Internet access as vital as devices to boosting the learning experience — from thejournal.com by Dian Schaffhauser
Excerpt:
The project reported five key findings:
- Access to a computing device and the Internet resulted in “greater student engagement in learning.” Eighty percent of the students said having the tablet “made learning more fun and interesting”; 72 percent reported they “were more engaged in their lessons.”
- Sixty percent of students said they did more reading and writing during the school year because of having a tablet. In fact, teachers assigned more reading and writing homework because they knew home Internet access was available. “This resulted in increased reading and writing fluency, which is especially important for English Language Learners,” the report noted.
- Internet access shot up. Nearly 80 percent of students reported accessing the Internet on a daily basis in fifth grade, up from 4 percent in fourth grade.
- Students became more independent learners. Almost all said they “used their tablet regularly to look up information on the Internet when they had a question about something.”
- With professional development, teachers changed their instructional practices. According to the report, this was evident “by the level of integration of the tablets into everyday instruction” and by “the new project based learning orientation within the classes.”
But the greatest difference overall, the researchers stated, occurred because students could access online information anytime, anywhere. That access “transformed the classroom environment by allowing both students and teachers to bring additional resources into the learning process, at just the right moment to have the greatest impact on learning.”