.21). On a one to six scale, with one being “learned much more than I expected” and six being “learned nothing new,” most students reported that they learned somewhat more than they expected (M = 1.93). When asked to select among beginner, intermediate, or advanced to best describe their experience level with technology, the average response was intermediate (M = 1.95). The results shows that students want to learn more about technology. Therefore, the steps for Website Assignments and Multimedia Assignments provide information about integrating technology into education.