WASHINGTON, June 28, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- In just three
years, the number of high school students who have access to online
learning has tripled, while twice as many middle school students
are now learning online according to a survey report from Project
Tomorrow® and Blackboard Inc. (Nasdaq: BBBB).
More than 40 percent of students now designate online classes as
an essential component of their learning experience with
administrators and parents also becoming more supportive of this
vision. In two years' time, 39 percent more administrators and five
times as many parents incorporate online classes into their vision
for the ultimate school.
While support grows, so does the untapped student demand for
online learning as part of the ultimate school. One-third of middle
school and high school students say they are interested in taking
an online course but have not yet, and 30 percent of 3rd-5th grade
students report they would like to take an online course, according
to the survey.
"Online learning is transformative. We are just starting to see
a generation rising through middle schools that demand online
learning and have a clear insight into how it can change the future
of education," said Julie Evans, CEO
of Project Tomorrow. "These students are moving online learning
beyond the basic learning paradigm and taking ownership in their
learning process, creating an engaging, personalized and
collaborative learning environment."
The findings are included in the report, Learning in the 21st
Century: 2011 Trends Update, an analysis prepared by Blackboard
and Project Tomorrow using data from Project Tomorrow's annual
Speak Up National Research Project. The 2010 Speak Up surveys
captured views on online education and 21st century learning from
more than 379,000 U.S. K-12 students, parents, educators and
college students enrolled in teacher preparation programs.
"Online learning will continue to impact student motivation for
learning," said a Delaware County,
Pennsylvania administrator who participated in the study. "I
believe collaboration tools will have the greatest impact on
student achievement. Web 2.0 tools will benefit students as they
contribute content and become more confident in their writing
ability, in their ability to offer their own opinions, and their
ability to communicate and collaborate."
Students are not the only ones learning online: a majority of
librarians (50 percent) and 27 percent of teachers have
participated in fully online professional development classes or
workshops, and 36 percent of administrators report experience with
online learning as part of their professional tasks. Further,
one-third of teachers would like to see their districts offer more
online professional development, and an emerging cohort of teachers
(14 percent) would like to leverage blogs and wikis to share best
practices with their peers.
As administrators and teachers become more comfortable with
online learning through experience, the barriers to learning have
shifted beyond funding concerns. Almost a third of administrators
are now concerned about the quality of the student-teacher
interaction online and 28 percent note that creating online courses
that are academically rigorous is a barrier. Administrators are
also more concerned with evaluating the quality of online courses,
which represents a more sophisticated understanding of what it
takes to be successful with online learning.
For the first time, the survey looked into what might motivate
teachers to teach an online course and found flexibility,
compensation and access to technology tools as key influencers. As
districts investigate how to meet the increased demands for online
learning, the survey found that the key audience for strategic
recruitment is teachers with less than ten years of experience who
value online learning for their own professional development and
explicitly express an interest in learning about online
teaching.
"Online learning continues to propel forward each year, and we
are extremely excited to be part of the process," said John Canuel, K-12 practice leader at Blackboard.
"Every day we see schools and districts across the U.S. creating
new learning environments that engage students with emerging
technologies such as mobile learning, online learning and digital
content. As the learning process is personalized, students are
empowered to explore knowledge with an unfettered type of curiosity
that is too often missing from traditional classroom settings."
Learning in the 21st Century: 2011 Trends Update, was
released at the International Society for Technology in Education
(ISTE) Conference in Philadelphia.
The report is available online at
www.blackboard.com/k12/education21c.
For more information about Blackboard, please visit
http://www.blackboard.com/K12.
About Blackboard Inc.
Blackboard Inc. (Nasdaq: BBBB) is a global leader in enterprise
technology and innovative solutions that improve the experience of
millions of students and learners around the world every day.
Blackboard's solutions allow thousands of higher education, K-12,
professional, corporate, and government organizations to extend
teaching and learning online, facilitate campus commerce and
security, and communicate more effectively with their communities.
Founded in 1997, Blackboard is headquartered in Washington, D.C., with offices in North America, Europe, Asia
and Australia.
About Project Tomorrow
Project Tomorrow® is the nation's leading education nonprofit
organization dedicated to the empowerment of students voices in
education. With 15 years experience in the K-12 education sector,
Project Tomorrow® regularly provides consulting and research
support about key trends in K-12 science, math and technology
education to school districts, government agencies, business and
higher education. The Speak Up National Research Project
annually polls K-12 students, parents and educators about the role
of technology for learning in and out of school and represents the
represents the largest collection of authentic, unfiltered
stakeholder voice on digital learning. Since 2003, over 2.2
million K-12 students, parents, teachers, librarians, principals,
technology leaders and district administrators have shared their
views and ideas through Speak Up. For additional information,
visit us at www.tomorrow.org. We can also be found at:
twitter.com/SpeakUpEd or Facebook.com/speakuped
Any statements in this press release about future
expectations, plans and prospects for Blackboard and other
statements containing the words "believes," "anticipates," "plans,"
"expects," "will," and similar expressions, constitute
forward-looking statements within the meaning of The Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results may differ
materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements
as a result of various important factors, including the factors
discussed in the "Risk Factors" section of our Form 10-K filed
on February 18, 2011 and Form 10-Q
filed on May 9, 2011 with the SEC. In
addition, the forward-looking statements included in this press
release represent the Company's views as of June 28, 2011. The Company anticipates that
subsequent events and developments will cause the Company's views
to change. However, while the Company may elect to update these
forward-looking statements at some point in the future, the Company
specifically disclaims any obligation to do so. These
forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as
representing the Company's views as of any date subsequent to
June 28, 2011.
SOURCE Blackboard Inc.