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Special Report: Powering the Digital Classroom

digital-devices

How students want to learn, and how they’re actually learning and using digital tools, doesn’t match up in many schools. How can education leaders balance this equation?

Julie Evans has seen these results before.

Evans’ organization, Project Tomorrow [1], is now in its 11th year of polling K-12 students about their experiences using technology, both at home and in school. This national survey, called “Speak Up,” also asks parents, teachers, and administrators about their ed-tech attitudes and experiences, and it’s the largest survey of its kind.

When Evans began reviewing the student responses to last year’s survey, she noted the continuation of a long-running trend: In too many cases, there seems to be a “disconnect” between how students say they want to learn and how they’re actually learning in the classroom.

(Next page: How to empower digital learning; Download a PDF of this report)

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For instance, 73 percent of students said they’d like to use a mobile device such as a smart phone or tablet to look up information online whenever they need it. Sixty-nine percent said they’d like to use a mobile device to record lectures or labs for review at a later date, and 61 percent said they’d like to use a mobile device to collaborate with their peers.

[Editor’s note: See “How do K-12 students want to learn? [2]“]

Yet, fewer than half of the high school students surveyed—42 percent of seniors, and just 36 percent of freshmen—said they’re allowed to use their smart phones in class for academic purposes. While three out of four high school seniors said they own a laptop, only 18 percent said they could use their personal laptop in class.

What’s more, there appears to be a similar disconnect between how students say they’re learning in school and how educators think they should learn.

Only 35 percent of K-12 administrators who responded to last year’s Speak Up survey said they don’t allow students to use their personal mobile devices in school—but if the student responses are to be believed, that doesn’t match up with the reality that most students are experiencing.

After years of conducting the survey, why does this disconnect between ed-tech ideals and realities persist—and what needs to happen to actually move the needle in schools?

“I think about this a lot,” Evans said.

Her responses to eSchool News were underscored by experts who’ve had success in transforming the nature of learning in K-12 schools—and all of them offered sound advice for what it will take to power true digital education.

‘A jet engine on a horse-drawn buggy’

One reason that educators’ views on K-12 digital learning don’t seem to match students’ realities is that “attitude changes about the value and use of digital tools and resources usually precede actual behavioral changes,” Evans noted.

So, “while we might see that administrators are now placing a higher value on the idea of mobile devices in the classroom …, those higher value statements are not always immediately matched by tangible changes,” she said—such as allowing students to use their own digital devices for learning.

Evans called these attitudinal changes “harbingers of movement toward new policies or programs.” But often, the lag time between changes in attitude and new school policies can take longer than a year. “It is rarely immediate,” she added.

The best way to move this process along, she said, is to “immerse administrators and teachers with the technology, so they can use it as a personal productivity tool.” The Speak Up survey results suggest that administrators who are mobile device users themselves “not only have a higher value proposition around mobile learning, but are more likely to have implemented it within their school or district.”

Even as behaviors begin to change, all too often this occurs without adequate planning. [Editor’s note: See “Experts: Don’t forget about IT infrastructure [3].”]

“Many schools and districts are continuing to try and retrofit a jet engine on a horse-drawn buggy,” Evans said. Instead, “we need to think about how to design or redesign ‘school’ so that it fits the needs of the 21st-century [learner].”

Figuring out how to pay for digital devices “is a good step,” she said—“but without purposeful planning, the effort is doomed.”

During a webinar hosted by the Alliance for Excellent Education [4] as part of Connected Educator Month in October, three school administrators who have led successful ed-tech initiatives agreed on the importance of careful planning.

“Strategy and vision are so important,” said Scott Smith, chief technology officer for the Mooresville Graded School District in North Carolina.

Lenny Schad, chief technology officer for the Houston Independent School District, remarked: “When I talk to people who are considering one-to-one or BYOD [initiatives], one of the first things I [ask them] is, ‘What is your strategy?’ Don’t follow trends. Sit down and think about your holistic strategy.”

“Lots of times, people lead these initiatives without doing groundwork ahead of time,” said Patrick Larkin, assistant superintendent for learning at the Burlington Public Schools in Massachusetts, which has given iPads to all high school students. “They talk about one-to-one as a solution, but they haven’t talked about the problem yet. … It’s not about technology; it’s about changing the way we do instruction in our schools.”

This last point is critical. Simply overlaying technology onto traditional teaching practices “will have only a limited impact on learning,” Evans said. “And sadly, the kids know this and see it every day. That’s why so many kids tell us each year that their frustration or disappointment with the use of technology at school is not about quantity, access, or quality—it’s about the unsophisticated use of the technology at their school. The kids know how they want to use these tools and how these tools can change the learning process, but … so many educators are either not thinking through the process or not up the task of transformation.”

A device for every task

Whether school districts give mobile devices to their students, or let students bring their own, digital learning initiatives are “not about the device,” Schad said.

“People tend to focus solely on that device and think magic will happen once they have it,” he said. Instead, K-12 leaders should focus on “instruction supported by technology.”

Smith said one of the most common questions he receives is how Mooresville chose its devices. “The device doesn’t matter,” he said. “It goes back to what you want to do [with it].”

Evans agreed that school district leaders should begin their planning by focusing on learning objectives first. But the type of device they choose matters, too, she countered.

“Tablets are great for lots of things, and so are laptops; the trick is to identify the right tool for the job at hand,” she said. “If your primary curricular objective is to have kids do a lot of writing, you are better served by purchasing a low-cost netbook or laptop than a tablet. To purchase tablets and then realize you need to add on keyboards indicates, to me, that maybe you did not do the up-front thinking that you should.”

Students are “way out in front of all of us on this,” Evans added. “We asked the students last year to identify for us their preferred device for a variety of academic tasks. The results pointed to a differentiation of devices that they wanted to use, based upon the inherent capabilities and roles of the devices. Create a presentation—kids want to use a laptop. Communicate or collaborate with peers—smart phone. Take notes in class—tablet. Read a book or article—digital reader.”

The idea of the ultimate one-to-one device for learning “is, in fact, a fallacy,” she said. “The kids are multi-mobilists and want to use a variety of appropriate devices for particular tasks.”

Marrying a digital learning initiative to one device is a mistake that could hinder its success, Larkin argued.

“Whatever decision you make, it’s a short-term decision,” he said. “Technology is changing so fast, and devices are changing so quickly.”

Alexandra Sneed, enterprise solutions marketing manager for Verizon Communications, agreed that flexibility is key.

“Educators and IT departments must be agile, collaborating with and among each other to ensure effective implementations for all involved,” she said. “Successful schools … have recognized that there is not a one-size-fits-all model—and that each entity will need to work within its environment to build the best model that works for its [students and staff].”

Time to rethink professional development?

Digital learning adoption requires the support of the entire community, Schad said, and K-12 leaders should avoid the mistake of thinking that adoption will occur immediately across the district.

“Districts need heavy involvement from the professional development, curriculum, and technology departments—all three are critical,” he said. “Principals also have to have buy-in.” Stakeholder buy-in is necessary from the get-go, he added, noting that districts can’t eliminate parents from the planning process or bring them in at the last minute.

Another mistake to avoid is delaying professional development, Larkin said.

“Whenever people are moving to [digital learning], they should be doing the professional development whether they are one, two, or five years away from implementation,” Larkin said. “You don’t need to wait to get teachers comfortable with using technology.”

Teachers’ lack of comfort with digital tools continues to be a major challenge, Evans said, despite all the professional development that is occurring in schools nationwide.

“With every question that we ask administrators about the challenges or barriers to using … technology tools more effectively in the classroom, the ‘teacher’ issues always come up: comfort, interest and skill,” she said. “I do not necessarily see this as a teacher problem, however—I think it points to three different challenges.”

First, district leaders need to rethink how they approach professional development, Evans said, because the current methods are not resulting in either sustained comfort or self-directed learning. “Why keep doing the same thing over and over if we want different results?” she asked.

Second, administrators must “realistically appreciate” what it takes for teachers to adopt digital learning in the classroom, she said. It’s not enough just to offer training; administrators also must provide release time, encourage experimentation, support innovation, and value trial and error.

Third, “our teacher preparation programs need to rethink how they are preparing the next generation of teachers, how they are identifying student teaching classrooms, and how they are identifying the needs of their partnering school districts for more digitally ready teachers,” Evans said. “We need to get to the heart of opening up new lines of communications between schools of education and school districts about the need for a different kind of teacher—and supporting the transition of the teacher from the ‘sage on the stage’ to this new role as learning guide or facilitator.”

Sneed said change management has to be an important consideration in moving to digital learning as well. Because the move “affects not only student learning but also student reporting, classroom instruction, standardized testing, technology resources, academic performance, and even school funding … it is not simply a change in instruction or technology,” she said— “it is a total change in culture.”

Change can be unsettling “for the most seasoned professionals,” she noted. “Therefore, addressing the concerns of staff and helping them understand their roles in the process is paramount.”

The bottom line is, “rather than asking how these tools can help us do the traditional or conventional things better, we should be asking: How can these technologies help us do better things to support student learning?” Evans said, quoting Harvard professor Chris Dede.

“I think this challenge … is the big barrier to moving the needle on real and authentic digital conversions,” she concluded.