Parents Want Kids to Use Mobile Devices in Schools

May 7, 2013 | 8:00 AM | By Ian Quillen

 "Report from Grunwald Associates and Learning First Alliance with support from AT&T sampled 2, 400 parents in a nationwide sample to find that more than four in five K-12 students at least occasionally use some sort of computing device, including mobile devices like tablets,or smart phones or laptop computers." Full report link  

 

This blog article by Ian Quillen lifts some of the important ideas from the report.  I have created some bullet points of the most important facts in the article.   It suggests for librarians that young patrons do use mobile devices for social media, gaming and educational uses to include reading.  Parents are supporting these behaviors by purchasing devices for their families.

 

Smart devices cut across the digital divide created by socioeconomic boundaries according to Ian Quillen.

Families who are not well off own multiple devices. Income affects how many devices are in the home. 

Incomes under 25K owned 3.3 devices where families above 150K on average had twice as many.

“When it comes to mobile devices and education, most parents believe that these devices open up learning opportunities, benefit students’ learning and can engage students in the classroom. Many parents also believe that mobiles and apps teach academic skills and content.

45% already owned or planned to purchase a mobile device that would help their student's education.

56% of parents would purchase a mobile device if the schools required it.

51% of high school students carry a smart phone.  28% of middle school students carry a smart phone, 8% of 3-5th graders carry a smart phone.

Only 16% of schools had a policy to allow students to use their mobile devices in class.

Only 17% reported that their children were required to use a mobile device for school

Grunwald Associates noted that this "reflects the disconnect between the school environment and the broader household environment in which the kid exist"

More than 50% of parents think schools should utilize mobile devices for educational purposes.

Parents of girls were slightly more likely to support use of mobile devices for education than were parents of boys.  Girls consistently use more devices for social media.

Parents of K-2 children are more likely to believe that mobile devices are useful to education.  It is surmised that the reason may be that they are younger and more tech savvy.