Newly released results find that more than 60 percent of 6th- through 12th-graders surveyed said allowing the use of their own mobile devices in school would improve the use of technology in schools. Among students with smartphones, that number rose to 78 percent.
The study, which builds upon data gathered in 2009 as part of the Speak Up National Research Project from Project Tomorrow, also finds that student smartphone use has more than tripled among high school students since 2006, rising to 31 percent of students in grades 9-12. As for other wireless devices, 67 percent of high school students had access to at least a cellphone without Internet access, and 85 percent had access to an MP3 media player.
Meanwhile, 62 percent of parents indicated they would “likely” be willing to purchase a mobile device for their child’s educational use, according to results published in association with online education company Blackboard.
Both high school and middle school students said they’d be most likely to use the devices to look up information online or communicate with classmates. But more than half of high schoolers also said they’d use them to take notes or record lectures, receive academic e-mail reminders, collaborate on class projects, organize their work, and even communicate with teachers via instant messages, text messages, or chats.
The new release follows one by Project Tomorrow in late June that showed 27 percent of high school students surveyed to be enrolled in at least one online course, and 33 percent of parents surveyed having experienced an online course for work or pleasure.