Parents’ Conflicting Views on Personalized Learning vs. Screen Time

Presented by: Dr. Julie A. Evans
CEO, Project Tomorrow
@JulieEvans_PT
Parents’ Conflicting Views on
Personalized Learning vs. Screen Time

Today’s Discussion
▪ About Project Tomorrow and the Speak Up Research Project
▪ Parents’ conflicting views
▪ Support for digital learning
▪ Concerns about too much screen time
▪ Why does this conflict exist?
▪ How to message value of personalized learning to parents
▪ Project Tomorrow resources to support your work
▪ Your questions, comments, thoughts – let’s discuss!

Tweet with us!
@JulieEvans_PT @SpeakUpEd #FETC18

@Project Tomorrow 2017
Getting to know you!

About Project Tomorrow
▪ Nonprofit education organization supporting K-12 education since
1996
▪ Mission is to ensure today’s students are well prepared for the future
▪ Programs and research focus on role of digital tools within the
education ecosystem
o Speak Up Research Project on Digital Learning:
collecting & reporting on the authentic feedback of K-12
stakeholders to inform federal, state & local programs and policies

About the Speak Up Project on Digital Learning
▪ Annual research project since 2003
▪ Uses online surveys + focus groups
▪ Facilitated through schools and districts
with support from state DOE
▪ Online surveys for: K-12 Students,
Teachers, Parents, Administrators, and
Community Members
▪ All K-12 schools are eligible to
participate

About the Speak Up Project
▪ Participating schools and districts get
access to all locally collected data + state
and national data for benchmarks
▪ National data is reported via white
papers and infographics – and used
regularly by edu orgs & policymakers
▪ 100% free service for schools/districts
Since 2003,
5 million
Speak Up
surveys
submitted

About the Speak Up Project
Topics covered include:
✓ Use of technology to support learning – formal and informal
✓ School climate for innovation
✓ College and career ready skill development
✓ Leadership challenges
✓ Teachers’ needs and professional learning experiences
✓ Valuations of different stakeholders on digital learning
✓ Emerging trends with digital tools, content and resources
✓ New classroom models
✓ School to home communications
✓ Designing the ultimate school

“Without data, you are just another person with an opinion …”
Introducing the
Speak Up Project to
inform new
discussions and
better decision-
making around your
digital learning
planning

National participation in Speak Up 2016: 514,085
Survey Audience # of Surveys Submitted
K-12 Students 435,510
Teachers & Librarians 38,512
Parents 29,670
Administrators 4,592
Community Members 5,801
About schools and districts: 2,445 schools, 7,123 districts
26% urban, 36% rural, 38% suburban, 57% title 1 eligible

Speak Up 2016 findings from parents of school-aged children nationwide
29,670 parents nationwide
80% mothers
Child’s grade band:
• PreK – Gr 2: 36%
• Gr 3-5: 35%
• Gr 6-8: 34%
• Gr 9-12: 32%
Age distribution:
• 20s – 4%, 30s – 32%,
• 40s – 47%, +50 – 16%

Key trends from our research …
• Greater emphasis on students’ global skill preparation
• Value of personalized learning on the rise
• Acceptance of new learning models
• Increasing criticality for connectivity at school and home
• Learning as a 24/7 enterprise for students
• New expectations from parents – increasingly, digital
• Heightened importance of effective communications

Talking about personalized learning . . . . .

What is personalized learning?
“Tailoring learning for each student’s strengths,
needs and interests–including enabling student
voice and choice in what, how, when and where
they learn–to provide flexibility and supports to
ensure mastery of the highest standards possible.”
iNACOL 2016

Talking about personalized learning
“The answer is not to standardize education, but
to personalize and customize it to the needs of
each child and community. There is no alternative.
There never was.”
Sir Ken Robinson

What do you see?
Are we seeing the
same things?

Educators see this:

Educators see this:
Parents fear this:

Is it personalized learning
OR
Is it too much screen time?
The Great Digital Learning Debate

Parents’ support for digital learning . . . . .

1. Parents believe that technology skills are important for students’ future success
Besides strong subject area knowledge, what college/workplace
skills are most important for students to acquire to be successful in
the future?
1. Critical thinking and problem solving skills (85% of parents)
2. Creativity (75%)
3. Ability to work with diverse groups of people (75%)
4. Teamwork and collaboration skills (74%)
5. Technology skills (70%)

What is the best way for your child to acquire those skills?
▪ Getting work experience (80% of parents)
▪ Participating on a sports team or academic group (64%)
▪ Participating in school leadership activities (64%)
▪ Using technology within his/her classes at school (63%)

How important is the effective use of instructional technology
to students’ success?
2%
12%
37%
49%
2%
12%
34%
50%
2%
12%
33%
51%
Not important
Somewhat important
Important
Extremely important
HS Parents MS Parents ES Parents

2. Parents believe students should have regular access to digital learning tools and content.
✓ 71% of parents say that every student should be able to use
a mobile device during the school day to support
schoolwork
o No statistical difference based upon community type
o No statistical difference based upon age of parent
o No statistical difference based upon family income
o No statistical difference based upon child’s grade

2. Parents believe students should have regular access to digital learning tools and content.
✓ 50% of parents say a blended learning environment would be
best for their child
Blended learning class: a formalized structure where the teacher provides instruction
part of the time in a physical classroom with a class of students, and part of the time the
students follow an online curriculum at their own pace at home or at school
✓ 24% chose a flipped learning class as best for their child
Flipped class: the teacher assigns online videos of lessons, labs, and lectures for students
to watch as homework, and then the in-school class period is used for doing projects, in-
depth discussions, remediation, and individualized schoolwork help

3. Parents’ vision for their ultimate school is technology rich
Imagine you are designing a dream school for today’s students.
What digital tools will increase student achievement and success?
▪ Laptop or Chromebook for every child (59%)
▪ Access to cloud based tools (50%)
▪ Online organizing tools (50%)
▪ Online tutors (48%)
▪ Digital media creation tools (46%)
▪ Online textbooks (45%)
▪ Access to mobile apps (44%)

4. Parents say that the use of technology in school has a positive impact on students
As a result of how technology is used in school to support
learning, my child is …
▪ Applying knowledge to practice problems
▪ Developing creativity and critical thinking
skills
▪ Collaborating with other students more
▪ Communicating with his/her teacher
more
▪ Taking ownership of his/her learning

4. Parents say that the use of technology in school has a positive impact on students
What is the level of parents’
support in your community
or school for “digital or
personalized learning?”

Parents’ concerns about screen time . . . . .

1. Parents’ concerns about screen time have grown significantly in past 10 years
What concerns you about your child’s use of online tools or
Internet resources?
40%
61%
Parents 2007 Parents 2016
Too much screen time
52% more parents
identified too
much screen time
as a concern in
2016 vs. 2007

2. Profile of the parents with this concern varies based upon specific demographic factors
What concerns you about your child’s use of online tools or
Internet resources?
Age of parent 30-39 40-49 50-59 60+
is a concern
59% 62% 65% 61%
Grade of child in
school
K-5 Gr 6-8 Gr 9-12
is a concern
61% 62% 62%
No significant
differences based
upon age of
parent or grade of
child in school

What concerns you about your child’s use of online tools or Internet resources?
Family Income < 50K 50 –
100K
100 –
150K
150 –
200K
> 200K
Too much screen
time is a concern
50% 62% 64% 66% 68%
Community type Urban Suburban Rural
is a concern
59% 63% 60%
Some differences
based upon family
income, home
poverty and
community type
Home poverty Title 1 Non-Title 1
is a concern
56% 66%

What concerns you about your child’s use of online tools or Internet resources?
What is the level of parents’
concern in your community
or school about “too much
screen time?”

The Great Digital Learning Debate : your insights
What is driving or
fueling this conflict?
What factors are
influencing parents’
concerns?

Factor: Use of social media by parents of school-aged children?
Social Media Parents 29 or
younger in age
Parents 30 -39 in
age
Parents 40-49 in
age
Parents 50-59 in
age
Facebook 64% 66% 60% 51%
Instagram 37% 28% 18% 10%
Snapchat 33% 11% 5% 3%
Twitter 11% 8% 11% 9%
YouTube 43% 30% 23% 19%
Msg apps 47% 46% 38% 30%
Video msg 27% 23% 19% 17%
Usage scale: All the time + often

Factor: Negative media stories and inappropriate research?

Factor: School has or has not changed since parents’ childhood?

Things to consider with your messaging about
personalized learning . . . .

Value messages to parents about personalizing learning using
digital content and tools
1. Promotes workplace skill development (56% of parents worry that their children are
not learning workplace skills in school)
2. One size learning does not fit anyone – every child learns differently
3. Increased motivation to learn results in greater student ownership of learning
4. Using data derived from digital tools helps the teacher pay closer attention to each
child’s needs
5. Digital tools enable students to become creators of content, not just consumers
6. Extends learning beyond the physical world – demystifies what we cannot see

National Speak Up reports and infographics
Targeted and thematic reports
Digital learning trends
Community engagement
Mobile learning
Games in the classroom
Blended learning outcomes
Community engagement – coming soon!
Presentations, podcasts and webinars
Services: consulting, workshops, evaluation and efficacy studies
More resources available at www.tomorrow.org
New Speak Up 2017 reports to be released in Spring 2018

Plan to participate in Speak Up 2018
Online surveys for:
o K-12 students – individual + group
o Parents – English and Spanish
o Teachers
o Librarians/Media Specialists
o School Site & District Administrators
o Technology Leaders
o Community Members & Communications
Officers
Gain news insights in the activities, attitudes and aspirations of your stakeholders
Surveys open Oct 2018 – Jan 2019
Learn more www.tomorrow.org/speakup

Your questions,
comments,
thoughts

Thank you for joining today’s discussion!
Dr. Julie A. Evans
jevans@tomorrow.org
949-609-4660 x15
Twitter: JulieEvans_PT and SpeakUpEd

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