1. The emergence of the
self-directed digital learner:
Speak Up 2013 National Results
Julie Evans, Project Tomorrow CEO

2. Today’s Discussion:
 About Speak Up 2013
 Selected national findings from the research
 Panel discussion
 Your comments, questions or thoughts
Speak Up 2013 National Research Project:
Views of K-12 Students
© 2013 Project Tomorrow

3. Panel of Experts
© 2013 Project Tomorrow
Woodward Academy - Georgia
Meghana Gundar, 12th grader
Cassie Van Orden, 11th grade
Kamehameha Schools - Hawaii:
Makani DeRego, 11th grade
Ho’ola’I Miday, 12th grade
Kukila Sanborn 11th grade

4. ProjectTomorrow, a national
education nonprofit organization
Programs:
• Research & evaluation studies
• STEM education programs
• Advocacy for digital learning
(c) Project Tomorrow 2014
Mission: To ensure that today’s
students are prepared to become
tomorrow’s leaders, innovators and
engaged citizens of the world.

5. Annual national research project
 Using online surveys + focus groups
 Surveys for: K-12 Students,Teachers, Parents,
Administrators, Community Members
 Special: Pre-ServiceTeachers in Schools of Education
 Open for all K-12 schools and schools of education
 Schools, districts & colleges receive free report with
their own data
Inform policies, plans & programs
 Local: your stakeholder data
 State: state level data
 Federal: national findings
Speak Up National Research Project
+ 3.4 million
surveys since
2003
(c) Project Tomorrow 2014

6.  Learning & Teaching with Technology
 21st Century Skills: Digital Citizenship & Global Awareness
 Math and Science Instruction / Digital Writing
 Students’ Career Interests in STEM
 Professional Development / Teacher Preparation
 Internet Safety / Digital Footprints
 Administrators’ Challenges / Bandwidth Capacity
 Emerging Technologies both in & out of the Classroom
 Mobile Devices, Online Learning, Digital Content, E-texts
 Educational Games, Social Media tools and applications
 Flipped Classroom, Print to Digital, Online Assessments
 Designing the 21st Century School
Speak Up survey question themes
(c) Project Tomorrow 2014

7. K-12 Students 325,279
Teachers & Librarians 32,151
Parents (in English & Spanish) 39,986
School/District Administrators 4,530
Community Members (new this year!) 1,346
About the participating schools & districts
o 9,005 schools and 2,710 districts
o 90% public schools – 10% private/parochial/charter/other
o 32% urban / 31% rural / 37% suburban
o 30% school wide Title 1; 43% majority minority school
o All 50 states + DC + Guam + DODEA schools
National Speak Up 2013 Participation: 403,292
(c) Project Tomorrow 2014

8. (c) Project Tomorrow 2014
Speak Up 2013
National Reports

9.  Students function as a “Digital Advance Team”
 Students regularly adopt and adapt emerging technologies
for learning
 Students’ frustrations focus on the unsophisticated use of
technologies within education
 Persistent digital disconnect between students and adults
 Learning is a 24/7 enterprise; school time is only a small
part of the learning day
 Students want a more personalized learning environment –
both in and out of school
What have we learned over the past 11 years?
(c) Project Tomorrow 2014

10. Social–based learning
Un–tethered learning
Digitally–rich learning
Students & Digital Learning
(c) Project Tomorrow 2014
Student Vision for Digital Learning
The
self
directed
learner

11. A sampling of
Speak Up data findings

12. (c) Project Tomorrow 2014
Current uses of technology
Four types of technology usage for learning
 In school:
o teacher directed or sponsored
o student self – initiated to support learning
 Out of school time:
o doing assignments and homework
o supporting personal learning

13. Defining the self-directed learner
Uses digital tools and resources
outside of school to self direct
learning and self teach skills that
allow the student to pursue
interests and passions

14. Defining the self-directed learner
Tools most often used include:
 Video
 Online tutorials
 Mobile apps
 Games
 Social Media

15. Defining the self-directed learner
Profile information:
 Self assess tech skills as advanced
 Gender differentiation by tool and task
 Equal distribution in different types of
communities
 Slightly skewed to middle school
students

16. (c) Project Tomorrow 2014
15%
18%
31%
40%
49%
56%
13%
21%
22%
38%
50%
46%
Tweeted about an academic topic
Found an expert online to answer questions
Used online writing tools
Watched a video to help with homework
Played an online game to learn something
Researched a website to learn more about
a topic
Boys Girls
Middle School Students’ Use of Digital Tools
for Self-Directed Learning Outside of School
(Advanced Technology Users)

17. (c) Project Tomorrow 2014
“I use a program called scratch.This program creates
games and animations, and that is one thing I plan on being
in the future. I take courses in school, and I make
animations and games. So all I need to do, is see-through
what this hobby can lead me to.”
“Personally, gaming improves my thinking since you need
faster reflexes to get a better score at a game.The games
I'm playing currently encourage cooperation and that if you
want to win the game, when it's either a shooting game or a
strategy game, you need cooperation with your other
teammates to be successful.”
In their own words – self directed learning

18. (c) Project Tomorrow 2014
“I want to go into the medical field when I'm older and by
the use of surgery simulation at home it really interests
me in what else I could do in the medical field and the
different branches of medicine.”
“I use technology to learn how to code. So far I have
learned HTML and JavaScript. I like learning on my own,
but sometimes I wish someone could teach me so I
could get a better understanding of what I'm learning.“
In their own words – self directed learning

19. Panel of Experts
© 2013 Project Tomorrow
Woodward Academy - Georgia
Meghana Gundar, 12th grader
Cassie Van Orden, 11th grade
Kamehameha Schools - Hawaii:
Makani DeRego, 11th grade
Ho’ola’I Miday, 12th grade
Kukila Sanborn 11th grade

20. National Speak Up Findings and reports
Targeted and thematic reports
Digital learning trends
Mobile learning & social media
Print to digital migration
Social learning
Intelligent adaptive software
Digital parent series
Presentations, podcasts and webinars
Services: consulting, workshops, evaluation and efficacy
studies
Speak Up 2014 opens on October 6
(c) Project Tomorrow 2014
More Speak Up? www.tomorrow.org

21. Thank you.
Let’s continue this conversation.
Julie Evans
Project Tomorrow
jevans@tomorrow.org
949-609-4660 x15
Twitter: JulieEvans_PT
SpeakUpEd
Copyright Project Tomorrow 2014
This work is the intellectual property of the author. Permission is granted
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(c) Project Tomorrow 2014