Educational Technology at work in British Columbia: the ETUG community survey results

Through survey responses from the publicly funded post-secondary institutions in British Columbia, the ETUG community has created a snapshot of the educational technology tools being used across the province, with future-casting to understand how the institutions are prioritizing the available resources.

Post by BCcampus’ editorial team

The Educational Technology Users Group (ETUG) recently conducted a survey of the educational technology tools and resources being used in the publicly funded post-secondary institutions of B.C. The survey ran from December 2018 through January 2019, with a goal of gaining a clearer insight into the people connected with ETUG across the province, their needs and interests, and identifying opportunities for the ETUG Stewardship Committee (SCETUG) to align ETUG with professional practice across the province.

“The data represents the responses we received from 23 of the publicly funded post-secondary institutions in B.C.; 100 educational technologists who self-selected to respond to the survey,” said Clint Lalonde, Manager, Educational Technology, BCcampus, and ETUG Community Steward. “It’s not a comprehensive survey, but the data will help us facilitate connections between educational technologists in different institutions with similar interests and objectives, and better position SCETUG to tailor our workshops and conferences for our members.”

The survey looked at Learning Management Systems (LMS), web conferencing tools, open educational resources (OER), and other educational technology tools and platforms used by local institutions.

Drawing from the report compiled and written by ETUG Community Stewards Troy Welch, Thompson Rivers University, Bonnie Johnston, British Columbia Institute of Technology, and Clint Lalonde, BCcampus, we created an infographic to visualize the highs and lows within the educational technology space of B.C.

ETUG infographic

The practice of education technology

Analysis of the survey revealed that seven technologies – dubbed the magnificent seven – had the highest usage across the province and gained the highest levels of importance and lowest levels of non-importance from respondents. Additionally, six technologies – tagged as the trailing six – were ranked with the lowest levels of usage and importance.

The report authors offer a summary of their findings: “the questions in the survey provide us with a good sense of ‘what’ but a much less sense of ‘why’. Respondents were left to attach their own meanings to the terms ‘Importance’ and ‘Non-importance’. An established technology may have a high level of importance attached to it based on a high adoption level in the institution, whereas an emerging technology may have a lower level of importance based on a current low level of adoption. Or these judgements may have their roots in considerations such as pedagogical value, protection of privacy, cost and funding levels, etc. Further study to uncover these root factors may prove to be quite interesting.”

The full results of the study will be presented at the 25th Anniversary ETUG conference.

25 years of collaboration and exploration

The ETUG 25th anniversary conference is scheduled for June 20 & 21st at Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops, with a theme of Back to the Future: Looking Back, Moving Forward. Registration is now open for this opportunity to connect with professionals who share your interest in educational technology.

Notable quote:

“88% Strongly Agree or Agree that ETUG is an organization that introduces them to innovative educational technologies and practices.” – from ETUG community survey

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