Tuesday 15 February 2011

Survey2 - 'What phone? Any Apps? College / Education App?'

This weeks survey was a follow on from last week.
However this time I wanted to move towards finding information about apps and whether students use them.
Again I wanted it to be a quick question as I think more students will spend a minute answering but then after that want the option to be able to wander off or ask you more.
So I asked 'What phone have you got?' Do you have any Apps on it? If there were Apps for education or a College App, would you use it?'
I asked 59 students (I only had an hour or so) and they all gave a response and were interested in the question.
As usual there were more Blackberrys (Blackberries?) than anything else however most either didn't have Apps or just had the Facebook App and Blackberry Messenger both of which are absolutely essential it seems.  Some would be interested in a College App or using Apps for learning but some definitely not.
iPhone users, as expected, are into Apps in a big way and would be interested in any educational Apps.
HTC users were also enthusiastic and although there are not many of them so far, I think they will increase.
Sony Ericssons, Samsungs and Nokias were less focussed or interested in Apps although quite a lot of Nokia users update their Facebook from their phone.
It is really fascinating asking the students about their mobile phones and their perceptions of how they can be used.  Next step is to ask about iPod Touchs and also 'If you had an iPhone or Android phone, would you use Apps?

Monday 7 February 2011

"What mobile phone have you got?" survey of FE students

Today, I decided to conduct an impromptu survey.  It is part of a bigger 'project' which I've started in the last couple of weeks about using iPod, iPhone & iPad Apps for education (more of that in future posts).  I wanted to have a quick overview of which mobile phones students used so I spent the afternoon ( about 2.5 hrs) working on the enquiry desk on the 2nd floor of the LRC.  Whenever I student came to book a computer, I asked them what mobile phone they had.  It was deliberately unstructured and I definitely wanted to ask just one question to see what response I got.  It is easy to ask students one question and everyone that I asked was helpful and interested in why I was asking.  I made the last minute decision to note down whether the respondent was male or female.  This is a bit of a contentious issue with me as I'm reluctant to take on board that there maybe a gender factor involved (part of the bigger project again) but the results are interesting.

The results were as follows:

126 students were asked
“What mobile phone have you got”?
17 (5F 12M ) iPhone (12 4s 5 3Gs)
31 (26F 5M) Blackberry
9 (5F 4M) HTC
22 (15F 7M) Nokia
9 (6F 3M) LG
9 (6F 3M) Sony E
22 (14F 8M) Samsung
7(3F 4M ) Other

It was a random sample which turned out to include more female students than male students.
Blackberries were the most popular (in conversations this was because they were reasonably affordable) especially with girls (which might be because they have a keyboard that requires more nimble fingers)
iPhones were more popular with male students but some female students said, unprompted, that they would definitely like an iPhone whereas those with iPhones showed no interest in any other make or model.

The next stage is to survey more students at different times / days.  To try to find out whether the course that they are studying makes a difference i.e. if you are studying a computing / media / games design course then you have a different phone than if you are studying health and care for example
Also to ask whether they have an iPod Touch or would like to use one as part of their course.

Health Check and Inspection

The Health Check which is an independent planned inspection has been scheduled since the autumn. It was to take place in a week in December. However the bad weather and snow meant that it was postponed until February. Therefore it is due to take place this week and next week. It is quite difficult for everyone to maintain momentum and keep performing at a high level but I think it will be good.
On Friday the College found out that we are to have an Ofsted inspection the week beginning 28th February. The health check has now become pre Ofsted preparation.


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