Students say the more mobile tech, the better
“Mobile learning” is one of the most commonly-heard phrases in education today, and research continually reinforces the fact that this learning approach has a positive impact on students.
Ninety percent of students in grades 4-12 said they believe tablets will change the way future students learn, and 89 percent said that using tablets makes learning more fun, according to a new study of more than 2,250 students from Pearson and Harris Poll.
Eighty-one percent of students said they agree that using tablets in the classroom helps them personalize their learning, and 79 percent said tablets help them perform better in class.
(Next page: How many students use tablets?)
When it comes to tablet use, 66 percent of students in grades 4-5, 58 percent of those in grades 6-8, and 42 percent of those in grades 9-12 use tablets regularly.
Forty-four percent of grades 4-5 students, 58 percent of grades 6-8 students, and 75 percent of grades 9-12 students use smartphones regularly.
Despite school districts’ goals to go mobile, either through BYOD or through a one-to-one initiative involving a district-owned device, only 16 percent of students attends a school that gives every student a laptop or tablet.
Twenty-seven percent of students access laptops and tablets at school through shared, in-class computers; 35 percent access them through a computer lab; 43 percent of students feel it is important that their school provide them with a tablet in a one-to-one program, and 51 percent said they think it is important that their schools give them a laptop for one-to-one learning.
Overall, students want mobile, and they want more of it: 71 percent of elementary school students, 67 percent of middle school students, and 56 percent of high school students said they would like to use mobile devices in the classroom more often than they do now.
Part of the barrier to this is access. Sixty-two percent of students have wireless internet access at school, versus 93 percent of surveyed students who have wireless access at home.
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