Data Snapshot: Student Tech Use At School

Last week, 1128 total students took the Fast Facts survey, and over 70% of students at FDR Middle School responded!

We asked students two main questions : What device did you use in school yesterday? What did you use it for?

Here is what we found:

• At schools where tablets had been rolled out, approximately 75-95% of students reported using their tablets during the previous school day. Students also reported using smartphones and laptop or desktop computers while at school.

Devices Used by Students At School

• Students most commonly used their device(s) to look up information — 62% of students said they uses their device for this purpose during the previous school day. More than 33% of students used a device to work with other students, to check grades, to complete assignments, and to use apps.

Student Device Use 

What is in that ‘other’ category, you ask? Here are some of the more common responses:

• To take a test
• To listen to music
• To play games
• To take notes
• To draw
• To read books
• To use specific apps (e.g. ST Math, Kahoot, ALEKS)

A few of my favorite, but less common, responses were: “To learn,” “to speak another language,” and “To call my mom.”

We also asked students to submit their own Fast Fact questions. Students offered up A LOT of questions about the tablets, the project, and other students’ hobbies, interests and feelings about school and technology. Stay tuned for more on those results! And please keep encouraging your students to respond!

Unlike traditional surveys, Fast Facts let us look at change over time. This is just a single data point, a starting point from which to better understand how learning and teaching strategies are changing over the course of this project. We’ll ask some of these questions repeatedly over time so we can use multiple snapshots to tell a richer story!

Do any of these results surprise you? What would you like to ask your students?