Descriptive Study of College Bound Rural Youth of AP, India

Pedagogical literature is generally rich with references to digitally savvy students, operating at twitch speed. This creates pressure on instructors, pedagogies, educational technologies to primarily cater to these digital natives. This paper conducts a descriptive study of students of rural AP to see if indeed Indian tier 2-3 students are of this caliber and description. Should the digital natives model be used for rural Indian student profile as well? Findings from our survey based study reveal that of the (N=372) tier 2, 3 students only 50% own a PC, only 41% surf the web, and of those who surf, it is mostly consumption behavior with social intent. And finally, while the confidence in learning and skills is high, English comprehension skills is poor. We feel that this profile of students is in contrast to the computer savvy image being projected, and should inform emerging educational technology projects aimed for rural India.