There are more computers and Internet connections in the nation’s schools than ever before. But a survey to be released this week by Education Week shows that teachers are struggling to find high-quality software and Web sites.
Results of the survey--the most comprehensive analysis to date of teachers’ use of educational software and World Wide Web sites--are included in the newspaper’s third special report on school technology, Technology Counts ‘99: Building the Digital Curriculum.
The 112-page report also includes current state-by-state and national statistics on school technology, as well as summaries of each state’s efforts to foster technology over the past year.
Training plays a critical role in how teachers use educational software and Web sites, which are often referred to as “digital content,” the survey found. Teachers who have more technology training are more likely to use those digital resources in their classrooms, feel better prepared to use them, and rely on them more heavily than teachers with less training.
The survey also addresses other factors that influence teachers’ use of digital content, such as the number of computers in a classroom and the cost of educational software.
The Milken Exchange on Education Technology, a nonprofit initiative of the Santa Monica, Calif.-based Milken Family Foundation, provided funding for the report. Education Week worked with Education Market Research, based in Rockaway Park, N.Y., to conduct the survey.
Education Week subscribers will receive the Technology Counts issue of the paper, dated Sept. 23, following the current issue.
--Erik Fatemi
