ECAR - EDUCAUSE Center for Applied Research the mission of that is to foster better decision making by conducting and disseminating research and analysis about the role and implications of information technology in higher education conducted the research in 2007 that is a longitudinal extension of the 2004, 2005, and 2006 ECAR studies of students and information technology. The study interviews 7,846 freshman, senior, and community college students at 103 higher education institutions.

According to the ECAR Study of Undergraduate Students and Information Technology, 2007 the research studies what kinds of information technologies students use, own, and experience; their technology behaviors, preferences, and skills; how IT impacts their experiences in their courses; and their perceptions of the role of IT in the academic experience.

The study shows that:

59.3 percent of students prefer a moderate amount of information technology in the courses and the older respondents, males and engineering students prefer somewhat more IT in courses.
Respondents who consider themselves early adopters they prefer more technology in the courses.

Most respondents were using a course management system, spreadsheets, course web sites, and presentation software in their courses the quarter/semester of the survey.

Senior reported more use of spreadsheets and presentation software in the courses, and freshmen reported more use of Web sites, online social Networking and IM.

53.3 percent prefer programs they can control. 1/3 prefer to learn by contributing content to Web sites or through text based conversations.

52.4 percent use laptops in class. 25 percent bring laptops to class weekly.

CMS use increased (82 percent)

Though the statistics is not much changed from 2005 results

90 percent of the respondents use CMS

58.2 percent agree that constructors use IT well in the courses but 13.6 percent disagrees.

ECAR indicates that it is evolutionary rather than revolutionary change that is revealed by the study. The benefit of the technology is more productive when it is utilized correctly. In the case of educational institutions the cooperation between students and instructors should be on a higher level. Only right attitudes give desirable results.