Educators who use technology on their own are more likely to support ed tech

If there’s one thing different generations can agree on, it’s that technology isn’t like Justin Bieber: Nearly everyone loves their smart phone—but you have to be a child of the late 90s to really love Bieber. Highlighting this bit of cultural knowledge is a new report that reveals it’s not just students who love using 21st-century technology; it’s many of the adults in education, too—and the adults are translating this love into classroom practice.

According to the ninth annual “Speak Up” survey, facilitated by the nonprofit group Project Tomorrow and supported by numerous companies, education associations, and think tanks, while only 46 percent of all Americans report using a smart phone, more than 70 percent of school principals and district administrators use these always-connected devices, making them early adopters of technology their students crave. And it’s this early adoption—and the realization of the benefits of technology for anytime, anywhere access to information and communication—that’s spurring support for student use of smart phones, tablets, and online learning in and out of the classroom, the 2011-12 Speak Up data suggest.