Digital Learning:
Views of Students,
Teachers, Parents and
Administrators
Presenter
Title
Date
(c) Project Tomorrow 2015
Examine the views of students, teachers,
parents and administrators on digital learning
Why is this important to you? Discuss
applicability of this data to your classroom
plans and personal professional development
Provide additional resources
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“Knowing it and seeing
it are two different
things.”
Suzanne Collins, Mockingjay
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“Without data, you are just another
person with an opinion …
Introducing the Speak Up
data to inform your
classroom teaching plans and
personal professional
development
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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
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4 million
surveys since
2003
Speak Up survey question themes
 Learning & Teaching with Technology
 College and career ready skills
 Students’ Career Interests in STEM
 Professional Development / Teacher Preparation
 Internet Safety / Data Privacy Issues
 Administrators’ Challenges / Bandwidth Capacity
 Emerging Technologies both in & out of the Classroom
 Mobile Devices, Online Learning, Digital Content, E-texts
 Educational Games, Social Media tools and applications
 Flipped Classroom, Print to Digital, Online Assessments
 Designing the Ultimate School/Classroom
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Why do schools and districts participate in
Speak Up?
 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
 Use for grant writing and fund development
 Content for professional development
 As a competitive tool
 To counteract myths or wrong assumptions
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Commonly heard education mythology
“New teachers don’t need any training in how to use
technology within teaching”
“Kids only want to use mobiles so that they can
text & play games in class”
“Parents won’t accept online textbooks”
“Online learning undercuts the role of the teacher.”
“There is so much great content online for teachers to use in the
classroom – so, what is the problem?”
“Just put technology XYZ in the classroom and magically students
will learn more!”
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Speak Up 2014 national participation: 521,846
K-12 Students
431,231
Teachers & Librarians
44,289
Parents (in English & Spanish)
35,337
School/District Administrators/Tech Leaders
4,324
Community Members
6,656
About the participating schools & districts
o 8,216 schools and 2,676 districts
o 30% urban / 40% rural / 30% suburban
o All 50 states + DC + Guam + DODEA schools
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DISTRICT NAME participation: total # of surveys
K-12 Students
#
◦
Grade K-2
#
◦
Grade 3-5
#
◦
Grade 6-8
#
◦
Grade 9-12
#
Teachers & Librarians
#
Parents (in English & Spanish)
#
School/District Administrators/Tech Leaders
#
Community Members
#
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o Administrators’ challenges
o Parents’ concerns
o Principals’ expectations for you
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Adequate funding
Closing the achievement gap
Staff morale/motivation
Use of technology within instruction
Achievement measured by test scores
Implementation of State Standards
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DISTRICT Name
Principals- 2014
STATE OR
NATIONAL %
for Principals 2014
Adequate funding
%
%
Closing the achievement
gap
%
%
Staff morale/motivation
%
%
Use of technology within
instruction
%
%
Achievement measured by
test scores
%
%
Implementation of state
standards
%
%
Issues
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Education Initiatives
DISTRICT Name
District Admin2014
STATE or National
% for District
Admin
(National/State)
Enhancing teacher
effectiveness through
PD
%
%
Leveraging technology
more effectively
%
%
Integrating college and
career ready skills into
curriculum
%
%
Developing leadership
skills of administrators
%
%
Aligning curriculum to
state standards
%
%
%
%
Engaging parents as coteachers
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1. Not learning the right
skills in school to be
successful
2. Needing more than a
college degree to get a
good job
3. Competing with better
educated workers
around the globe
4. Not doing as well
financially as us
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o Using technology in classes
%
o Gaining work experience
%
o Learning a second language
%
o Participating in leadership activities
%
o Participating in sports/academic teams
%
o Taking advanced math/science classes
%
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1. Communicate with parents and students (%)
2. Facilitate student collaborations (%)
3. Create authentic learning experiences (%)
4. Differentiate instruction (%)
5. Develop and implement online assessments (%)
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1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Communicate with parents and students (%)
Facilitate student collaborations (%)
Create authentic learning experiences (%)
Differentiate instruction (%)
Develop and implement online assessments (%)
o
o
o
o
o
o
Digital media creation and usage
Adaptive software
Social media tools
Mobile devices
Digital content
Blended learning class models
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Mobile
Content
Online
Communications
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Mobile Learning
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Students’ personal access to mobile devices
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Different tools for different tasks
“What mobile device I use depends upon the task”
Read a book
or articles?
Take notes in class?
Use social media?
Communicate w/peers & teacher?
Create/watch videos?
Create presentations?
Take online tests?
Write reports?
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Benefits of mobile devices for schoolwork
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Importance of mobile device access
How important is it for every student to be
able to use a mobile device in school to
support schoolwork?
Gr 6-8 students
%
Gr 9-12 students
%
School principals
%
District administrators
%
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Digital Content
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Types of digital
content
Teachers
(Nat’l) 2013
Teachers
(Nat’l) 2014
DISTRICT
Teachers 2014
Online videos
46%
61%
%
Powerpoints,
Prezis
60%
65%
%
Google Drive for
Edu
29%
40%
%
Online
curriculum
22%
34%
%
Online
textbooks
23%
27%
%
Game based
environments
25%
28%
%
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Why? Per middle school students:
1.Games make it easier to understand difficult topics
2.School would be more fun
3.It would be more interesting way to practice
problems
4.I would be more interested in the content
5.Games adapt to what I know and make it harder or
easier for me
6.I would learn more about the subject
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Benefits
• Increased student
engagement
• Extends learning day
• Enhances relevancy
and quality of
instructional
materials
• Improves teachers’
skills with technology
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Benefits
Concerns
• Increased student
engagement
• Not enough
computers/devices to
student access
• Extends learning day
• Enhances relevancy
and quality of
instructional
materials
• Improves teachers’
skills with technology
• Balancing
instructional
priorities
• Providing enough
bandwidth to support
media *
• Evaluating quality of
digital content *
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Online Learning: Virtual & Blended
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
Students:
◦
◦
◦
◦

Interested in advanced coursework
At risk students in traditional schools
Students in continuation schools
Traditional students
Educators:
◦ Classroom teachers
◦ Administrators
◦ Librarians
(c) Project Tomorrow 2015

Students:
◦
◦
◦
◦

Interested in advanced coursework (%)
At risk students in traditional schools (%)
Students in continuation schools (%)
Traditional students (%)
Educators:
◦ Classroom teachers (%)
◦ Administrators (%)
◦ Librarians (%)
Only % of (STATE)
Technology Leaders
say their
schools/districts
are not yet offering
any online classes
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Students should be required to take an
online class prior to graduation
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Students’ preferences:
1.Math (%)
2.Science (%)
3.Computer programming (%)
4.Video production / Social Studies (%)
5.English / World Languages (%)
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Communications &
Engagement
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(DISTRICT) (DISTRICT)
Teachers
Principals
Text with colleagues
%
%
Text with parents
%
%
Text with students
%
NA
Email with students
%
NA
NA
%
%
%
Email with others
Twitter
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Tradition Tools
Emerging Tools
• Face-to-face
meetings
• Automated
student-specific
phone messages
• Personal phone
calls
• Personal emails
• Hard copy flyers
• School website
• School portal
• Broadcast phone
messages
• Mobile app
• Twitter
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
General Information
◦ School calendar, class schedules, sports team info,
photos, book lists

Alerts
◦ Emergency news, notifications of meetings, student
grades, newsfeeds

Convenience
◦ School payment system, interactive forms

Community building
◦ PTA portal, group messaging for students, teacher
communications, social media

Support
◦ Mental health hotline, concerns tipline, study games
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Students (6-12) and social media: tools to connect,
collaborate, create
“All the time”
“Never”
%
%
%
%
%
%
%
%
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Mobile
Content
Online
Communications
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Examine the views of students, teachers, parents
and administrators on digital learning
Why is this important to you?
Discuss applicability of this data to your
classroom plans and personal professional
development
Provide additional resources
(c) Project Tomorrow 2015
Listening to high school students:
I wish my classes were more interesting
%
I am often bored in class
%
I don’t like school
%
My school does not care about me
as a person
%
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Listening to high school students:
Using technology in my classes increases
my engagement in learning
%
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Listening to high school students:
Using technology in my classes increases
my engagement in learning
%
I like learning when I am in control of when
and how I learn
%
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Listening to high school students:
Using technology in my classes increases
my engagement in learning
%
I like learning when I am in control of when
and how I learn
%
Teachers are important to my learning
%
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New opportunities
New digital learning approaches
New ways to improve your craft
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Speak Up 2013
National Reports
www.tomorrow.org
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More Speak Up? www.tomorrow.org
National Speak Up reports and infographics
Targeted and thematic reports
Digital learning trends
Mobile learning & social media
Games in the classroom
Blended learning outcomes
New digital parent series
Presentations, podcasts and webinars
Services: consulting, workshops, evaluation and
efficacy studies
Speak Up 2014 national reports to be
released in April and May
(c) Project Tomorrow 2015
Thank you for this conversation!
Project Tomorrow
Julie Evans
jevans@tomorrow.org
949-609-4660 x15
Twitter: JulieEvans_PT and SpeakUpEd
Copyright Project Tomorrow 2015
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