Are Schools Inhibiting 21st Century Learning?
by Dave Nagel

This was an overview of an extensive survey by Project Tomorrow, regarding educational technology. Briefly stated the authorities(teachers,parents,administrators) thought it was going well, however, students wanted more. The Speak Up survey is conducted annually to assess views on current issues in education, The group had expected about 325,000 individuals to participate in Speak Up 2007, a goal that was exceeded by some 42,000 participants, which included 319,223 students, 25,544 teachers, 19,726 parents, and 3,263 administrators.

Here are some stats the survey came away with:

What did teachers have to say about education technology in the 2007 Speak Up survey?
33% identified themselves as technology experts, with 56 percent claiming to be average technology users.

Technologies most used by teachers: e-mail and IM (93%), PowerPoint (59%), listening to podcasts or watching online video (35%).

Most common use of education technology: homework and practice (51%).

Three most important skills for students to learn: communication (80%), effective use of technology (73%), complex problem solving (63%).

Administrator Perspectives
The point of view of "school leaders" (administrators, technology directors, board members, etc.) was quite different from those of other groups in some ways.
Their top-3 concerns include standardized testing (51%), funding (47%), and school safety (40%).

When the 2007 Speak Up survey asked parents what features an ideal school portal/Web site would have, they indicated the following:
Access to homework assignments (70%)
Online IM with teachers/principals (65%)
Access to student data, including attendance, grades, etc. (65%)
School calendar (56%)
Emergency information (36%)

Here are the top-3 technologies teachers and administrators chose to equip the "ultimate school for 21st century learners."
Teachers
1:1 laptop program (58%)
Access to online research database (47%)
Interactive whiteboards in every classroom (45%)
Administrators
1:1 laptop program (56%)
Access to online research database (49%)
Interactive whiteboards in every classroom (45%)
The lowest for administrators were "unlimited student access to the Internet" (12%) and "games/virtual simulations" (15%).
The lowest for teachers were Web 2.0 technologies, including blogs and wikis (10%) and unlimited student access to the Internet (11%).

I found this article to be very interesting and entertaining. The educational arena has definitely been changed. It is clear that students truly desire technology to be woven throughout all avenues of learning in the classes they take. I think it will be very interesting to see what our public schools start to look like in the very near future. I firmly believe we will see 1:1 laptop programs at many schools, as well as, many other tech programs that support education through this amazing venue called technology.

I'll leave you with this final quote from the article,"Students continue to be on the leading edge in terms of adopting, modifying and re-using digital content and technology tools to enrich both their personal and educational lives. The students in many ways are far ahead of their teachers and parents not only in the sophistication of their technology use, but in the adoption of emerging technologies for learning purposes," said Project Tomorrow CEO Julie Evans, in a statements released to coincide with the survey release. "It is in our nation's best interest that we support and facilitate student usage of technology for learning."