Will Tablets Replace Textbooks? Findings from our Second Annual Survey on Students and Tablets

Last week’s launch of the new Apple iPad engendered more buzz around tablets and their roles for both personal and educational use. Since our first survey on this topic last year, we’ve been following closely as it seems there are more and more reasons to believe tablets are making their way into college classrooms — and more and more reasons to believe that tablets themselves are changing the way young people think about learning and formal education.

Today, we’re releasing the Second Annual Pearson Foundation Survey on Students and Tablets. Conducted by Harris Interactive, the survey helps frame the ways that college students and college-bound high school seniors currently use and would like to use the latest digital technologies.

Perhaps most impressive is this finding: Tablet ownership among college students and college-bound high school students has more than tripled from a year ago. The survey also reveals that more students are reading digital books than were last year, and a majority of college students and high school seniors believe that tablets will replace textbooks in the next five years. (This survey was conducted in January, 2012 and consisted of a nationally representative online poll of more than one thousand college students and more than two hundred college-bound seniors in the United States.)

The results are well worth reading. You can find the Pearson Foundation Survey on Students and Tablets overview on our site, or, read the official Summary of Findings online.

Pass the Books. Watch the Films.

If you’ve not yet seen it, you’re sure to be as pleased as I was to read Thomas Friedman’s recent “Pass the Books. Hold the Oil” in Sunday’s New York Times — not only because the column underscores the important connection between education and better outcomes for individuals and for nations, but because it does so in a way that rightly acknowledges OECD’s important work in framing this connection.

The timing was strong for those of us at the Foundation, as on Sunday we were making final plans to announce the formal addition of six new films to our “Strong Performers and Successful Reformers” series - a film series we’ve put together in partnership with OECD that documents the ways countries have successfully reformed their education systems to better serve their students and teachers.

As the resulting release explains: Each short film presents concrete solutions that have helped each education system to identify and teach the skills students need to succeed in an increasingly global, interconnected economy. The video series has been shaped by the OECD’s Andreas Schleicher, who is heavily cited in Mr. Friedman’s column.

All of this is a great prelude to another key event this week—the second annual International Summit on the Teaching Profession—which brings education leaders from countries around the world to New York City to share ideas and to discuss the key drivers of the teaching profession. We were pleased to be able to help publish the results of last year’s International Summit (you can download the Asia Society’s excellent post-summary report here, or read a more recent round up in an Ed Week bost by the Asia Society’s Tony Jackson, here).

We’re equally pleased that this year together with OECD we’ll share DVD copies of the entire video series — all ten films - with every person in attendance.

More from New York later this week.

Now Available: The 2011 My Voice National Student Report

If you’ve not met Russ Quaglia, you’re missing one of the Foundation’s favorite people. Russ believes that by listening to students and understanding their aspirations, educators can improve today’s teaching and learning environments. And he’s devoted his professional life to formalizing the ways we can learn from and about young people and the ways educators can benefit from what we find out.

We at the Pearson Foundation have been so inspired by Russ’ body of work that — since 2009 — we’ve been supporting both the research conducted at the Quaglia Institute for Student Aspirations and his My Voice Student Aspirations Survey survey, which seeks to gather information about student perceptions of their experience at school. Administrators, educators, parents and students use survey findings to improve schools, inspiring many schools to create or move to a more student-centered focus.

This week we’re excited to share the findings of the most recent National Report, conducted with more than 57,000 students in grades 6-12 during the 2010-2011 academic year and representing more than 200 schools from across the United States.

Please take the time to read the Executive Summary, or review the full My Voice National Student Report.

To learn more about the My Voice program, please visit http://myvoice.pearsonfoundation.org.

Join Us on March 7 for World Read Aloud Day 2012!

Worldwide, more than 793 million people remain illiterate. Our friends at LitWorld are trying to change that by spreading the power of stories.

Join us at the Pearson Foundation on March 7, 2012, as we stand with LitWorld — a fantastic global literacy organization and We Give Books literacy partner — in celebrating World Read Aloud Day.

World Read Aloud Day aims to motivate children, teens, and adults worldwide to celebrate the power of words, especially those words that are shared from one person to another, and creates a community of readers advocating for every child’s right to a safe education and access to books and technology.

It’s easy to support World Read Aloud Day - simply pledge online to read aloud with loved ones and friends on March 7. You’ll find a library of great read-aloud stories online at We Give Books, and, as always, for each book you read in our online library, we will share a book with a child in need. To learn more about LitWorld and to register to participate in World Read Aloud Day, please visit http://litworld.org/worldreadaloudday/.

Pearson Foundation announces 2012 Pearson Prize applications now being accepted.

Big news today: The Pearson Foundation has officially opened the application for the 2012 Pearson Prize for Higher Education, the award that recognizes and supports undergraduate student leaders who are distinguishing themselves by leading public service efforts that give back to their local communities.