Only half of parents and students believe U.S. schools are prepared to teach about new technologies, reports USC Annenberg Center for the Digital Future and Bovitz, Inc.

LOS ANGELES, July 29, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Do America's schools have the tools and talent to train the next generation of technology users?

Only about half of parents and students say yes.

A survey conducted by the USC Annenberg Center for the Digital Future and Bovitz Inc. found that 56 percent of parents and students agree that the technological facilities in their schools are adequate. 

The survey also found the same percentage of parents – but fewer students (46 percent) – agree that teachers are adequately preparing their children to use new technologies.

"America's future is based on technology, yet barely a majority of parents and students think schools are up to the challenge of training the next generation of technology users," said Jeffrey I. Cole, director of the Center for the Digital Future.  

"We believe that America can make great strides in improving education if a new generation of teachers from the Millennial generation – those born into using technology – has the opportunity to shape the next era of instruction," Cole said.

Greg Bovitz, president of Bovitz, Inc. and a senior fellow at the Center for the Digital Future, added, "It's a clear case of digital adopters teaching digital natives.  In the current classroom, the students have an innate advantage when it comes to technology."

Millennial parents: less confident in schools' abilities to teach new technologies

The survey found that the Millennial generation of parents have less confidence in either teachers or technology than do other respondents.  Only 47 percent of parents who are Millennials (age 18-34) said teachers in their children's schools are adequately preparing them to use new technologies, compared to 59 percent of non-Millennial parents.  Fifty-one percent of Millennial parents said the technology in schools was adequate, compared to 56 percent of non-Millennial parents.

Differences between male and female students in views about technology

The survey also reported differences in how male and female students perceive the technological facilities in schools and teachers' abilities to educate about new technologies.

Sixty-five percent of male students vs. 50 percent of female students agreed that the technological facilities in their school are adequate.  Fifty percent of male students compared to 43 percent of female students agree that the teachers in their school are adequately preparing them to use new technologies.   

Survey background 

Findings on the benefits and costs of technology were developed from the results of the Topical Survey, a new supplement to the Center's annual research study that covers issues such as privacy, social media use, use of technology at school, stress and technology, and norms regarding the presence of technology in social settings.  The Topical Survey has a margin of error of +/- 3.1%.

About the Center for the Digital Future
Since 2000, the Center for the Digital Future (digitalcenter.org) has examined the behavior and views of a national sample of Internet users and non-users in major annual surveys of the impact of the Internet on America.  The center also created and organizes the World Internet Project, which includes similar research with 37 international partners. 

About Bovitz, Inc.
Bovitz, Inc (bovitzinc.com) is a design-driven research and strategy firm that helps organizations uncover opportunity and drive innovation.

About USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism
Located in Los Angeles at the University of Southern California, the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism (annenberg.usc.edu) is a national leader in education and scholarship in the fields of communication, journalism, public diplomacy and public relations. With an enrollment of more than 2,200 students, USC Annenberg offers doctoral, master's and bachelor's degree programs, as well as continuing development programs for working professionals, across a broad scope of academic inquiry. The school's comprehensive curriculum emphasizes the core skills of leadership, innovation, service and entrepreneurship and draws upon the resources of a networked university located in the media capital of the world.

CONTACT: Justin Pierce, 310-962-6001
[email protected]

SOURCE USC Annenberg Center for the Digital Future and Bovitz Inc.