Educators Cite Research to Shift Ed-Tech Focus From 'Why?' to 'How?'

Thousands gather in Philadelphia to share digital ideas, experiences, goals

By Ian Quillen and Katie Ash

Philadelphia

Ed Week

As Chris Lehmann closed the recent International Society for Technology in Education's annual conference, he implored the audience at his keynote address here to redraw the educational technology battle lines.

"No one is arguing we shouldn't use technology in education anymore," said Mr. Lehmann, the founding principal of Philadelphia's Science Leadership Academy, a public high school devoted to inquiry-based, project-driven learning. "The question is how."

The call for redefining debate echoed throughout the formal sessions at the conference last month and at informal events at nearby hotels, restaurants, and bars, and even in casual conversations among the more than 20,000 estimated attendees. And, perhaps more important, it was expressed in data released by Project Tomorrow, the Software and Information Industry Association, and technology company CDW-G.

The latest research by Project Tomorrow, an Irvine, Calif.-based nonprofit group, came in the annual online-learning-trends report as part of its Speak Up ed-tech study, which surveys nearly 400,000 students, educators, and parents. It suggests school districts are becoming more sophisticated in their approach to implementing online education but are still struggling to meet the increasing need and desire of students to learn online.

Among its findings, the "Learning in the 21st Century: 2011 Trends Update" says that two in five students believe online classes are an essential component of education and that administrators' concerns about funding online courses are fading, while concerns about course quality are rising.

Teacher-Student Disconnect

But while the proportion of high school students who had taken an online course as of last fall tripled from fall 2008, from 10 percent to 30 percent, only about 26 percent of teachers surveyed expressed interest in diving into online teaching if they hadn't already done so.

"From the Speak Up data, what we're seeing is a disconnect" between students and educators, said Julie Evans, the president of Project Tomorrow. "We've got a challenge here in terms of meeting those expectations."

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There also appear to be different perceptions about online learning within subgroups of students and educators, especially administrators. For example, district-level administrators were found to be more supportive of online learning than on-campus principals were.

"The district-level superintendents or administrators are much more ...

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