Learning in the 21st Century: Mobile Devices + Social Media = Personalized Learning

Learning in the 21st Century
Each year, Project Tomorrow, a national education nonprofit organization, facilitates the Speak Up National Research Project and, as part of this initiative, tracks the increasing interest and growth in the use of emerging technologies to address the specific needs and aspirations of students, parents and educators for 21st century learning environments. Since 2007, Project Tomorrow has partnered with Blackboard Inc. to create a series of annual reports that focus on key trends in the use of technology to increase student achievement, teacher productivity and parental engagement.

As outlined in the Speak Up 2011 national reports, many emerging technology products and services are not only addressing instructional needs, but are also enabling greater personalization of the learning process, both in school and out of school. Within this context, the use of mobile devices such as tablet computers and smartphones combined with wireless accessibility and social media tools stand out increasingly as a game changer in this movement to more personalized learning.

This new special report examines the Speak Up 2011 national findings to both answer some of the questions first posed two years ago but also to present an updated perspective on the role of mobile devices within K-12 education.

The key findings from this report include:

  • Mobile devices when combined with social media and wireless connectivity are enabling more personalized learning opportunities for both students and educators.
  • Driven by several factors, the incorporation of student owned devices within classroom instruction is quickly becoming a viable solution for many schools and districts.
  • Increasingly parental support for mobile learning is changing the district conversation.
  • Changing teacher practice is the critical challenge today to expanding mobile learning.
  • The future of mobile learning depends upon a shared vision for how to personalize learning.

Here are a few more interesting stats and takeaways from this study:

  • In 2011, two-thirds of parents of school aged children (67 percent) noted that they have a personal smartphone; an increase of almost three times from 2006.
  • In the past three years, teachers’ access to a smartphone has more than doubled from 20 percent in 2008 to 54 percent in 2011.
  • District office administrators are almost twice as likely now to be carrying a tablet computer (55 percent) than a simple cellphone that does not have Internet access (31 percent).
  • and administrators’ interest in using a smartphone or a tablet computer is not dependent upon their years of experience. administrators with 1 to 3 years of experience are only slightly more likely to use a smartphone or tablet than their peers with 16 or more years of experience.
  • 87 percent of parents say that the effective implementation of technology within instruction is important to their child’s success (50 percent label it as “extremely important”).
  • But only 64 percent say that their child’s school is doing a good job of using technology to enhance student achievement (and only 12 percent strongly agree with that statement).

Download the complete report here.

Keeping Pace with Online and Blended Learning: A Guide to Policy and Practice 2012


Keeping Pace with K-12 Online Learning: An Annual Review of Policy and Practice (2012) is the latest in a series of annual reports that began in 2004 that examine the status of K-12 online education across the country. The report provides an overview of the latest policies, practices, and trends affecting online learning programs across all 50 states. Highlights from this year’s report include:

  • Blended learning continues to be an important story in K-12 online learning (and is reflected in our report title for the first time this year). Once-fully online schools are adapting to student demand for in-person services, school districts are responding to student desire for flexibility, and full-time blended schools (typically charters) are opening around the country.
  • 275,000 students were enrolled in fully online K-12 programs around the country in school year 2011-12. As of fall 2012, 31 states allow multi-district fully online schools.
  • State virtual schools reported 619,847 course enrollments (one student enrolled in one semester-long course) in school year 2011-12, an increase of 16%. State virtual schools continue to bifurcate into two groups: those that are well-supported and growing (Florida Virtual School reported 303,329 course enrollments) and those that are not well-supported and shrinking or closing (Tennessee and Kentucky both closed state virtual schools in the last year).
  • Keeping Pace 2011 included a Planning for Quality section that offered guidance to leaders who are starting and growing online and blended programs. Keeping Pace 2012 offers three possible timelines as a companion to that guide.

The complete report can be downloaded from http://kpk12.com/reports.

Instructional Guide for University Faculty and Teaching Assistants Now Available in Mobile and eBook Formats

Download Complete GuideDownload EPUBDownload MOBIDownload PDFThe NIU Instructional Guide for University Faculty and Teaching Assistants is a brief compilation of teaching-related information from several sources, including instructional guidebooks from other institutions, journals, and contributions from master teachers and academic support units at Northern Illinois University. The guide is meant to be a quick reference rather than a comprehensive source on teaching-related information. Topics include teaching preparation, effective instruction, assessment, classroom management, and more.

The Instructional Guide is now available for download as a PDF, or in mobile and eBook formats: EPUB or MOBI. The EPUB format is a universal eBook format that can be read easily on tablets and smart phones. The MOBI format is optimized specifically for Kindle and other dedicated eBook readers.

For more details and to download the guide, please visit niu.edu/facdev/resources/guide.

Designing an Exemplary Online Course: Blackboard Announces Open Online Course to be Offered

Let's build a better education experience

Blackboard has announced a new open online course “Designing an Exemplary Course,” as part of the CourseSites Open Course Series. The course will run from September 26th – October 17th, 2012. Registration is free and opens Wednesday, September 19th.

Whether you are just getting started or are an advanced online educator, this course will provide you with a framework to help identify and apply best practices for designing engaging online courses.

You will learn from 11 instructors and instructional designers including distinguished Exemplary Course Program (ECP) Directors and several of the 2012 ECP winners. Using the Blackboard ECP Rubric as a guide, the course will focus on the four critical elements of a course: design, interaction and collaboration, assessment, and learner support.

You will have the opportunity to participate in weekly live, online sessions, learn with peers in focus groups, and complete optional assignments to aid your course development and improvement. A panel of course design experts will facilitate each group to provide you with valuable feedback.

The learning environment will offer learners the flexibility to choose their own learning outcomes and time commitments based on individual needs. To maximize benefits of participation, optional homework assignments will be provided each week to apply concepts to build out one’s own course structure and materials. The course will provide a framework for forming collaborative teams.

For more details or to sign-up to be notified when registration opens, click here.

Miscellaneous Texting in Teaching Resources

Here are a few other miscellaneous resources related to text messaging in teaching, not previously mentioned.

Are you aware of another miscellaneous resource regarding texting that you’d recommend be added to the list above? Leave a comment with the name, description, and link.