SmartBrief on EdTech last week polled readers about a few top tech-based approaches to learning that have been making news in education. Our goal was to gain insight about how prevalent these approaches will be in classrooms across the country during the new school year.
The first approach we asked about was flipped instruction, finding that more than 60% of respondents said the approach will be used sporadically in their school or district this year. About 27% of respondents said there were no plans to use the approach, while slightly more than 9% said flipped instruction will make its debut in classrooms this year.
Gaming — from game-based instruction to video games — in the classroom proved to be a slightly less popular approach with our readers, with just under half of respondents reporting that the approach will be used at least sporadically in their school or district this year. Another 45% said the approach will not be used at all, while just about 6% expect the approach to be introduced.
Finally, we asked about the use of mobile devices in the classroom — from those that are student-owned to those that are school-issued — and we found that a solid majority — just under 70% — of respondents said these would be in use in classrooms throughout their school or district this year either on a regular or sporadic basis. Around 15% said this approach would be introduced while a slightly smaller number said the devices would not be used at all.
Here is a breakdown of the results:
How prevalent will flipped instruction be in your school or district this school year?
- Flipped instruction is used sporadically throughout classrooms in my school or district — 61.82%
- Flipped instruction will not be used this year in my school or district — 27.27%
- Flipped instruction will be introduced this year in my school or district — 9.09%
- Flipped instruction is used regularly throughout classrooms in my school or district — 1.82%
How prevalent will gaming — from video games to game-based instruction — be in your school or district this school year?
- Gaming or game-based learning will not be used this year in my school or district — 45.45%
- Gaming or game-based instruction is used sporadically throughout classrooms in my school or district — 33.33%
- Gaming or game-based instruction is used regularly throughout classrooms in my school or district — 15.15%
- Gaming or game-based instruction will be introduced this year in my school or district — 6.06%
To what extent will mobile devices — school-issued or student-owned — be part of classroom instruction this school year in your school or district?
- Mobile devices will be used regularly as part of instruction this year throughout classrooms in my school or district — 48.78%
- Mobile devices will be used sporadically as part of instruction this year throughout classrooms in my school or district — 20.73%
- Mobile devices will be introduced this year as part of instruction in my school or district — 15.85%
- Mobile devices will not be used this year as part of instruction in my school or district — 14.63%
How is tech-based learning being incorporated into classrooms in your school or district this year? Are these approaches — flipped instruction, gaming or learning with mobile devices — being used? Let us know in the comments below.
Katharine Haber is an education editor for SmartBrief, writing and editing content about a variety of topics in education.
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