Making Progress: Rethinking State and School District Policies Concerning Mobile Technologies and Social Media

Publication: The Consortium for School Networking
Date: April 9, 2012

Summary: The National Writing Project joined the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN) and other leading educational organizations in releasing a new report that focuses on the use of mobile technologies and social media in schools.

Excerpt from the Report

It is commonly recognized that our nation's progress depends on improving learning, thereby creating healthier communities and a stronger workforce. In today's world, that requires us to take advantage of new learning tools to ensure that our children's learning is practical and prepares them for the challenges of the 21st century. The advantages of digital media now greatly outweigh the disadvantages and require that schools update their thinking and policies to provide guidance on the use of these tools to improve student learning and achievement.

In 2000, when the Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA) was first enacted, the major concern on the part of legislators and education policymakers was to protect children from viewing pornography on the Internet. A decade later, the nature and scope of digital media differs sharply from what existed in 2000. Mobile devices, social media, and other Web 2.0 applications have become mainstream in many sectors of society, and an increasing number of educators are demonstrating the power of these applications to enrich the learning environments in their classrooms.

Elyse Eidman-Aadahl, NWP's Director of National Programs and Site Development, has said of the report:

Many young people are already active digital consumers, but school is often the place where they learn to be critical, reflective and powerful digital citizens. But to do that, students and teachers need to be able to read, write, search, and collaborate with broad access to wide range of web 2.0 tools.

Download the Report

Making Progress: Rethinking State and School District Policies Concerning Mobile Technologies and Social Media (PDF)