The use of new media in teaching requires media literacy of both groups: Teachers have to be able to use the media in a didactic and in a technical way. On the other side, and against the popular saying of the ‘digital natives’, students need support to use media in learning as well. In our opinion, overrating of the ‘net generation’ hinders the realization of media-based learning arrangements, because teachers are not always aware that students on the average do not always sufficiently know how to apply digital media. This insight lead to the concept of a “media curriculum” (Hofhues 2012, Hoffmann 2012) at the faculty of Business and Social Science HAW Hamburg, To put this concept to the test a survey was undertaken to find out what students know about using digital media, how they use them and what kind of support they wish

1. Implementing a ‘Media Curriculum’
at the Hamburg University of
Applied Sciences.
Findings from a Students’ Survey
Christine Hoffmann|Marianne
Wefelnberg
HAW Hamburg

2. Agenda
• The “Media Curriculum” of the “Faculty
of Business and Social Sciences” the
University of Applied Sciences Hamburg
• The students’ survey
• Results/Discussion
• Resumé

3. The “Media Curriculum”

4. Aim of the Survey
• To prove assumptions made in the media
curriculum
– A large number of students depends on lecturers’
advice when using software
– Students’ software user habits are uniform
• Answers on questions on our target groups
– Differences between departments
– Differences within gender
– How is students’ self estimation on their computer
(media) literacy?

5. Method
• Online Questionnaire (90 items)
• Mostly closed questions/ Possibility to
complement the given answers with freetext
• Target group (students of the faculty “Business
and Social Science”)
• Analysis of the data with simple descriptive
statistic methods: frequency and
crosstabulations
• Questionnaire was open for 3 weeks

6. Results
• Participants (9.3% (N=307) of 3290)
• Quotes of gender and department
membership correlate with the original
sample except the Quote of Male Business
Students (10% instead of 19%)
• Additional limitations: Probably students’
online affinity is higher than those of students
on average

7. Standard Software rather than Open
Source?
.0
10.0
20.0
30.0
40.0
50.0
60.0
70.0
make full
use of it
know it
basically
have never
used it
do not
know it
Microsoft Word
Open Office/Libre Office
.0
10.0
20.0
30.0
40.0
50.0
60.0
70.0
80.0
make full use of itknow it basicallyhave never used itdo not know it
Microsoft Excel
MAXQDA
.0
10.0
20.0
30.0
40.0
50.0
60.0
70.0
80.0
90.0
make full use
of it
know it
basically
have never
used it
do not know it
Refworks
Zotero
.0
10.0
20.0
30.0
40.0
50.0
60.0
70.0
80.0
90.0
use it do not use it do not know it
E-Portfolio
Facebook

8. Choosing software
0.00%
10.00%
20.00%
30.00%
40.00%
50.00%
60.00%
70.00%
80.00%
90.00%
100.00%
word processing data analysis presentation
software
reference
management
social networks instant
messenging/video
calls
other web 2.0
services
for studies (lecturers proposing)
for studies (own initiative)
for internship
privately

9. Selfconcept using IT
.0%
10.0%
20.0%
30.0%
40.0%
50.0%
60.0%
70.0%
80.0%
Yes Rather yes Rather no No
total female male
.0%
10.0%
20.0%
30.0%
40.0%
50.0%
60.0%
70.0%
80.0%
Yes Rather yes Rather no No
total Nursing and Management
Public Management Social Work
Business
“I feel self-assured using a PC”

10. Selfconcept Using IT
.0%
10.0%
20.0%
30.0%
40.0%
50.0%
60.0%
70.0%
Yes Rather yes Rather no No
total female male
.0%
5.0%
10.0%
15.0%
20.0%
25.0%
30.0%
35.0%
40.0%
45.0%
Yes Rather yes Rather no No
total female male
I would like to be more courageous
when using a PC.
I keep on informing myself
on new IT developments.

11. Wish and Need for Support
78.5%
5.5%
54.1%
81.1%
5.9%
2.9%
18.6%
8.8%
.0% 10.0% 20.0% 30.0% 40.0% 50.0% 60.0% 70.0% 80.0% 90.0%
…I call a friend on the phone
…I skype with s.o.
...I have a look at the help menu
...I use Google search
...I post the problem on Facebook
…I will buy a manual
..I will have later a second look at the problem
…I do not know, what to do
If you have got a problem with the PC oder a program, you…
.0%
10.0%
20.0%
30.0%
40.0%
50.0%
60.0%
70.0%
No, I am solving my
problems on my own
No, I already got s.o. to
help me.
No, I prefer to ask my
lecturer
Yes, such an offer would
be helpful
Gesamt
weiblich
männlich
Individual support:
Are you interested?

12. Interest on Knowledge on Media
.0%
10.0%
20.0%
30.0%
40.0%
50.0%
60.0%
online-law, digital
rights
social impact international
networking and
globalisation
quality rating of
online sources
rating the
impact, benefit and
risks for my personal
reputation
basic principles of
programming
No, I am not
interested.
total Nursing and Management Public Management Social Work Business

13. Resumé
• Students learn from their teachers to choose
software for academic work
• Private use of software passes into academic
area.
• Use of software is homogenous.
• Social roles seem to determine students’ self
estimation, but seem to have no influence on
real performance. (Gender and department !)

14. Thank you for your interest!
This project is funded by the German Federal Ministry of
Education and Research (grant No. 01PL11046). All responsibility
lies with the authors.

15. References
• Hofhues, S. and Hoffmann, C. (2012) ‘Improving Media Literacy in Universities. Insight into
Conception and Implementation of a Media Curriculum’, EDULEARN12 Proceedings. 4th
International Conference on Education and New Learning Technologies, International Association of
Technology, Education and Development (IATED), Barcelona, pp. 7670 - 7677.
• Hoffmann,C. and Hofhues, S. (2012) ‘Akademische Medienkompetenzförderung an der Hochschule:
Einblicke in Konzeption und Implementierung eines Mediencurriculums‘, in Service Agentur des
Hochschulverbundes Distance Learning Fernstudium und Weiterbildung – Zwischen Medienlust und
Medienfrust. Brandenburg/ Havel, pp. 20-40, Available: http://www.hdl-
fernstudium.de/images/AWW-HDL/pdf/tagungsband%202012.pdf [17 May 2013]
• Oblinger, D. G. and Oblinger, J. L. (2005) Is it Age or IT: First steps toward understanding the Net
Generation, in Oblinger, D. G./Oblinger, J. L. (ed.) Educating the Net Generation, Washington:
Educause. Available: http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/pub7101.pdf [14 May 2013]
• Prensky, M (2001) ‘Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants. On the Horizon’ [Electronic]. vol. 9, no.
5, Available: http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/Prensky%20-
%20Digital%20Natives,%20Digital%20Immigrants%20-%20Part1.pdf [17 May 2013]
• Schulmeister, R. (2009) Gibt es eine „Net Generation“?, enhanced version 3.0. Hamburg: University
of Hamburg. Available: http://www.zhw.uni-hamburg.de/uploads/schulmeister_net-
generation_v3.pdf, 10.05.2013.