Media Usage Survey: Overall Comparison of Faculty and Students

Abstract: Recent developments in the use of technologies in education have provided unique opportunities for teaching and learning. This paper describes the results of a survey conducted at Western University (Canada) in 2013, regarding the use of media by students and instructors. The results of this study support the assumption that the media usage of students and instructors include a mixture of traditional and new media. The main traditional media continue to be important, and some new media have emerged as seemingly on equal footing or even more important than the traditional forms of media. Some new media that have recently been in the public spotlight do not seem to be as important as expected. These new media may still be emerging but it is not possible to know their ultimate importance at this point. There was some variation in media usage across different Faculties but perhaps not as much variation as might have been expected.