Do We Have Enough Technology in Schools?… According to the Kids

Whilst working with digital education, I have come across hundreds, if not thousands of technology companies doing incredibly exciting things. I spend my time talking to sales teams, marketing teams, technicians, designers, head teachers, heads of department and all of them, like me, have their own opinion of how their children can be using technology in schools. Sometimes – just sometimes though, I wonder if perhaps we should ask the opinion of the children, who are ultimately the end users.

1.     Do you think your school uses enough technology in the classroom?

2.   Do you think the technology that is used in schools is useful?

3.   What piece of classroom technology do you find the most useful?

Tablets and interactive whiteboards were popular but by far the most common answer was a computer. When asked for the reason why they made their choice, the overriding feedback was that they will spend the rest of their lives on a computer or a tablet, so why wouldn’t they use it in the classroom?

“because if you think about it most jobs involve keyboards and computers, unless you want to be a writer or something”  

So what 3 conclusions can we draw from this?

1.    Technology is useful in the classroom and we need more of it.

Around only half the schools have satisfied their pupils demand for technology and yet around 90% believe that technology is useful in the classroom.

2.    The majority of students are not asking for more than a computer or a tablet.

Most of the comments left suggest that a lot of snazzy technology is useful and fun but they don’t expect their schools to be investing in this. First things first, they just want something with a keyboard.

3.    It doesn’t matter what you have if you don’t know how to use it.

Another recurring theme, particularly with the kids who ticked technology can be ‘somewhat useful’, is that often it depends on the teachers. Whiteboards were an example used a lot, with some teachers being able to utilize them correctly and therefore created a more engaging and interactive learning experience yet in the wrong hands their use was made redundant.

Source: http://goo.gl/DSHrQP