Dive Brief:
- In its third annual survey of schools and districts nationwide, the Learning Counsel, a digital curriculum-focused research institute, found that teacher effectiveness in the implementation of digital curriculum is a key focus for schools.
- According to survey results from about 700 respondents, tablets are losing popularity while Chromebooks are gaining it, there is disagreement about the best device for students based on age, and widespread network coverage still does not translate to reliability for most teachers.
- A 25% jump in digital curriculum spending (to $9 billion) made 2016 the highest year on record, and district spending on hardware, networks and major system software is expected to rise slightly in 2017 to $16.2 billion.
Dive Insight:
The Learning Counsel’s findings reflect those of another recent survey, this one of a national sample of 200 school secretaries by School Market Research Institute and Market Data Retrieval. While it, too, found widespread internet access in classrooms, it is troubling that The Learning Counsel’s question about reliability revealed such a barrier.
If teachers do not expect their internet connection to be reliable, they will not incorporate internet use into their lessons. The prospect of losing precious instructional time for troubleshooting is a major disincentive. This is why administrators must be sure their networks can handle expansion before installing new hardware and distributing devices. The infrastructure improvements must come first.
