Twitter usage at the top 100 colleges and universities in the country (as determined by U.S. News and World Report 2010 rankings) was studied by UniversitiesAndColleges.org.
Here are some highlights of the study, which looked only at Twitter accounts affiliated with school administrations:
The University of Florida had the greatest number of accounts with 24. The University of Georgia came in a close second with 22. The average number of Twitter accounts per college was 8.4.
Of the colleges with the fewest number of accounts, the University of Denver and SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry headed the list with just one each.
Harvard University had the most Twitter followers — 18,955. Stanford University came in second with 10,873.
Although Harvard had the most followers, the university itself follows about only 39 other schools.
The College of William & Mary followed the most accounts — 6,056.
Who tweets the most? George Washington University, which sends out about 58 tweets each day. Second place goes to the University of Washington with 49.8. Most schools average between zero and 20 total tweets per day.
If you’re wondering what schools are tweeting about, the study determined usage falls into six basic categories:
Delivering news updates
News updates within the universities’ schools and departments
News about student services
Staying in touch with people outside the university community, such as alumni associations
Updates on research and campus extensions
News from university media
To see the methodology and results of the entire study, click here.
It’s interesting to look at institutional uses of social media, however, it’s important to consider that there are a lot of faculty not obviously affiliated with their institutions using twitter for their course work. Student organizations are also using it for a variety of purposes. I would be curious to see more studies that focus on the impact of Twitter and other social networks on student engagement both with course work, and with the university communities.
Among students, desktop computer ownership is down, laptop ownership is way up.
Most students have new computers (79% of freshmen own a laptop one year old or less, two-thirds own a laptop or desktop 2 years old. 18% say their computer is four years old or older).
51% own an internet-capable handheld device, with 12% more planning to purchase one within a year. Among those who own one, 35% say they never access the internet on it. Cost and other ways to access Net were the most cited reasons.
Cell phone ownership is nearly ubiquitous. One-third say that they use their cell phones in class for non-class activities.
SNS’s (Social Networking Sites) and texting are up (nearing saturation), while Instant Messenging is declining.
SNS’s were used by 90% of students outside class, and wikis by 42%, but only around a quarter of students used SNS’s or wikis in a course. One-third of students used podcasts personally but only 6% in courses.
Students generally like Course Management Systems!
Students don’t think instructors use IT well. The percent that say their instructors effectively use IT or have adequate IT skills– 45%. Only one-third say instructors adequately train them for the IT used in their courses.
Students who say the greatest benefit of IT in education is convenience – 70%. Only 49% agree or strongly agree that IT improves learning. One possible reason for this low number is that only 53% of students agree or strongly agree with the statement “My institution’s IT services are always available when I need them for my coursework.”
60% of students prefer only a moderate amount of IT in courses.
After several years of experimenting with “hybrid” Spanish courses that mix online and classroom instruction, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has decided to begin conducting its introductory Spanish course exclusively on the Web.
Spanish 101, which had featured online lessons combined with one classroom session per week, will drop its face-to-face component in an effort to save on teaching costs and campus space in light of rising demand for Spanish instruction and a shrinking departmental budget.
The buyer of a Nokia Booklet is probably tech-savvy not needing help and also a heavy Wi-Fi user unwilling to overpay for carrier usage. The tech-savvy and Wi-Fi profile matches the student-type except for the $599 price. Nokia perhaps has to cut distribution costs and create demand like Apple’s history. Nokia does partner with California college campuses. Stanford University and University of California at Berkeley have Nokia Research Centers, Nokia teamed with UCLA for a GoGreen campaign, and the University of California at San Diego has a High-Power Amplifier Laboratory partly funded by Nokia. California campuses are perhaps a more targeted pilot of Nokia’s Booklet with online fulfillment instead of Best Buy stores.
