Online education

Students: School a Technology Downgrade

Teenagers are speaking up once again—stating that, in technology, school is a big downgrade from what they experience, and expect, in the rest of their lives.

That message comes through in new data from Project Tomorrow, the nonprofit group, once called NetDay, that has surveyed school communities across the United States since 1993.

The Speak Up 2008 survey, conducted last fall, found a huge growth in the numbers of students who say they are completing schoolwork with the help of Web 2.0 tools such as e-mail, IM, and texting (up by 27 percent from 2007), and social networking sites to collaborate with classmates (up by 150 percent from 2007).

It also found that though relatively few students currently engage in online learning, many more (40 percent of high schoolers, 35 percent of middle schoolers, and 15 percent of upper-elementary students) are interested in taking an online class.

In the survey results released Tuesday, students said they were not satisfied with the technology use at their schools.

Students singled out, as the prime obstacles to technology use: school filters and firewalls, which block Web sites they need; teachers limiting their use of technology; school rules barring students from using their own devices, accessing their communications tools, and even limiting the use of school technology.

Students said their school could give them the greatest assist toward working electronically by letting them use their own laptops, cellphones, or other mobile devices. Second, schools could help by providing students with unlimited Internet access, and third, by letting them access their school projects from any computer, at home or school, according to the survey.

Julie Evans, the CEO of Project Tomorrow, presented the findings on Capitol Hill, at a House-side meeting room full of mostly youthful congressional staffers, who presumably work on education and technology issues for members of Congress.

At the meeting, which I attended, Evans said many of the 868 participating school districts are using their data, and the national comparisons, to inform their decisions on spending their federal economic stimulus funding, some of which can be used for technology.

The online survey was completed by 281,500 K-12 students from all 50 states, but it was not just students who were speaking. An additional 29,644 teachers, 21,309 parents, and 3,114 school administrators provided their views, which make for some interesting contrasts. Educators, for example, were much more sanguine, compared to students and parents, about how well students are being prepared for their futures.

Laptops Top the Want List

As in years past, students at every grade level said that the No. 1 technology tool or service that would impact their learning would be a laptop for their personal use at school and at home.

But Evans said that she interprets the laptop demand as “a proxy or a gateway to having control over technology.”

She said students want technology in order to create: 1. untethered learning, 2. new learning spaces, 3. social-based learning, 4. relevancy through digital resources, 5. and learning beyond classroom walls.

Editor’s Note: I will attempt to post a few data charts from the survey over the next few days, as I figure out how to do it technically.–AT

© 2009 Digital Education Today.