The use of the internet in university courses. A comparison.

When I studied my bachelor's degree from 2005-2009 I used my computer every day. But mostly because I love using my computer, browsing through the world wide web etc…I cannot really remember when I would have needed it for my courses, except for the case of writing my assignments on it and searching for books in the library. Oh yes, moreover we were able to apply for a course online, which was mostly combined with frustration, because the site couldn't cope with the traffic as too many people had to apply at the same time. 

Someone just asked me "What's the difference between studying in Germany and the UK?" The first thing that came to my mind was "The use of Social Media or in general: The internet." 
At BCU I can get all my readings online, every course has its own site with all the information on it that I need. I can download the slides, readings and sometimes even the recorded classes. Students and tutors use the forums to communicate. Well, we also had a forum in Germany, I must admit, needless to say that it's not like the internet is ignored. But in my opinion it isn't used as it could be. I don't think that a twitter account is a must, here at BCU getting one was one of the first things we were told to do. Not because of twitter getting more and more important, but also for the communication between students and tutors, networking etc. . 

I already heard some negative voices about Moodle (the university website with all the forums, courses etc. on it), but I must say: A site like that should be set up for every university. During my bachelor's degree I didn't have the opportunity to see who's in my course and contact them, there was no forum for every course, just general ones, if I wanted to download readings or lecture notes I had to use the computers at university as they were put on its server (given that they were actually provided). Moreover I never saw a tutor recording his lectures and making them available online. Social Media wasn't used at all.
At BCU I'm attending a "Social Media skills" course in addition to the use of twitter, Facebook groups and blogs (some courses' mandatory part is the students posting on a course blog) and being introduced to a lot of other useful sites like delicious, posterous etc.. 

And for all of those who might say "Well, that's just because you're studying "Online Journalism": a friend of mine is studying music industries, they are working with a blog and twitter in their course. The use of social media may actually be higher than in courses outside the Media School, I'm pretty sure. But nevertheless Moodle's a tool for every student. And in addition to that I think that not only media students should integrate the use of social media and the internet in their daily work flow. This is definitely also useful for other groups, as people aren't only speaking about journalism and music on twitter or writing about news and bands on their blogs... Social Media and the Internet is for everyone. But that's not a new conclusion. 

But the use of the internet at universities in Germany may have changed. After all it's been two years since I ended my BA-studies and sites like Facebook or Twitter weren't as popular when I started/studied as they are now (or didn't even exist, yet). A friend told me that they've got a site like moodle at their university, furthermore there will be a conference about social media and journalism in November (I'd definitely join that if I would be in Germany at that time). 

But nevertheless, I don't think I could use the same resources at every German university as I can at BCU. The internet isn't seen as a helpful, but necessary tool. Even a class about project management was combined with showing helpful resources - on the internet. 

So when I did my bachelor's degree, not having a computer would've actually been manageable. Now it would be quite a problem. 

p.s.: all of this is of course based on my personal impression, if anyone thinks I'm wrong about the use of social media and the internet at german universities, please feel free to correct me. It'd be very interesting for me, too.