Survey reveals how school and districts leaders aim to use the digital curriculum transition to better serve students and teachers
School district leaders’ top objective in transitioning to a digital curriculum is to achieve greater instructor effectiveness, according to a survey from The Learning Counsel.
The second annual survey from the organization, which aims to provide guidance around the K-12 shift to digital curriculum, also revealed that 65 percent of those surveyed are currently staffing positions to help deal with the expansion of digital resources.
Eighty-eight percent of those surveyed said they have a student data privacy policy in place to accompany the increased use of digital curriculum and resources.
In addition to using digital curriculum to increase instructor effectiveness, surveyed education leaders cited increased student engagement, providing project-based learning for student instruction, personalized learning, and intervention for struggling students as top motivations for the switch.
According to surveyed district and school administrators, the five most important digital curriculum policy controls are:
1. Providing technology training for teachers
2. Advocating personalized paths of learning using resources
3. Providing ongoing professional development opportunities for applying digital learning
4. Advocating moving to more or all digital content
5. Providing technology training for students
The top barriers to digital curriculum adoption, according to those surveyed, are:
1. Instructional design/curriculum design professional development
2. Digital curriculum systems training
3. Classroom pedagogy professional development
4. Inadequate budget to transition
5. Teacher device use training
“The [survey’s] national perspective regarding digital transformation has proven invaluable as we have embarked on this journey,” said Janell McClure, Director of Digital and Multimedia Learning at Cobb County Schools in Georgia. “By sharing information, processes, and research that contribute to a successful transition, the Learning Counsel has helped education leaders chart a course that includes actionable data and current trends.”
The survey was sponsored by Sprint.
Material from a press release was used in this report.
