“The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool.”

Greetings Techies:

We all have strong opinions about the relationships that exist between education and technology. But where does one turn if they are looking for data beyond personal experience? This week I had the opportunity look at a few educational technology research reports.

The two on which I chose to focus were:

 

http://www.tomorrow.org/speakup/

&

https://www.commonsensemedia.org/research

In the end I chose to focus most of my attention on the Common Sense Media research. I selected this because I have often come across articles from them or have seen them cited in others, so I felt that it would behoove me to familiarize myself with their work.

A Veritable Plethora of Data!

The Common Sense website features results of their wide range of research on all things kids and media. Below is a small sample of the various research topics they have explored:

Many of the reports contained made for fascinating reading. Not surprisingly, for the purposes of this blog, I chose to focus on the report entitled:

The Common Sense Census: Inside the 21st-Century Classroom”.

I found their report incredibly well laid out containing a full written report and a visual summary, much of which I include here.

The first statistic that stood out to me was the “Tools in the Classroom” results.  

Photo Credit: https://www.commonsensemedia.org/research/the-common-sense-census-inside-the-21st-century-classroom-2019

I was in no way surprised that video and video streaming in “king”. What is more interesting is the breakdown of the 42% of the people who did not report that video was at the top of the list. Image above show that 54% of the non-video voters (or around 20% of all participants) worked with “Productivity and presentation tools” which seems to be great news given that these are real world skills that will serve our students well. What is somewhat troubling is the fact that 25% of the non video voters (10.5% percent of the whole) spent time classroom time on “Digital creation tools”. One of the topics I have read about over the course of my graduate studies is how we are training kids to remain users of technology rather than become makers of technology. This data certainly seems to reinforce that concern.

The following slide also revealed some interesting information about teachers perceptions about the efficacy of the Digital tools they utilize.

Photo Credit: https://www.commonsensemedia.org/research/the-common-sense-census-inside-the-21st-century-classroom-2019

The first thing that stands out is the consistency of use of “core curricular programs”. With the exception of English (who follows closely at 87%) all of the core disciplines report using “core curricular programs” with a frequency of 93% of higher, while rating  the effectiveness of the programs between 24% (physical education) to 64%(Math). This seems to show that many educators are not convinced that the materials that are being utilized in schools is not particularly useful.

The top portion of the following slide may help to explain some of data above:

Photo Credit: https://www.commonsensemedia.org/research/the-common-sense-census-inside-the-21st-century-classroom-2019

Less than half of the teachers polled feel that the professional development that they receive is “very” or “extremely” effective. This certainly could affect the teachers’ opinions about the efficiency of the technology being used.

The fact that over a third of the teachers polled never use district purchased technology seems to reveal something about teachers’ attitudes over “forced” technology integration. One wonders how willingly the 54% that did use the technology did so.

And then there is this...

Photo Credit: https://www.commonsensemedia.org/research/the-common-sense-census-inside-the-21st-century-classroom-2019

sigh...I wish this surprised me...

I was also rather shocked with the data from the right side of this image:

Photo Credit: https://www.commonsensemedia.org/research/the-common-sense-census-inside-the-21st-century-classroom-2019

The fact that only a third of teachers feel that students’ learning would be negatively affected by limited access to technology at home seems to indicate a myriad of wasted opportunities.  

Closing Arguments:

Both Project Tomorrow: Speak Up and the Common Sense Media research groups offer a great deal of valuable information that would be worthwhile for any educator to consider when making decisions about technology. This is especially true of “Project Tomorrow” as it focuses on students’ perceptions.

The reality of my own classroom are mostly in line with the findings of the Common Sense Media Census. Like many teachers, I often find myself in the “I’m willing, but I am not sure how to begin” camp. But, I will keep reading, watching videos, and attending (self-selected) professional development until I get there...Darren