After the Border to Border Blandin conference last week, I was lucky enough to attend a Student Success Community Conversation in Grand Rapids MN. I was helping with using social media as an added dimension at the event. But it also gave me a chance to sit in on a conversation of students and invested adults on technology and students.
To back up a little the Student Success conversation is an event hosted by Itasca Area Initiative for Student Success; their goal is to support the success of every child from cradle to career. In light of that goal the created a Pathway to success…
The Itasca Area Initiative for Student Success (IAISS) has developed a Pathway that plots the course of a student’s journey from before the cradle to career, with plenty of guideposts along the way. The Pathway is not just a guide for the student, but for all members of the community with an interest in seeing that students have successful journeys. Its goals rest on research-based competencies and experiences, as reported by young people themselves, as well as key transition points where we know students must be on target developmentally to have the best shot at long-term success. And that’s what the Pathway is all about.
IAISS worked with Search Institute on a Youth Survey to dig deeper into each step of the Pathway to see how kids in Itasca are doing. The Pathway and the survey are based on the Search’s framework of 40 Developmental Assets. The Assets harken back to my earlier life as the librarian for the National Service-Learning Clearinghouse; the Pathway, the survey are all interesting if you have time – but for today I’ll jump to the Technology Pathway, survey segment and conversation.
The Pathways is – Every student will have access to technology and the skills necessary to use it and achieve goals.
The survey looked at computers in the home, Internet access, diversity of tech use and technology skills. (Page 32-34)
I took part in a conversation on the topic with four adults and two kids. One pretty techie, one not; both friends.
On a high level, the survey indicated that:
- 22 percent of students are challenged with technology
- 44 percent are vulnerable
- 18 percent have adequate access/skills
- 16 percent are thriving
Within the survey there were a few things I found noteworthy:
- 21 percent of males were thriving; only 11 percent of females were thriving
- A much greater percent of 12th graders felt challenged than 7th graders
- Only 50 percent reported having broadband at home although 37 percent didn’t know
- Only 9 percent of students check email daily; 59 percent check texts; 43 percent sure social media
The conversation was at least as enlightening. Three of the adults (myself included) were what I’d call invested regulars – we work with education, public positions or nonprofits. The other adult was a manufacturer. He was there to make sure that he needed a future workforce that could do more than text and watch YouTube videos. He wanted workers that could operate machinery – and he wanted them to leave their smartphones in their lockers. He was very focused.
The kids had a different view. As I said one was a self-proclaimed techie. He was a user and enjoyed coding (or coding-type) activities. The other said he’d rather be out doing something. He only texted the friend next to him – otherwise he preferred the phone or in-person meetings. Neither could define broadband. “A regular Internet connection?” was the guess. And talking to that young gentleman I realized he probably had DSL. And he didn’t think it was sufficient – especially at night. They agreed with the manufacturer that they felt like they needed more classes or opportunities to learn how to use technology – not texting or Facebook – but programs that helped them get work done, be more employable. We think digital natives take to technology naturally – and they do – but it makes the case that there’s always room to learn how to better use technology.