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The relation of prior IT usage, IT skills and field of study:
A multiple correspondence analysis of first-year students
at a University of Technology
Bettina Mair
Martin Ebner
Walther Nagler
Sarah Edelsbrunner
Sandra Schön
EdMedia Conference 2021

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TU Graz, Educational Technology, www.tugraz.at
Dr. Sandra Schön
Universitas Negeri Malang, Indonesia
Graz University of Technology, Austria

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Introduction
As service center for e-learning we
perceive differences of new students
according to their selected study
fields.
Are they really there?

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Research Questions
• Are there differences and similarities between
students of various fields of study at TU Graz in
terms of prior knowledge, behaviour and
equipment around IT and digital learning?
• If this is the case, does it make sense to adapt the
strategies of the Educational Technology
Department targeting first-year students based on
their study subjects or groups of study subjects?

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Research Approach
Basis: Annually survey of study beginners (N=955)
Method: Multiple Correspondence Analysis
Used Variables:
• the general extent of IT usage
• as well as the extent of IT usage for learning
• the IT skills
• the frequency of participation in online courses
• If did or did not learn elementary coding basics at school
• the extent of IT usage in class during their middle school days

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Results: Plot of column points: Spatial distribution of students in different fields
of study based on their IT skills and usage

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Parameters of the column points

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Plot of row points: Spatial distribution of the students IT skills and usage

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Parameters of the row points

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Discussion
Strength & weakness of MCA
Variable IT skills measures really advanced skills
We are awaiting for changes due to COVID-19 pandemic

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Licensing of the contribution
These slides can be used under the terms of the
CC License CC BY 4.0 International
(https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ ).
Please use, if applicable, the links and references as
attribution for individual illustrations.

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Full paper
Mair, B., Ebner, M., Nagler, W.,
Edelsbrunner, S., & Schön, S. (2021). The
relation of prior IT usage, IT skills and
field of study: A multiple
correspondence analysis of first-year
students at a University of Technology.
Submission to Edmedia 2021. Preprint
available at ResearchGate:
https://www.researchgate.net/publicatio
n/352991830_The_relation_of_prior_IT_
usage_IT_skills_and_field_of_study_A_m
ultiple_correspondence_analysis_of_first-
year_students_at_a_University_of_Techn
ology

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EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY
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LIFE LONG LEARNING
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SCHLÜSSELKOMPETENZEN
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Dr. Martin Ebner
Kontakt: martin.ebner@tugraz.at
Dr. Sandra Schön
Kontakt: sandra.schoen@tugraz.at