Speak Up America Week Highlights Chance to Share Views on Technology and Learning
Preliminary Data on 2014 Findings Released Every Day This Week;
Prizes and Grants Available for Schools, Districts and Participants during Speak Up America Week, Dec. 8-12
National Online Surveys Close 12/19: http://www.tomorrow.org/speakup/
Irvine, Calif. – More than 340,000 students, educators and parents have “spoken” so far as part of this year’s Speak Up surveys about how they use – and how they would like to use – technology for learning. December 8-12 is Speak Up America Week as the deadline for the surveys, on December 19, approaches.
As part of this special week, Project Tomorrow will be releasing preliminary findings from the 2014 surveys completed so far. Today’s findings are about teachers. Among the 17,913 teachers who responded by Nov. 24th, they say “how to use technology to differentiate instruction” (51 percent) and “how to use educational games in the classroom” (35 percent) are at the top of their wish list for professional development this year. And, 37 percent of teachers in 2014 say they have participated in an online class for professional development facilitated by a college or university; 17 percent say that they have had the same experience – facilitated by their own school district. See a short video of the findings and the Speak Up 2014 Snapshots for Educators blog post.
Schools, districts and participants also have the chance to win prizes and grants just for expressing their views on some of the hottest topics in education.
One of last year’s winners reported back, “I have been participating in the Speak Up survey ever since it started [in 2003]. Technology has grown in my classroom by leaps and bounds since then, but as with any technology, there is always something new to add to the classroom,” said Dr. Karl Ochsner, Pope John XXIII Catholic School in Arizona. “After winning the $500 prize last year, I purchased an XYZ 3D printer to integrate STEM into my classroom. My students since then have created iPhone cases, key chains, tie clips and more. Even though the survey data is an invaluable tool at our school, getting the opportunity to purchase the latest in technology was icing on the cake!”
The annual Speak Up surveys are used by schools, districts, states and national leaders as they make decisions about policies and funding.
“With one week to go before the surveys close, we are reminding everyone that they should have a voice in the future of education, so Speak Up, America!” said Julie Evans, CEO of Project Tomorrow, about this week-long campaign to encourage participation.
Learn more about all the Speak Up America Week activities at http://www.tomorrow.org/speakup/speakupamerica.html:
- National Speak Up Day — Wednesday December 10th
- Twitter Chat on surprising preliminary findings with Julie Evans — Wednesday, December 10 – 4:30 pm ET/1:30 pm PT
- Classroom or School Grant Photo and Video Challenge — 5 chances to win grants of up to $500
- Free International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) 2015 Conference Registrations — multiple chances to win throughout the week
- Free Regional Conference Registrations to CUE, NCCE, NETA and TCEA
- Free one-year BrainPOP classroom certificate
- Daily Speak Up 2014 Preliminary data snapshots
- How Does Your State Compare? View the “Are you Speaking Up” state participant map to see where your state falls. — Updated daily
More than 340,000 people have completed the surveys since they opened in October. The online Speak Up 2014 surveys close on December 19th. Learn more via http://www.tomorrow.org/speakup/.
Since 2003, more than 3.7 million K-12 students, educators and parents from more than 30,000 schools in all 50 states have participated in Speak Up. The online survey is facilitated by Project Tomorrow and supported by many of our nation’s most innovative companies, foundations and nonprofit organizations including Blackboard, Inc., BrainPOP, DreamBox Learning, Fuel Education, Qualcomm Wireless Reach, Rosetta Stone, Schoolwires and SMART Technologies.
Project Tomorrow partners with more than 75 different education associations, organizations and think-tanks for outreach to the schools and development of the survey questions including the American Association of School Administrators, Consortium for School Networking, Digital Learning Day, Digital Promise, edWeb.net, eSchool News, iNACOL, International Society for Technology in Education, National School Boards Association, National Secondary School Principals Association, Southern Regional Education Board and State Education Technology Directors’ Association.
