Friday, Dec. 12, 2008

Students, parents asked to take online survey about technology

By SANDRA ENGELLAND

For the second year in a row, Keller school district officials are asking parents and students to take an online survey about their use of technology and the importance they place on technology in instruction.

Keller schools are participating in NetDay Speak Up, a national online research project, to gather ideas and opinions on improving education and promoting 21st century skills. Speak Up is facilitated by Project Tomorrow, a nonprofit technology education organization. According to the group’s Web site, more than 1.2 million students, teachers and parents have participated in Speak Up since the annual survey began in 2003. The results of the survey will be shared in March with Congress and with members of President Barack Obama’s administration.

School districts can access their own results to determine the impact of technology on the local level.

Lisa Ham, director of instructional technology, said last year’s results showed that most students had access to the Internet at home and many of them had cell phones.

"For the most part, they do not learn technology at school, they learn from each other," Ham said.

Most secondary students have MP3 players, and a high percentage of them frequent such social networking sites as MySpace and Facebook.

Ham said officials can share results with teachers to help them understand how students spend their time and determine different ways to deliver instruction.

One big obstacle to obtaining comprehensive results is getting students to participate in the optional survey. Last year, some 800 KISD students recorded their views on technology using Speak Up. Ham hopes that 2,000 kids will participate this year.