Project Tomorrow

Just been reading "From Chalkboards to Tablets: The Emergence of the K-12 Digital Learner" from the Project Tomorrow group. Apart from the easy read of the 17 page report about the learning opportunity that over 300,000 students say they want, the interesting points for me were the following ...
 "The impact of the teacher in the technology usage equation also appears to have changed. In 2003, 31 percent of seniors in high school said that their teachers’ lack of knowledge about how to use technology was a significant barrier to their own use of technology at school. In 2012, only 18 percent of students in grade 12 felt the same way. However, 40 percent of the Class of 2013 say that a major obstacle to using technology at school is that their teachers consciously limit their technology use." (Page 9)

 And from the very first page of the report ...

"Our coaches were mostly college students and they helped teachers set up their first email account, do searches for lesson plans online and format class newsletters. At the same time, these college students were tasked to work with students at the schools during their computer lab time and in afterschool programs. We soon learned that the coaches were engaged in a vastly different set of activities with the students than with the teachers. With the students, the coaches were setting up electronic pen pal relationships using instant messaging and social networking sites, conducting web quests with NASA, the Jason Project and National Geographic, and helping the students self-develop HTML and programming skills to create their own websites and multi-media presentations. More importantly than the difference in the sophistication level of the respective activities, however, was the seemingly insatiable appetite that the students had for using technology more effectively within their learning lives." So, if you believe the numbers, students believe 20% of their teachers lack sufficient knowledge about how to use technology to enhance learning. But 40% consciously choose to inhibit students use of technology. For the full report go here.