1. Ten Things Everyone
Should Know about
Students and Digital Learning
Julie Evans
Chief Executive Officer
Project Tomorrow
Speak Up 2013 National Findings

2. Ten Things Everyone Should Know about
Students and Digital Learning
• Get introduced to Speak Up
• Take a test
• Learn ten things
• Discuss and share ideas

3. Speak Up National Research Project
Annual national research project
 Using online surveys + focus groups
 Surveys for: K-12 Students, Teachers, Parents,
Administrators, Community Members
 Special: Pre-Service Teachers in Schools of Education
 Open for all K-12 schools and schools of education
 Schools, districts & colleges receive free report with their
own data
Inform policies, plans & programs
 Local: your stakeholder data
 State: state level data
 Federal: national findings
+ 3.4 million
surveys since
2003

4.  Power of local data
 Use data as input for planning
 To justify budget and purchasing decisions
.
 Inform new initiatives – as an evaluation tool
 As a tool to engage parents
 Demonstrate interest in students’ ideas
 Use for grant writing and fund development
 Content for professional development
 As a competitive tool
 To counteract mythology . . . . . . .
Why do
schools and
districts
participate in
Speak Up?

5. Commonly heard mythology
Examples of ed tech mythology
“New teachers don’t need any training in how to use
technology within teaching”
“Parents won’t accept online textbooks”
“Kids only want to use mobiles so that they can
text & play games in class”
“Online learning undercuts the role of the
teacher in learning.”
“There is so much great content online for teachers to use in the
classroom – so, what is the problem?”
“Put technology in the classroom and magically students will learn more!”

6. National reports and DC briefings
Available at www.tomorrow.org/speakup

7. Speak Up Goes to
Washington, DC
National Release of Speak Up 2013 National Findings
2014 Congressional Briefing
Tuesday, April 8, 20
http://www.tomorrow.org/speakup/speakup_congress.html

8. But just for you today …..
A special pre-release
of the
Speak Up 2013
national data findings

9. National Speak Up 2013 Participation: 403,292
K-12 Students
Teachers & Librarians
Parents (in English & Spanish)
School/District Administrators
Community Members (new this year!)
325,279
32,151
39,986
4,530
1,346
About the participating schools & districts
o
o
o
o
o
9,005 schools and 2,710
90% public schools – 10% private/parochial/charter/other
32% urban / 31% rural / 37% suburban
30% school wide Title 1; 43% majority minority school
All 50 states + DC + Guam + DODEA schools

10. Students & Digital Learning
What have we learned over the past 11 years?
 Students function as a “Digital Advance Team”
 Students regularly adopt and adapt emerging technologies
for learning
 Students’ frustrations focus on the unsophisticated use of
technologies within education
 Persistent digital disconnect between students and adults
 Exacerbation of lack of relevancy in current education
 Students want a more personalized learning environment

11. Students & Digital Learning
Social–based learning
Un–tethered learning
Digitally–rich learning
Personalized
Learning

12. Your Pre-Test
• 4 Questions
• True or False
• Answered during the presentation &
in summary at the end
Good Luck!

13. 1. 2/3rds of students think flipped learning is a
good way to learn
T or F
2. Students would rather use a tablet than a
laptop for most academic tasks
T or F
3. Students would like to take math class online
T or F
4. Most students are not over concerned about
what they post online about themselves or
others
T or F

14. Ten Things Everyone Should Know about
Students and Digital Learning

15. The 21st Century Learner
Enabling technologies:
what tools and resources are
digital learners using?
Empowering opportunities:
how are they using these
tools for learning?
Engaging aspirations:
what are their expectations for
digital learning?

16. Enabling technologies:
Mobile Devices

17. Mobile Devices
Personal access – not school provided
Device
K-2
Gr 3-5
Gr 6-8
Gr 9-12
smartphone
22%
50%
73%
89%
tablet
41%
69%
60%
50%
laptop
digital reader
41%
18%
61%
39%
66%
47%
67%
40%

18. Mobile Devices
School provided – student reported
Device
K-2
Gr 3-5
Gr 6-8
Gr 9-12
tablet
11%
21%
20%
16%
30%
31%
33%
laptop

19. Enabling technologies:
Internet

20. Internet: measuring connectivity
beyond broadband
 64% of students in grades 6-12 access the
Internet through a 3G/4G device
 23% through a TV or Wii connection
 Big issue : contention for access at home

21. Enabling technologies:
Video

22. Video
 Over 1/3 of students are accessing online videos
on their own to get help with homework
 23% are accessing videos created by their
teacher

23. Video
 23% are accessing videos created by their
teacher
Flipped learning?
Almost 2/3 of students say this approach
would be good way for them to learn

24. Empowering
opportunities:
Use of mobile devices for
schoolwork

25. Use of mobile devices for
schoolwork – students say:
1. To do traditional school activities more efficiently
2. To transform the learning process

26. Use of mobile devices for
schoolwork to transform learning







Anytime research – info in their hands
Access edu games
Collaborate with classmates
Receive reminders and alerts
Take photos of assignments
Participate in class polls
Text teachers questions during class
60%
43%
40%
33%
24%
18%
12%

27. Empowering
opportunities:
Different tasks
= different tools

28. Different tasks = different tools
Academic Task
Gr 6-8 Preferred Tool
Communications
Smartphone
Create video
Smartphone
Social media
Smartphone
Read a book/article
Digital reader
Write report
Laptop
Take notes
Laptop
Internet research
Laptop
Create media presentations
Laptop

29. Different tasks = different tools
Academic Task
Gr 6-8 Preferred Tool
Communications
Create video
Tablet?
2nd
3rd
or
choice
for students
Smartphone
Smartphone
Social media
Smartphone
Read a book/article
Digital reader
Write report
Laptop
Take notes
Laptop
Internet research
Laptop
Create media presentations
Laptop

30. Empowering
opportunities:
Digital footprints

31. Digital footprints: students’ views
They are careful: about what they post about
themselves and others (64% of students Gr 9-12)
They advise friends to be careful
(39% of students Gr 9-12)
They stop interacting based upon online profiles
(32% of students Gr 9-12)
They believe a positive digital profile is important
(44% of students in Gr 9-12)

32. Engaging aspirations:
Aspirations:
Online learning

33. Online learning
41% of middle school students with no
online learning experience want to take an
online class
Why?
• Be in control of learning (52%)
• Work at own pace (51%)
• Get extra help (47%)
• Improve tech skills (47%)

34. Online learning
41% of middle school students with no
online learning experience want to take an
online class
And in what subject area?

35. Online learning
41% of middle school students with no
online learning experience want to take an
online class
And in what subject area?
MATHEMATICS

36. Engaging aspirations:
Aspirations:
Games within learning

37. Games within learning
Preferred devices today:
 Laptop
60%
 Smartphone
54%
 Console
54%
 Tablet
44%

38. Games within learning
Preferred devices:
 Laptop
 Smartphone
 Console
 Tablet
#1 Benefit of games
within learning:
60%
54%
54%
44%
Make it easier to
understand difficult
concepts

39. Games within learning
Preferred devices:
 Laptop
 Smartphone
 Console
 Tablet
60%
54%
54%
44%
#1 Benefit of games within
learning:
Make it easier to understand
difficult concepts
Desired way to learn about STEM careers?
Play game about careers

40. Engaging aspirations:
Aspirations:
Using social media in school

41. Would you include use of social
media tools in your ultimate school?

42. Engaging aspirations:
Aspirations:
Using mobile devices
within learning

43. Laptops, tablets & digital readers,
oh my!
What should be in the ultimate school?
Laptops?
56%
Digital readers?
51%
Tablets?
48%

44. Laptops, tablets & digital readers,
oh my!
What should be in the ultimate school?
Laptops?
56%
Digital readers?
51%
Tablets?
48%
Keyboards for mobile devices? 44%

45. Laptops, tablets & digital readers,
oh my!
What should be in the ultimate school?
Laptops?
Digital readers?
Tablets?
Keyboards for mobile devices?
56%
51%
48%
44%
Allow me to use my own device at school 62%

46. The 21st Century Learner
Enabling technologies:
what tools and resources are
digital learners using?
Empowering opportunities:
how are they using these
tools for learning?
Engaging aspirations:
what are their expectations for
digital learning?

47. Students & Digital Learning
Social–based learning
Un–tethered learning
Digitally–rich learning
Personalized
Learning

48. Let’s score your Pre-Test
• 4 Questions
• True or False
What is your “Students and
Digital Learning” score?

49. 1. 2/3rds of students think flipped learning is a
good way to learn
True
2. Students would rather use a tablet than a
laptop for most academic tasks
False
3. Students would like to take math class online
True
4. Most students are not over concerned about
what they post online about themselves or
others
False

50. Your thoughts, comments, questions

51. More Speak Up? www.tomorrow.org
National Speak Up Findings and reports
Targeted and thematic reports
Online learning trends
Mobile learning & social media
Social learning
Intelligent adaptive software
New digital parent series
Presentations, podcasts and webinars
Services: consulting, workshops, evaluation and
efficacy studies

52. National Release of Speak
Up 2013 National Findings
DC Congressional Briefing
Tuesday, April 8
Speak Up 2014 surveys open in October
Data release to Speak Up
participants
Wednesday, February 5

53. Thank you.
Let’s continue this conversation.
Julie Evans
Project Tomorrow
jevans@tomorrow.org
949-609-4660 x15
Twitter: JulieEvans_PT
and SpeakUpEd
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