Report: Students Increasingly Use Digital Devices for Learning

WASHINGTON, March 19, 2010 – Project Tomorrow, a group advocating for better availability and use of digital technology in schools, visited Capitol Hill this week to discuss results of its annual survey of thousands of K-12 students across the nation.

The report (pdf), “Creating Our Future: Students Speak Up about their Vision for 21st Century Learning,” says the nation’s students “through their fearless adoption and clever adaptation of emerging technologies and tools” are implementing their own version of a 21st Century education vision.

Students are increasingly using the tools available to them outside of school, such as iPods and social networking sites, to learn, reports the Irvine, Calif.-based non-profit in its latest study.

“Students see the Internet and the resources available to them in the world as a giant learning sandbox which they can explore at their own pace and in their own time,” resds the report, released this month.

Some of the findings that touch on broadband:

43% of parents said using mobile learning devices within educational instruction would increase student engagement, and 37 percent said it could provide their children with access to online textbooks. However, 67 percent of teachers expressed concern that mobile devices would distract students;

63 percent of students said they would like to use digital textbooks for personalized learning like electronic highlighting and notes;

63 percent of parents said they would provide a mobile device for their children to use for educational purposes if schools would allow it;

About 50 percent of middle and high school students recommend that their school provide unlimited Internet access throughout the school and one-third of middle and high school students would like to access the school network from any computer at home to work on school projects;

Over 48 percent of parents recommended online classes as a good investment to enhance student achievement; and

66 percent of the students surveyed said they use digital resources to make slide shows, videos or Web pages for schoolwork.