The gateway to European audiovisual heritage

Search in:

More than 75% of teachers in the USA use digital media

By Sally Reynolds

The 7th annual study from PBS (USA’s national platform for online educational media resources) on media and technology use within the classroom, provides a range of useful insights on the take up of digital media in the US. The study reports the following main findings:

  • A majority of teachers are using digital media, with applications including instruction, lesson planning, communications and professional development.
  • Teachers who do use digital media value it and believe that it helps them—and their students—be more effective.
  • Teachers continue to use video, but they increasingly access video online, rather than from broadcast, cable or videotape. And teachers are becoming more strategic in their media use and savvier about integrating it into their repertoire of instructional strategies and resources.
  • Teachers value many different types of digital media, with games and activities for student use in school topping the list.
  • Increasing numbers of teachers are joining virtual professional communities—and many are comfortable using social networking tools in their personal and professional lives.

This report also provides interesting research findings on the specific use of video and the increased use of short video segments in place of full video programmes. The most popular length of video segment found in this study was between 5 and 10 minutes. The full report on this study is available here.

Title
Date
Provider
Description