Understanding Australian first year university students’ experiences of teaching and learning technologies

Access to information and communication technologies can enable academics to design courses with learning opportunities that bring together and engage students from diverse backgrounds and locations. For first year university students, knowing how to access and participate in learning opportunities is part of their transition to successful study. With the availability of online content and support, a challenge for students and academics is awareness of how technologies work and how they can be integrated effectively into study. While there is increasing empirical evidence documenting the technology-related uses, experience, expectations, skill levels and training needs of the board range of students that are currently entering Australian Universities, there are still some major gaps. This paper reports on a pilot survey of a sample of first year students entering a regional Australian University. Contrary to expectations, this research indicates that the youngest students had the lowest desire to use the technologies in their studies.