Digital Directions - Summer 2013 - (Page 9)
A new nationwide survey reveals the
extent to which mobile devices have
become an inextricable part of students’
and families’ lives—while also indicating
that parents see potential benefits, and
drawbacks, to those technology tools.
By the time they enter high school, 51
percent of all students are carrying a
smartphone to school with them every day,
the survey of parents shows. Nearly a
quarter of all students in K-12, overall, are
doing so, while 8 percent of students in
grades 3-5 are bringing a smartphone to
school.
It’s unclear, however, whether that tech
Someone in Family Owns
Smartphones Evolve
Into Popular Tool
For High Schoolers
usage results in benefits for students during
the school day. Just 16 percent of all K-12
parents say their children’s schools require
students to use family-owned devices in
classrooms.
Nearly the same portion of parents,
17 percent, say their children’s school requires
students to use at least one portable device
or mobile device in school.
Those results suggest that “there are a
significant portion of mobile devices that
are just being turned off when students
get to school, or are being used under
the radar,” Peter Grunwald, the president
of Grunwald Associates LLC, told Education
Week. His organization conducted the
survey of parents, in coordination with
the Learning First Alliance.
The survey found that parents were largely
optimistic about the potential academic
benefits of mobile devices. But they were also
cautious about the pitfalls that come with
using those tools.
—SEAN CAVANAGH
Child Uses
MOBILE-TECH TRENDS
Family Technology
Ownership and Child
Use, Pre-K-12
Portable
computer
78%
Note: The 2,392 parents who
answered this question were
asked to report about child
usage for all children, aged 3-18,
in their families. Collectively,
these parents have 4,164
children in that age range.
Smartphone
77%
52%
Daily 51%
Weekly 43%
Less often
43%
7%
Daily 65%
Weekly 28%
Less often
6%
Tablet
46%
34%
Daily 47%
Weekly 46%
Less often
7%
SOURCE: Grunwald Associates LLC
iPod Touch
36%
27%
E-reader
Daily 53%
Weekly 37% 24%
Less often 5%
11%
Daily 32%
Weekly 55%
Less often 14%
MASSIVELY OPEN ONLINE COURSES
Coursera, a major player in the world of providing
“massively open online courses” in higher education, is
making its first move into the K-12 landscape through an
effort to provide free training and professional development
to teachers in the United States and other countries.
The move appears to represent one of the clearest
indications of the role that “MOOCs,” which to date have
been primarily a higher education phenomenon, could play in
the world of elementary and secondary education, a question
that technology advocates and school officials have been
debating for some time.
In college and university settings, MOOCs have enabled
institutions to post courses online, allowing for the academic
content provided by faculty to be shared with new audiences
on a huge scale.
But the forums have also met resistance in some quarters,
from those who say MOOCs create the potential for sharing
weak content, and in some cases from faculty and others who
aren’t comfortable with their institutions giving others free
access to their courses, without any constraints.
Some have speculated that MOOCs’ greatest potential
value in K-12 settings might come through the sharing
of courses and curricula for students, but Coursera’s
announcement heads in a different direction, focusing
on building the skills of classroom educators.
Seven institutions and organizations have agreed to
partner with the Mountain View, Calif.-based company in
posting professional-development and teacher-training
resources online, Coursera officials said. They are the
University of Washington’s college of education; the
University of Virginia’s Curry School of Education; the Johns
Hopkins University school of education; Match Education’s
Sposato Graduate School of Education; Vanderbilt
University’s Peabody College of Education and Human
Development; the Relay Graduate School of Education;
and the University of California, Irvine.
—SEAN CAVANAGH
Spring/Summer 2013_ DigitalDirections >>
ILLUSTRATION: iStockphoto_Volk65
‘MOOC’ Provider Coursera Jumps Into K-12 and Teacher Ed.
9
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Digital Directions - Summer 2013
Digital Directions - Summer 2013
Contents
Editor’s Note
DD Site Visit
Bits & Bytes
Test-Driving the Common Core
Flipped PD: Building Blocks to Success
Virtual Learning in the Early Years
Kindergarten the Virtual Way
7 Steps to Picking Your LMS
Cracking the Code
Powering the Crowd
Digital Directions - Summer 2013
http://dd.edweek.org/nxtbooks/epe/dd_2013summer
http://dd.edweek.org/nxtbooks/epe/dd_2013winter
http://dd.edweek.org/nxtbooks/epe/dd_2012fall
http://dd.edweek.org/nxtbooks/epe/dd_2012springsummer
https://www.nxtbookmedia.com