Calendarfly

Nearly two-thirds of K-12 educators in the U.S. have accounts with Facebook, MySpace, or some other social networking website, according to a new survey (PDF) a by a consortium of education research groups. The same survey showed that most educators feel social networking sites can play a valuable role in the classroom. Educators identified their ability to increase parental involvement in classroom activities as one of their primary contributions.

The purpose of the survey was to gauge "attitudes, perceptions and utilization of social networking websites and content-sharing tools by teachers, principals and school librarians." It was coordinated by edweb.net, a social networking site for education professionals, with support from MMS education, an education innovation consultant, and MCH Mailings, a marketing firm.

The survey was sent to 70,000 K-12 educators nationwide. 979 educators, or 1.4% of those who were contacted, responded. Of these respondents, 576 (59%) were teachers, 135 (14%) were principals, 252 (26%) were librarians.

The survey asked teachers to identify what value they see social networking sites playing in their classrooms. Respondents scored how they see social networking helping in the class on a scale of 0 to 3, with three being the greatest value. One of the highest-scored roles for social networking was to "improve communications with staff, students, and parents," with a score of 2.4. Educators also gave a high-rating for "connect[ing] and reach[ing] out to parents," which they scored a 2.29.

The survey subverts the conventional wisdom that only young people—students and early-career teachers—use Facebook and similar sites. 84% of educators who said they are using Facebook or other sites are over 35 years old. 73% have over 10 years of education experience. Older teachers aren't afraid of new technologies, these findings show.

These findings suggest that many educators are looking for new ways to use social networking technology in their classrooms. Both young and old educators use Facebook and other sites, and know the potential value of this technology in the classroom. CalendarFly provides an online tool for teachers and principals to involve parents in the classroom in order to improve education outsomes. CalendarFly is precisely the kind of education tool the survey shows educators want—and, importantly, are ready to use.

A final report from the survey will be released on October 26. Its authors will host a video conference to explain the findings on November 4. For more information about edweb.net, click here or call 800-575-6015, ext.100.

--Matt