翻译《学生们不断改变使用技术的方式》
Students’ ‘Evolving’ Use of Technology
学生们不断改变使用技术的方式
Stop the presses: Today’s college students are using more technology than ever.
停止强迫：今天的大学生比以往使用更多的技术。
That may not be the most surprising finding from a report released last week by the Educause Center for Applied Research, the analytical arm of the nonprofit group that promotes effective technology use in higher education. But it certainly provides a jumping-off point for an investigation into how students use information technology in college and how it can be harnessed to improve the learning experience.
对于上周美国教育事业应用研究中心发布的报告而言，这也许不是最让人吃惊的发现，该非营利组织进行分析旨在促进在高校中有效使用技术。但是它也为调查学生在大学中如何使用信息技术，以及如何用来改善学习体验，提供了一个出发点。
In at least one central respect, proponents of technology in the classroom are on to something: Most students (60.9 percent) believe it improves their learning.
至少在一个关键方面，支持在教室内使用技术的人们都能说出些东西：大多数学生（60.9%）相信技术能改善他们的学习。
The changes in technological habits aren’t revolutionary per se, as the authors point out; rather, students are making “evolutionary” gains in access to the Internet for everyday uses, inside the classroom and out. Perhaps the most visible of these changes is the continuing increase in the proportion of students with laptops, which has grown to 73.7 percent of respondents (while an almost-total 98.4 percent own a computer of some kind). More surprisingly, over half of laptop owners don’t bring them to class at all, with about a quarter carrying them to lectures at least once a week.
正如报告作者们指出的那样，这些技术习惯上的改变并不是变革本身；相反，学生通过每天在校内网访问互联网来从改变中获得好处。也许这些变化最明显的是使用便携电脑的学生的比例在持续增加，在受访者当中已经上升到73.7%（同时几乎98.4%的学生拥有一台某种形式的计算机）。更令人吃惊的是，超过一半的便携电脑的所有者并不是每节课都用到，大约四分之一至少每周一次带到课堂上。
The amount of time spent on the Internet also shows no sign of abating, with an average of about 18 hours a week, for any purpose — and, on the extreme end, some 6.6 percent of respondents (mostly male) saying they spend more than a full-time job’s worth of 40 hours online a week. Most students use broadband, more are on wireless connections, and “smart phones” — all-in-one communications and personal data assistants — are also on the rise, with 12 percent owning one.
花在互联网上的时间总量也没有减弱的迹象，不论用途平均每周18小时——并且，在最末端，大约6.6%的受访者（基本上都是男性）说他们每周在线时间超过了四十小时，这相当于一份全职工作。大多数学生使用宽带，多数使用无线接入，而智能手机，一体式通讯与个人数据助手，也在不断增加，有12%的人拥有。
What they’re doing when they’re online is also changing somewhat, with the rise of Facebook and other social networking sites as the clearest trend this year (to 80.3 percent from 72.3 percent in 2006), along with streaming video and course management software, which 46.1 percent of respondents said they use several times a week or more (compared with 39.6 percent in 2006).
无论他们在网络上做什么，他们都在改变着一些东西，随着“校内”和其他社会化网络站点的崛起，成为今年绝对的趋势（在2006年从72.3上升到80.3%），连同流视频和课程管理系统，有46.1%的受访者表示他们一周使用好几次甚至更多（相对应的，在2006年是39.6%）。
The authors of the study, which surveyed 27,864 students at 103 two- and four-year colleges and universities, note that most undergraduates today are “digital natives” who have grown up immersed in technology in some form. But the “millennials” aren’t necessarily ready to cast off the yoke of human interaction and learn solely within virtual 3-D environments wired directly to the brain. The study finds “themes of skepticism and moderation alongside enthusiasm,” such that 59 percent preferred a “moderate rather than extensive use of IT in courses.”
研究的作者们调查了27864名学生和103所两年制学院及四年制大学，注意到今日大多数在校生都是数码原住民，他们是沉浸在某种形式的技术当中成长起来的。但是千禧一代并不一定要准备摆脱人际交往的干扰，肚子在虚拟三维环境中直接连线大脑，进行学习。该研究发现，“怀疑论的流行，以及有节制的热情”，即在59%的受访者选择“在课程当中适当而非全面使用信息技术”。
Instead, students appear to segment different modes of communication for different purposes. E-mail, Web sites, message boards and Blackboard? Viable ways of connecting with professors and peers. Same for chat, instant messaging, Facebook and text messages? Not necessarily, the authors write, because students may “want to protect these tools’ personal nature.”
相反，学生们似乎为了不同的目的而使用不同的交流方式。电子邮件、网站、论坛以及校内管理系统，都是与老师和同学联系的可行办法。聊天室、实时消息、校内网和短信也是如此。作者们写到，但也不一定，因为学生们可能“想保护这些工具的私密性”。
“They’re using social networking sites like crazy, but they don’t necessarily think those have a place in the classroom,” said Gail Salaway, one of the primary authors and a fellow at ECAR.
“他们发疯一样使用社会化网站，但是他们并不一定考虑能在教室中用到。”盖尔这样说，他是ECAR的成员及主要作者。
In short, as students become more and more connected to each other through various online mediums, they’re also becoming more untethered, with laptops and smart phones keeping them physically apart. As a result, the “emerging Web 2.0 paradigm” of “immersive environments” and dynamic information promise (or threaten?) to upend traditional pedagogies and even the way students learn, the authors conclude.
总之，正如学生通过各种在线媒体变得越来越彼此相连，他们也会变得更加没有界限——利用便携电脑和智能手机让他们的身体分散开去。因此，“沉浸式教学环境”的“新兴Web2.0模式”以及动态的信息承诺（或者威胁？）颠覆了传统教学模式，甚至包括学生学习方式。该报告的作者们如此认定。
That could mean that some professors might have to play catch-up, according to the report, “The ECAR Study of Undergraduate Students and Information Technology, 2007″ — a sentiment also indicated by some of the students in answers to the survey’s open-ended questions.
报告《ECAR对在校大学生与信息技术的研究，2007》中，部分学生在回答该调查的主观问题时的答案显示出一种观点——某些教师将会落伍。
How IT Affects Learning
信息技术如何影响学习
The epigraph to the report’s sixth chapter, from a student’s written comments, goes a long way toward summarizing what the authors say is the place of technology in the college setting today: “IT is not a good substitute for good teaching. Good teachers are good with or without IT and students learn a great deal from them. Poor teachers are poor with or without IT and students learn little from them.”
报告第六章的引言部分，来自于学生写的留言，朝着作者们所总结的，技术在今日大学环境中的位置，走了很长的路：“对于好的教学，信息技术并不是一个好的替代物。有没有信息技术，好老师总是好老师，学生都能从他们那儿学到很多东西；差老师也仍然是差老师，学生从他们那儿学不到什么。”
Seventy percent of the students polled said information technology helps them do research, a finding that is not surprising in light of the continuing popularity of Google and Wikipedia among undergraduates (sometimes to the consternation of their professors ). But that finding also encompasses online library research and article databases.
七成的学生受访者表示信息技术帮助他们做研究，考虑到在大学生中日益普及的Google和维基百科，这一调查结果并不让人惊讶（有时候他们的老师会很惊讶）。但是这一调查结果也包含了在线图书馆研究和论文数据库。
When it comes to engagement, however, responses are more mixed. About two-fifths of students said they were more engaged with courses that had IT components, while a fifth disagreed and the rest didn’t say either way.
然而，当涉及到具体参与，反馈令人忧喜参半。大约五分之二的学生表示利用信息技术工具，他们更能参与到课程当中去，而有五分之一的学生反对，余下的则不做表示。
So technology’s utility in the classroom comes down to how it is used. The question, then, is: How can educators adapt their teaching methods to emerging technologies? And should they?
因此技术在课堂中的效用可以归结到是如何使用的。那么，就有一个问题：教育者如何使他们的教学方法适应新兴技术？而且，他们必须这样做么？
Skeptics might point out that even students themselves are ambivalent when it comes to using the Internet and other digital tools for class, as the survey highlights. But the study’s introduction, written by Chris Dede of the Harvard Graduate School of Education, suggests what professors can expect from digital natives’ evolving modes of learning, what he calls “neomillennial learning styles.”
怀疑论者可能会指出，当涉及到在教室中使用互联网和其它数码工具，作为调查重点的时候，甚至学生本身也是矛盾的。但是由哈佛教育研究生院的克里斯·德德为该研究所写的绪论，建议教师们能够对数码原住民们演进中的学习模式报以期望，他将其称之为“新千年的学习方式”。
As new methods of interacting with information become more ubiquitous, he suggests, citing Second Life-type virtual immersion environments as an example, students will grow up with different expectations and preferences for acquiring knowledge and skills. The implication is less of an emphasis on the “sage on the stage” and a linear acquisition process focusing on a “single best source,” focusing instead on “active learning” that comes from synthesizing information from multiple types of media.
随着信息的互动方式变得愈发无处不在，他引用第二人生类型的虚拟沉浸式环境为例，指出学生们在获取知识与技能方面，将会在一个完全不同的期望与偏好中成长。这意味着，不再强调“讲台上的圣贤”关注于“单一最佳来源”的线性获取过程，取而代之的是关注于“积极学习”，这起源于来自多种媒体的综合信息。
Noting that traditional ways of thinking and learning are undergoing a “sea change,” Dede encourages a fusion of new and old. But what form that will take, exactly, is not addressed directly in the report.
考虑到传统思维和学习方式经历了“翻天覆地的变化”，克里斯鼓励新旧融合。但是将采取什么形式融合，恰好在该报告中没有明述。
The problem with predicting the future of learning, suggests Toru Iiyoshi, a senior scholar at the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, is that some educators “are against the idea of technology itself transforming their teaching and student learning.” Rather than fit it in with their current methods, he said, they should take the opposite approach.
卡内基教育促进基金会资深学者井依义，暗示，预测学习的未来的问题在于某些教育者“拒绝用技术来转变他们的教学以及学生学习，这种观念”，而不是将其适应到他们当前的方法之中。他表示，他们应该采取相反的做法。
Encouraging them to “start thinking from different perspectives, how they can teach better or improve student learning is, I think, very important,” he said.
鼓励他们“开始从不同的角度进行思考，他们如何能教得更好或者如何改进学生学习。我想，着非常重要。”他表示。
A College That Embraces IT
拥抱信息技术的大学
What does a learning environment that embraces new technologies look like? It’s not clear, but it might resemble a classroom at the Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering in Needham, Mass. The institution, which opened in 2002, found itself having to start from scratch in every way possible, including in its design of an information architecture. The person in charge of that project was Joanne Kossuth, the chief information officer and vice president for development at the college.
一个使用了新技术的学习环境看上去应该像什么样子？目前尚不清楚，但可能类似于马萨诸塞州尼达姆城的富兰克林·欧林工学院的某间教室。该学校成立于2002年，发现自己在各方面都必须从头做起，包括其信息架构的设计。工程负责人是克苏鸢妮，该学院的首席信息官兼开发副校长。
Kossuth, who helped implement the Educause study at Olin, said the college is somewhat unusual in that its engineering focus and small classes encourage innovation and collaboration among its students. Where some institutions have had to scramble to adapt to evolving technological needs, Olin did it all at once — from the ground up. The result is a much more integrated, forward-looking approach to IT.
克苏帮助过教育事业研究中心在欧林的研究，表示该学院有点儿不寻常，它的开课侧重点，小型班级，在学生当中鼓励创新与合作。虽然一些机构不得不东拼西凑以适应变革中的技术需求，但是欧林学院一次性做到位——从无到有。其结果是一套更完整更前瞻的信息技术处理方法。
The college has a 24/7 laptop loan program, which allows students to be in constant communication with each other and helps encourage them to work together on projects, so that “you’ll see students that go out and use things like Google Docs,” editing online in real time, she said.
他表示，该学校有全天候的便携电脑租借程序，可以让学生彼此不间断的沟通，并帮助他们在学习项目上合作，因此，“你会看到学生四处走动，使用诸如Google文档等软件”实时编辑在线文档。
Freshmen come in to the college already well acquainted with social networking and used to course management software, mainly because of its increasing use in high school, Kossuth said. They use a campus-hosted wiki to find rides. They work with administrators to improve software offerings. In other words, the students are at the cutting edge, while some faculty are working to catch up.
克苏表示，刚入学的新生已经非常熟悉社会化网络并习惯于课程管理软件，主要是因为在高中的使用日益增多。他们使用基于校园的维基来寻找便车。他们与管理员一起工作，改善软件服务。换而言之，学生们处在前沿，而某些教师却在努力追赶。
“I’m a firm believer that the students that are up and coming are the ones that are driving the adoption, because they’re coming with a set of expectations,” Kossuth explained.
克苏解释道：“我坚信，生气勃勃的学生们正是推动技术使用的人，因为他们对于技术的使用有着全面的期望。”
Still, in this tech-savvy environment, some face-to-face interaction is still preferred. At the help desk, she said, proposals for chat and text messaging services met with skepticism because students preferred to e-mail or come in themselves. In general, the ECAR report found a number of negative comments about help desks’ effectiveness, suggesting their importance to a smooth IT operation.
不过，在这个技术至上的环境中，某些面对面的互动仍然是首选。站在服务台前，他说，关于聊天室和短信服务的提案遭遇质疑，是因为学生首选电子邮件或者亲历亲为。一般说来，ECAR报告发现了一些有关服务台效用的负面评论，显示了顺利运营信息技术的重要性。
Other Findings
其他调查结果
The report also highlighted a number of gaps and trends through longitudinal comparisons of the past three years’ worth of survey data:
通过中相比较过去三年的调查数据，该报告还重点提出了一些差距和趋势：
Leisure devices, such as handheld video and music players (read: iPods), have transcended the gender gap. Where there used to be a difference between males’ and females’ ownership of the players just two years ago, the gap has disappeared, with 83.1 percent of 18- to 19-year-olds owning one.
休闲设备，如手持视频和音乐播放器（如iPod），已经跨越了性别差距。虽在仅仅在两年前，男性女性持有者之间还有很大不同，但是现在这种差距已经消失，83.1%的十八九岁青年都有一台。
Engineering and business students use more technology, especially for spreadsheets and graphics editing, and males are more likely to spend more extreme amounts of time online.
工程和商业学生更多实用技术，尤其是电子表格和图形编辑，并且男性更愿意花费更多的时间到网上。
The report also finds challenges in addressing skills gaps for using spreadsheets and CMS software, highlighting the need for colleges to provide instructional technology to bring students up to speed.
该报告也发现一些挑战，如应对使用电子表格和课程管理系统软件方面的技能差距，关注学校对提供能够加快学生学习的教育技术的需求。
Next year, for the first time, the ECAR survey will additionally focus on a specific aspect of IT. The first topic: social networking.
明年，ECAR调查，将第一次进一步关注信息技术的特定方面。第一主题：社会化网络。
— Andy Guess
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