Tools Used to Access GAFE
Students identified platforms they used to access GAFE. Researcher objectives were to differentiate between networked computer access and networked smartphone or tablet access, to evaluate multiple platform usability as a cloud-based (rather than locally installed) application, and to specify the ownership of the devices in order to roughly determine their access to technology. Students could select any platform(s) that applied. As results in Table 3 and Figure 2 suggest, most students accessed GAFE using a personal computer and/or a school-owned computer. Laptop and desktop computers were combined as a single platform to represent the closing gap between desktop and laptop costs, numbers, and experiences, and to differentiate the “computer” experience of Google Drive from the mobile experience (represented here by smartphone and tablet device). Although 93% of students accessed Google Drive from a personal laptop or desktop, other platforms received high percentages (see Table 3 and Figure 2). Because respondents could select all options that applied, the data demonstrated that students accessed Google Drive from multiple platforms during the study, even though they may have preferred one platform over another