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Picture you’re idea of a typical college learning environment. Do you see students scribbling notes while the professor lectures in front of a chalkboard? Are desks littered with paper, pens, and giant textbooks? Are students in the library quizzing themselves with flashcards and pouring over pages of hand-written notes? Well if this is how you envision college learning then you, my friend, are sadly mistaken.
The students wandering around today’s universities are part of the most plugged-in generation to ever step foot on a college campus. They live on social media, turn to Google to answer all of life’s important questions (type “how to” into the Google search bar and one of the top auto-complete options is “cure a hangover”), and are glued to their smart phones. It’s only natural their technology dependency would spread to the classroom as well.
Walking into a college lecture nowadays is like walking into the cockpit of the Starship Enterprise. Spiral notebooks have been replaced by laptops with note-taking software such as Microsoft OneNote or Evernote. Why take notes by hand when most students type at lightning speed, and the backspace button is so much more convenient than an eraser? Hey remember those things called overhead projectors with the clear slides? Well those have been banished to the dinosaur age to be replaced by touchscreen-controlled projectors and digital overheads that all link to the central classroom computer. In fact, in many schools the entire classroom, from the lights and projection screen to the wireless connectivity, can be controlled from a central workstation. No more coughing on chalk dust either – Smartboards in classrooms allow professors to write on a white board and have the notes digitally saved online for students to peruse later.
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“Is this Econ 101?” “No that’s down the hall”
The classroom isn’t the only place students are merging college with their technology habit. They use online tools to track everything about their education including class assignments, grades, group collaboration, and course requirements. Online classes are also becoming increasingly popular, particularly among graduate students or those with full time jobs, since they can attend from virtually anywhere. In research done by Presta Electronics, it is estimated that by 2014 over 18 million students will take at least some of their classes online. The below infographic from Mashable summs up how students are using technology to further their education.
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With all of this digital integration built into the higher education system now, it means that students are spending even more time with their electronic devices. Laptops, tablets, and smartphones are being used more than ever by these tech-savvy co-eds, meaning sales of digital tools for learning are on the rise. E-textbook sales are growing, and software used for managing assignments or increasing group collaboration (like file sharing) is becoming more and more popular among this demographic.
So what does this mean for brands? With all the time students are spending online both in and out of the classroom, digital content is a great way to reach them. It also means that any services or tools a brand can offer to make a student’s classroom life easier would create a positive brand image among millennials, and bring your brand into an important aspect of student life. I know the general perception is that college is all beer-chugging, music-bumping, rage-til-you-drop parties and questionable life decisions, but surprisingly most students actually do learn a few things in their four years on campus (not saying that other stuff doesn’t happen too). Brands who find a way to engage with them on an educational level in addition to a social level will have a huge advantage in the student market.
