Students Lack Opportunities to Use Tech in Class, Report Finds

While many high school educators consider technology as a teaching tool, they don't use it as a learning tool for their students, according to a report released today.

An online survey of 1,004 high school students, faculty and district IT professionals*, called the CDW-G 2010 21st-Century Classroom Report, shows that schools still have a ways to go as they strive to teach and learn with technology.

By the numbers:

• 60 percent of students say their teachers regularly use technology to teach, but only 26 percent of the students say they can use technology to learn.
   
• 84 percent of students say technology is important to their education, and more than half of them say they will be ready to use technology in college or the work force (57 percent).
   
• 18 percent of faculty members say they've fully integrated technology into their classes, but 9 percent of students say their teachers have fully integrated technology into their classes
   
• 71 percent of faculty members either don't receive guidance from their district and department or don't apply the guidance they receive on providing tech-rich assignments for students.
   
• 64 percent of faculty members don't usually talk to students about 21st-century skills including creativity, innovation, critical thinking, problem solving, digital citizenship and communication.
   
• 47 percent of teachers do not design lesson plans that allow students to use technology or incorporate students' feedback into their lessons.
   

The report suggests that schools should use more of the technology that students and teachers use in their personal lives. For example, 78 percent of students use iPods and MP3 players, but 29 percent of them use those tools in school.

The same goes for faculty members. Of the 62 percent of teachers who use iPods and MP3 players, 13 percent use them for educational purposes. Similar differences appear with smart phones, blogs, digital content, podcasts and online text or video chats.

For some examples of teachers who are allowing students to use tech tools like these in their classrooms, check out these stories:

• How to Teach with Tech Tools
  
  
• Skype Connects Classrooms Around the World
   
• Portland Social Media Project Ignites Passion for Learning
   

What are you doing to mix tech tools into your classroom?

*Survey methodology:
1,004 full sample: +/- 3 percent margin of error
400 students: +/- 4.9 percent margin of error
302 faculty: +/- 5.6 percent margin of error
302 IT professionals: +/- 5.6 percent margin of error

Conducted by O'Keeffe & Co. in May