SURVEY: USING

YOUR COMPUTER
FOR YOUR
STUDIES
Lore Triest, Justine Dierickx and Lut Jacobs, 2IBM

Table of contents
1.

Executive summary.......................................................................................... 2

2.

Introduction...................................................................................................... 2

3.

Discussion of the results.................................................................................. 3

3.1 Gender.......................................................................................................... 3
3.2 Age................................................................................................................ 3
3.3 Ownership of a computer.............................................................................. 3
3.4 Devices used for school................................................................................ 4
3.5 Taking notes on a laptop during class...........................................................4
3.6 Using social media during class....................................................................5
3.7 Computer skills level..................................................................................... 5
3.8 Use of an external hard drive to back up files..............................................6

4.

Conclusion........................................................................................................ 6

1. Executive summary
The online survey that we made about how students use their laptops and mobile
devices for school has given us certain interesting insights. The survey was taken
by almost 40 of our fellow students, and there was almost an equal amount of
responses from both genders. Moreover, since the survey was taken by our
classmates, most people indicated that theyre between 18 and 25 years old.
The survey revealed that almost every student brings their laptop and
smartphone to class, which is no surprise since its something that we had
already noticed in our class. However, it was very surprising to find out that only
a small amount uses it to take notes during class. Furthermore, what was even
more shocking is that only 50% admits to actively using social media while being
in class. This is less than expected and the fact that almost 15% says that they
never use social media during class is shocking.
We were also interested in whether or not students believe that their computer
skills are up to standards. If not, then this could explain why they dont use their
PCs to take notes during class. If yes, then it should be questioned why they dont
use their computer more for taking notes or making summaries. Perhaps those
students do have the right capacities to use their computer more in their daily
lives but they still prefer handwritten notes or just sticking to the book rather
than using your PC actively to study. However, to explain this more in-depth there
has to be another survey conducted.

2. Introduction
For e-skills we needed to create an online survey that we was interesting and
useful for our fellow students, since they were the ones that had to fill in the
survey. We decided to do a survey about how students use their computer for
school. Moreover, we wanted to find out if students use their computer more for
leisure or for school. If they have their own laptop and bring it to class, do they
use it to take notes or to browse the internet. This could give some insights into
how laptops have changed the lives of college students.

3. Discussion of the results

3.1 Gender
24 women and 18 men filled in our survey. This division is spread enough to have an
almost equal amount of opinions of both genders.

3.2 Age
Most of the respondents their age is between 18 and 25 years old. This is very logical
because we especially asked our fellow students to fill in our survey. Only one person is
younger than 18 and four people are older than 25. We can say that most of the answers
from this survey are represented by the age group of 18-25 years.

3.3 Ownership of a computer

Another question we asked the participants was whether they have a computer of their
own or not. In the graph below you can immediately see that almost everyone has a
computer of his/her own. We were expecting this answer because some teachers ask the
students to bring a computer to (some) class(es).

3.4 Devices used for school

The option we gave for this question were: Laptop, Smartphone, iPad and the possibility
to fill in another one. Most students use both laptop and smartphone for school. The
second largest group are the students who only use a laptop for school. Notebook and
computer were added to the options by the respondents.

3.5 Taking notes on a laptop during class

Only 12 students out of 28 answering this question, take notes during class. This is
astonishing because almost everyone who filled in this survey has a computer of his/her
own (see 3.3). Another 12 students sometimes take notes on a laptop and the other 14
do not use a computer to take notes. This shows that despite all the tools available to
take and gather notes, some students still prefer taking notes on paper.

3.6 Using social media during class

Almost half of our respondents use social media during class and only 13.2% never use
it. 39.5% only uses social media sometimes. These results do not surprise us, since we
often see that people are checking Facebook during class. For some people being on
social media means not paying attention in class which is bad for both teacher and
student.

3.7 Computer skills level

More than half of the participants think their computer skills are up to standards. This is
astounding because technology is growing unbelievably fast nowadays. On the other
hand, it means that students are renewing and improving their computer skills. 23.1% of
the respondents do not consider their computer skills up to standards and 12.8% does
not know if their skills are up to standards or not.

3.8 Use of an external hard drive to back up files

To the question whether they use or do not use an external hard drive to back up their
files, the answers are almost 50/50. It is possible that some people do not use an
external hard drive because they save some of their files online in a cloud. Others maybe
just do not believe their laptop or computer will crash down. The other half wants to be
sure and do use an external hard drive to back up their files.

4. Conclusion
This survey showed that almost every student brings his mobile devices and
laptop to school, but they dont use it to study or take notes. Moreover, they
probably do use it to make their assignments but they dont actively use it to
study by making summaries for example. This is interesting because it shows
that perhaps not all students are aware of how exactly you can use your laptop
for school and arent using it to its full potential. Furthermore, almost half of the
students use it to access social media, which obviously isnt the reason why
teachers allow laptops in their classes so it might be interesting to take a more
in-depth look at what exactly students do on their laptops for their studies in a
more elaborate survey.