SIIA Education Division just released an interesting study on educators’ mobile challenges and opportunities – indicating opportunities for growth in the use of mobile technology in schools. While results were gathered from interviews with only nine educators, they demonstrate the successes and difficulties faced by individual teachers in their integration of smart phones and tablets for educational purposes. A qualitative study, it was conducted primarily through phone interviews with participants and offers a lot of raw, rich data. “The enthusiasm for mobile technology in the classroom is exciting, as teachers adopt this new technology” says Market and Policy Analyst for the SIIA Education Division Lindsay Harman. “Many were impressed with the opportunities to increase student engagement through the use of mobile learning.” SIIA piloted the project with Andrew Pass, CEO of A Pass Education, to understand how teachers were using mobile technology in the classroom. “The mobile market is growing and educational technology companies are introducing more content in mobile platforms. The speed of implementation makes publishers, parents, teachers, and other members of the industry hungry for information,” says Pass. “This report shows a slice of the impact from the point of view of nine educators using it in their classrooms.” The stories in this report show unique challenges and successes in the implementation of mobile technology in the classroom. Worth a look.
