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Introduction || Activities || Draft of Scanning Study || Suggestions


What is a Scanning Study?
In order to help users decide which few issues most deserve more attention, research, or action, a "scanning study" asks one or two questions about each of a large number of issues. A scanning study can also be used for other purposes, such as providing more context for discussions of the program and its improvement.


Why do a Scanning Survey?
A faculty member might do a survey that scans student use of many readings and assignments, asking (for example) whether the resource was used and whether it was appropriate and useful for its purpose. A department might scan across a variety of educationally significant activities (time spent studying, design work, student-faculty interaction, ....) to see how prevalent each one is and whether available technology is being used to support them. A distance learning program might ask dropouts, continuing students, and graduates about each of a large number of technology-based services.

To repeat: a scanning study takes a broad, shallow look at lots of issues, looking for hints about which of those issues deserves a closer look.

Imagine, for example, that your engineering department does a scanning study that takes a quick look at many different educational uses of technology in your program. Suppose that the findings hint that few students are doing much design work and that relatively few of those students believe that computers aid them in doing more ambitious designs.

This finding might alarm some people, especially if a major reason for buying computer design software and hardware in the last three years was to help students do more creative design or research. Conceivably, the scanning study might have misled them. Because it was a scanning survey looking at a dozen uses of technology, it only asked one or two questions about design, and it only asked students, not faculty.

Nonetheless the scanning study did its job. It alerted the department that 'design' deserves more attention. Next, for example, the department might do a proof study to check on the appropriateness of the infrastructure for design work or on whether design practice is actually helping graduates become better designers. Or the department might develop diagnostic surveys to understand the barriers that are discouraging design work and student use of design software.

In other words, the goal of the scanning study is simply to help you decide where to focus your attention. If you think you already know where the issues are, you may not need to do a scan.

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