Educational Technology Research

As educators it is important to understand our students on a personal level, but also to look at data and research about their generation. This week I enjoyed looking at a variety of statistics about my students' generation and technology use.

I particularly enjoyed looking at data on home communication. There have been many times in my career that I was frustrated by the lack of contact information and also the response rate from parents.


Source: Project Tomorrow's Speak Up "School-to-Home Communication"

Project Tomorrow's Speak Up “School-to-Home Communication” report was very informative and made me realize that we may not be reaching parents because their preferences do not align with the school’s methods. Only 19% of parents are very satisfied with high school home communications, so I believe there is room for improvement. I love the idea that 52% of parents prefer text messages. I believe that would be a very effective way to communicate short messages, such as, absences. My school often uses automated phone calls and emails, blog posts, Facebook and Twitter, however, they are not personalized and appear to be ineffective.

After reviewing theses statistics, I have so many ideas on ways my school could improve their communications. I think one of the first steps is to ask the parents their preferred method or communication and have that information accessible to the staff.

Another report I found fascinating was Project Tomorrow's Speak Up “Flipped, Blended, Virtual: New Classroom Models, Technology & Personalized Learning” report. I love the idea of a flipped classroom and the results from the report just furthered my excitement to jump into that territory. I can completely understand why 61% of teachers believe a flipped classroom increases more individualized learning. I definitely think blended and flipped classroom are the way of the future. Students can work at their own pace, but also receive so much one-to-one instruction as they need it.

Project Tomorrow's Speak Up "Flipped, Blended, Virtual"

I’m excited to create a flipped classroom, but probably need some guidance. I think I will start here.

This valuable research is important to review every year, as students and technology change so rapidly. I am definitely going to keep these reports in my "toolbox" to ensure I am meeting my students needs.

Educational Technology Research

As educators it is important to understand our students on a personal level, but also to look at data and research about their generation. This week I enjoyed looking at a variety of statistics about my students' generation and technology use.

Statistics that jumped out at me from the Speak Up "Social Media Use In and Out of School: Students, Parents and Educators Speak Up!" report were regarding communication. I find it interesting that high school students tend to use Instagram and Snapchat rather than Facebook and Twitter. However, social media that most schools use are Facebook and Twitter. In fact, 77% of administrators use Twitter to communicate to parents and students. There seems to be a disconnect between the channels students use and what schools use. I know at my current school we are always struggling with how to communicate information to students. We tend to communicate how we (adults) do...through email and Twitter. Looking at the useful data Speak Up provides, we need to meet students where they currently are and switch communication channels. 

Checkout the complete report here
Source: Speak Up!

I loved seeing that 55% of parents want to receive text messages from their child's school or teacher. Again, we tend to use phone or email blasts to reach parents, why not text message them? It would be great to know a parent's preferred method of contact, so it is easier to connect to discuss their child's education. Having parent contact with every student can only help the student's overall academic experience.

I also found it interesting that 76% of high school students use YouTube, however, only 27% of teacher either use or plan on creating videos to supplement content taught in their courses. YouTube would be a great way to help support students through the learning process. 

This valuable research is important to review every year, as students and technology change so rapidly. I am definitely going to keep these reports in my "toolbox" to ensure I am meeting my students needs.

Interesting read: Do smartphones have a place in the classroom?