How University Students Use Technologies to Learn: A Survey about PLE in Spain

Abstract

Personal Learning Environments –or PLEs as they are widely referred to– have aroused significant interest amongst researchers in the last five years and they were the specific subject of study in the project known as CAPPLE. This paper provides a complete overview of the whole project, whose main aim was to carry out an exploratory analysis of the PLEs of final year Spanish university students. The study used a descriptive quantitative method which was applied in the form of a survey. The sample size was 2054, and our main findings show that despite their level of digital competence when learning university students adhere to a more traditional role. For example, they prefer paper to write down things or to study rather than the possibilities offered by specific technological tools. These reasons have enabled us to put forward various institutional recommendations which will open up interesting lines of future research.