The biggest takeaway: Most teachers aren’t confident teaching higher-level technology skills. Teachers know there’s value in helping students build higher-level tech skills such as data analytics, computer programming, and robotics, but only 10 percent of K-12 teachers say they feel confident incorporating this kind of technology into student learning.
Sixty-four percent of K-12 teachers say they feel more emphasis should be placed on teaching technology. More schools offer computer fundamentals (76 percent), graphic design (66 percent), engineering (63 percent), and robotics (58 percent) than computer programming (54 percent), app design and creation (35 percent), and data analytics (20 percent).
Active and passive technology consumption are very different, and surveyed teachers say 60 percent of their classroom technology use is passive, such as watching videos or reading websites. Just 32 percent of technology use is active, meaning students are creating, such as coding, producing videos, or performing data analysis. It is this active technology consumption, experts say, that helps students develop and practice the high-level skills they’ll need for workforce success.
Teachers also say they want more from their school districts–79 percent say they want more professional development for tech-related subjects so they can build confidence as they teach those higher-level skills.
Students’ lack of home access to tech tools and the internet makes it more difficult for teachers to integrate higher-level technology skills into the classroom. Forty-eight percent of teachers say their students lack home device access, and 54 percent say their students don’t have home internet access. Only 36 percent of teachers say their school has at least one device per student.
Students in underserved schools are even more likely to lack access to technology at home. A significant portion of teachers in these schools say many students do not have home access to devices (64 percent) or the internet (69 percent). By contrast, only about one-third of teachers in affluent schools say some students lack access to devices or the internet at home, 27 percent and 30 percent, respectively.
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