Business students’ experiences of technology tools and applications in higher education

Abstract

There has been much debate about the increasing use of technology in all learning, training and development contexts. In the case of higher education, although technology may not have fundamentally changed teaching practices, students report how several technologies and applications help with their learning, research and collaborative activities. Through a survey of business students at an Irish university, this paper examines their expectations and experiences of faculty usage of technology tools and applications. Although, on the surface, the findings provide some degree of confidence that students’ expectations of technology usage are being met, students would, nonetheless, like to see faculty make even greater, and more effective, use of technology in the classroom. The study provides faculty with examples from students of technology usage that supports their learning and these examples may be useful for faculty when designing and delivering their courses. Beyond the higher education context, the research highlights some broader practical implications for training and development in a corporate setting.

Perceptions of Teachers Regarding Online In-Service Training in their Professional Development in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan

“…Likewise, Gengenfurtner, et al, (2018) also stated the same idea of digital learning that it plays vital role in training. The use of learning management system (LMS) in use of digital learning especially for employee's support (Dowling Hetherington et al 2020). Similarly, the same point is also stated by (Testers et al, in press).…”

Digital technologies in training and adult education

“…The increasing use of technology‐mediated environments affords flexible, ubiquitous and on‐demand access to learning material. For example, employees can develop their knowledge and skills in the learning management systems (LMS; Dowling‐Hetherington et al ., ; Testers et al ., in press), in webinars (Ebner & Gegenfurtner, ; Gegenfurtner & Ebner, ; Gegenfurtner et al ., ), or with digital video‐based scenarios (Dowling‐Hetherington et al ., ; Kraiger et al ., ). Nevertheless, despite the advantages of technology‐mediated learning environments, human resource developers and trainers would benefit from having more knowledge about how trainees benefit when they learn digitally, what they experience and how they perceive online training.…”

“…The five contributions in this special issue reflect on a number of issues, for example, the competence level of trainers (Bonnes et al ., ; Rohs et al ., ) and how these are affectively perceived by the trainees (Dowling‐Hetherington et al ., ; Gegenfurtner et al ., ).This issue is in line with previous research in the field of digital training (e.g., Koehler et al , ; Rohs et al , ; Testers et al ., in press). Another issue reflected in the contributions of this special issue is associated with the potential benefits of digital training environments or, in the case of Kraiger et al .…”

“…(), when training environments are not complemented with prompts. What these contributions also reveal is that simple solutions – such as no additional prompts (Kraiger et al ., ) or traditional face‐to‐face scenarios (Dowling‐Hetherington et al ., ) – have their values, too, and should be considered alongside more elaborate digital alternatives. Finally, the studies highlight how affective and cognitive aspects of learning in technology‐mediated settings are intertwined (Bonnes et al ., ; Gegenfurtner et al ., ).…”

“…Overall, the study contributes to the growing evidence of the effectiveness of webinar-based training . In the second contribution, Dowling-Hetherington et al (2020) address learners' expectations regarding the level of faculty usage of technology tools and their experiences with how facilitators used digital technologies to enhance learning. Using a quantitative survey approach, their analyses suggest that the most commonly used tools to support student learning include the LMS, file sharing in clouds and internet search tools.…”