Paper or Digital? A Cross-Cultural Exploration of Students’ use of Paper and Pen versus Digital Media in University Environments

摘要

This paper investigates the impact of digital media on writing and reading within universities from different countries and it addresses the particular aspect of the student’s experiences of paper and pen versus digital media. This cross cultural study is based on the results of individual research conducted in ten countries in two continents by members of the COST Action FP1104, Work Group 1 – Customers and Users. The methodological approach used is qualitative content analysis of surveys originally conducted in the national language of each country with the results translated into English; the same research questions were used in each survey. The principal results show that there are many similarities between the countries studied but that some use pen and paper less whereas others are more prepared to use hand writing, this may link to the availability and use of digital technologies as well as to personal preferences. Reading and writing competencies are changing with the use of digital technologies but students still see benefits of reading and writing with paper which they continue to use, especially to convey private emotions and intimate feelings. This qualitative study provides new learning about the contrasting use of paper and digital media within an educational rather than business setting and on the uses of pen and paper for reading and writing. It provides the basis for further study and a quantitative survey in the same universities has commenced enabling opportunities for new scientific knowledge in this field of research.