A new survey released by the National School Boards Association found the the biggest challenge for district-level ed-tech leaders was “helping teachers effectively use technology.”
That answer received almost 50 percent of the votes from the more than 200 ed-tech administrators who were surveyed. That may explain why the top two areas where schools have invested federal funds, according to the survey results, are in classroom devices and hardware and professional development for teachers and staff.
The survey’s first question asked what two ed-tech priorities should be addressed by Congress and the Obama administration. Assessing 21st century skills pulled ahead with 35 percent of the vote, but all the issues received a fairly equal distribution of concern. Funding the Enhancing Education Through Technology program came in with 32 percent; improving bandwidth and implementing the National Broadband Plan, and supporting and funding the National Education Technology Plan tied with 31 percent; closing the digital divide received 21 percent of the votes; and raising the cap on E-Rate got 16 percent.
Not surprisingly, many districts have also moved forward with cyberbullying policies. Fifty-seven percent of survey respondents said they have developed policies that deal specifically with cyberbullying, and 34 percent said they already had policies in place to combat the issue.
There is a lot of good stuff in the survey, mostly geared toward district-level administrators, so if you’d like to see how your district is shaping up with others, this might be a good place to start. Are these answers indicative of what’s going on in your district? What’s your biggest challenge in implementing technology? Let us know in the comments.