Week of August 28, 2005

As a new school year begins, it's interesting to look at education technology from students' perspective. Thanks to NetDay, a nonprofit organization supporting smart use of ed tech, the Departments of Commerce and Education, and their just-released study, "Visions 2020.2", we now have a clear, very interesting picture of kids' expectations of technology in school.

More than 55,000 students in grades K-12 in all 50 states responded to the question: "In the future, you will be the inventors of new technologies. What would you like to see invented that you think will help kids learn in the future?" According to the report (*PDF link), "the Commerce Department reviewed these authentic and unfiltered responses and identified common themes and interests amongst American youth."

What researchers found was that these "New Millennials" (today's K-to-12th-graders) are not just tech-savvy, they are actually "approaching their lives differently as they integrate digital technologies - such as computers, the Internet, instant messaging, cell phones, and email - seamlessly throughout their daily activities."

Students' dream set-up would be to have a connected virtual textbook and reference library (a small, voice-activated computer that's multifunctional for research, communications, info storage, calendar, etc., like a tech version of a Swiss Army Knife. It would also serve as a virtual locker and backback (so that research library, info storage, and calendar) would always be at these multitaskers' fingertips for keeping track of friends, assignments, school events, etc.

Access for all is essential the study's respondents said - high-speed, 24x7, wireless, and safe. I thought that last item was especially interesting, and a wake-up call (if we need one, to parents, educators, and online-safety advocates): Kids want safe access to age-appropriate content online, they said.

Virtual guidance is also something they'd like, 24x7 - a virtual tutor, via Web site, IM, or cellphone, particularly for math. They also would like to have virtual study groups (so they can discuss assignments and projects with peers) and virtual guidance counselors for "life decisions."