There have
been numerous reports on the growing use of technology in K-12 schools—tablets
issued to students, educational software and games, online course materials,
and much more—and a lot of speculation on whether it improves teaching and
learning.
A new
study, however, indicates that the majority of K-12 teachers say they weren’t
included in decisions about educational technology at their schools, according to T.H.E. Journal. Yet, 63% of teacher respondents felt they really should lead
the exploration of ed-tech platforms and applications to choose which are the
best for students.
In most
cases, the teachers pointed to school and district administrators and other
leaders as responsible for making technology decisions, often with limited
input from the teaching staff. “Forty-eight percent of respondents said they
believe cost is the primary influence on ed-tech selection—much more so than
student outcomes (22%) or teacher buy-in (9%),” said T.H.E. Journal.
Most
teachers (62%) would prefer for someone else to do the basic research on
ed-tech systems and provide a list of options to them for a final review and
decision; only 26% would rather do all the legwork themselves. However, they
don’t see much of a role for parents. In ranking all the stakeholders in order
of importance in educational technology decision-making, 49% of teachers put
parents dead last.
The survey of
4,300 teachers was conducted by TES Global, an online community for teachers,
and the Jefferson Education Accelerator, which develops ed-tech solutions.
