The definition of class participation has changed for college students at the University of Southern California’s (USC) Viterbi School of Engineering.
The USC engineering program’s Distance Education Network, a model for distance learning in higher education, has enabled students to stream live lectures on their smart phones and tablets, and participate in lecture hall discussions through their various mobile devices.
It’s an entirely new level of anywhere, anytime education, as students can join live class discussions via chat, phone, or voice over IP.
The engineering school, recognized as the nation’s top online engineering program, has 4,000 students this year, about one in four of whom complete their degrees online.
The Viterbi school’s leveraging of student mobile devices is just the latest move toward using tablets and smart phones as an essential learning tool in higher education.
The City University of New York’s (CUNY) journalism program last year required all students to own a smart phone. It’s not a stretch to expect college students to own a web-enabled phone, as several recent surveys have shown.
Join the conversation on Twitter with the hashtag #eCNMobile.
And college students have clamored for increased usage of mobile devices for school-related purposes. Many say it’s already an essential part of the educational experience.
A survey conducted last summer by Wakefield Research showed 53 percent of respondents said they would be more likely to complete required reading in time for class if it was available digitally or could be accessed on a mobile device.
Eighty-eight percent of students said they have used a mobile device to study for a test at the last minute.
That’s a 10 percent jump from the number of students who admitted to mobile cramming last year.
“The results of this survey underscore just how much students have embraced mobile devices and digital course materials to enhance their productivity, efficiency and performance, all of which impact students’ educational success and financial prospects in this highly competitive, globally connected world,” Sean Divine, CEO of CourseSmart, said in an announcement of the survey’s results.
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