Tech Adoption Rates Vary in the Classroom

Are educators keeping up with the digital generation?

edCircuit Breakdown:

• With emphasis being placed on STEM and STEAM education, teachers are dealing with a generation of students who don’t know a world without digital technology.
• Teacher are growing more comfortable with the adoption of tech tools in the classroom, but they need extra time and support for tech integration.
• Connectivity at home can make a big difference in the lives of students. When a student grows up in a home with no internet connection, they often fall behind in what is known as the homework gap. This problem is especially prevalent in rural area.

edCircuit Analysis:

With an entire generation of kids today who have only known a life of hand-held tech tools, whether for learning, gaming or just looking up information, educators are still working out exactly how to use technology in the classroom for maximum benefit. Everyone agrees that tech should make a teacher’s life easier, but adoption rates vary, especially with older teachers.

Today’s students are just plain different then they were in the past. Different in the literal sense of the term: This digital bombardment has wired their brains differently than past generations. The challenge now is to figure out how to achieve balance in their lives, getting them to take time to walk away from the information fire hose that is pointed at them through their phones and other devices.

Moving forward, educators need to be vigilant in making sure they don’t just reach for the next new thing to come down the pike. Thoughtful and careful inclusion of technology into the classroom and into the lives of students is key to improving student outcomes.  

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Further Reading

1. Ideas.TED.com – Forget “digital natives.” Here’s how kids are really using the Internet
2. Washington Post – Don’t like your kids tethered to screens at school? Why not ask questions?
3. Business Insider – A new study shows that students learn way more effectively from print textbooks than screens