Where, When and How do University Students acquire their ICT Skills?

This paper presents initial findings from the Media Technologies: CitationAccess and Use survey 2003 (MTAU2003) carried out at the Open University and compares them with findings from other available data including the CitationSEUSISS Project Final Report (2003). Amongst other issues, the survey provides evidence of OU student’s self-assessed familiarity with ICT tools and where the students learned their ICT skills. It also explores the frequency and usefulness of the ICT-enabled contact between students, their tutors, other students, and their family and friends.The paper identifies a possible area of common concern for conventional UK universities and the Open University in this age of e-learning, when so many learning resources are made available on-line. This is with how and where students are learning to use the tools with which they will manipulate these resources and whether the ICT skills they develop outside of the university are transferable to an academic environment.