August 2007 — News
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Research: Students Actually Use the Internet for Education
When schools do encourage the use of the Internet, it seems to be largely for homework. Almost all schools (96 percent) said that at least some teachers assign homework that requires use of the Internet to complete, and 35 percent said that more than half of their teachers assign homework that requires use of the Internet. Ninety-five percent of districts reported that at least some teachers use Web pages to "communicate assignments, curriculum content, and other information," according to the study.
The report concluded that while safety and security issues involved with social networking require "thoughtful policies" from schools boards; but, at the same time, "parents and communities also expect schools to take advantage of potentially powerful educational tools, including new technology. Clearly, both district leaders and parents are open to believing that social networking could be such a tool--as long as there are reasonable parameters of use in place. Moreover, social networking is increasingly used as a communications and collaboration tool of choice in businesses and higher education. As such, it would be wise for schools, whose responsibility it is to prepare students to transition to adult life with the skills they need to succeed in both arenas, to reckon with it."
Support for the study was provided by Microsoft, News Corp., and Verizon. More details, including further analysis of the numbers, as well as data on Internet security concerns, can be found in the complete report, linked below.
Read More:
- National School Boards Association
- Report: "Creating & Connecting: Research and Guidelines on Online Social--and Educational--Networking" (PDF)
About the author: David Nagel is the executive editor for 1105 Media's online education technology publications, including THE Journal and Campus Technology. He can be reached at dnagel@1105media.com.
Proposals for articles and tips for news stories, as well as questions and comments about this publication, should be submitted to David Nagel, executive editor, at dnagel@1105media.com.
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