Center for Teaching & Learning: Perspectives on Teaching & Learning

Your Students’ Learning Preferences May Surprise You

The EDUCAUSE 2019 Study of Undergraduate Students and Information Technology is out! This year's study examines four topics and provides recommendations for each of the following: learning environment preferences, student success tools, technology experiences, and technology use in the classroom.

Some recommendations to consider when planning your course:

• Evaluate your teaching environment when selecting instructional activities. Student preference for face-to-face, hybrid, or online is partially dependent upon the learning task. For example, lectures were in the top three activities in a face-to-face classroom (with qualifiers). And conversely, they were in the bottom three for online courses.
• Increase your classroom instructional interactivity through technology. Students want to use more technology in the classroom to enhance their participation (e.g., bringing a digital version of the text to class to support their discussions).
• Support your students’ academic success through their appropriate usage of personal devices (e.g., tablets for note taking or recording).
• Learn how you can manage this and make the classroom inclusive. Improve your course accessibility through universal design for learning (UDL), and in turn, support learning for all students. (Additional accommodations may be needed to meet accessibility needs.)