A Device for Every Student? Making Mobility a Reality in Schools

Mobile devices are quickly becoming part of the fabric of our kids’ everyday lives. And if walking through the local mall doesn’t convince you of that, there are plenty of stats to back it up.

According to the Speak Up survey from Project Tomorrow, in 2011 two-thirds of parents of school-aged children (67 percent) noted that they have a personal smartphone, an increase of almost three times from 2006. A 2011 Pew Internet & American Life Project survey found 77 percent of all teens surveyed had cell phones and 23 percent had smartphones. While there’s debate about the best way to do it, making the most of mobile devices inside — and outside — of the classroom only makes sense.

Fortunately, the creators of the Common Core State Standards agreed. Introduced in 2010 and adopted by 46 states to date, the standards are designed to better prepare K-12 students for college and work in a global, digital economy. Among the standards themselves, there are several that specifically cite technology as a means for students to produce and publish content, to collaborate, and to research and use information via the internet.

Making mobile technologies part of daily school life isn’t a one-off process. According to “Mobile Devices and the Common Core,” school districts will have to match the right devices to children’s developmental needs, equip teachers with professional learning so they can apply the devices to teaching practices, and give all children access to their own devices.

Dell offers end-to-end solutions that help schools develop and implement these mobile learning strategies — from selecting devices such as tablets to providing professional learning to setting up a wireless network to enabling desktop virtualization.

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Ana Cantu

Managing Editor at Dell

Ana Cantu is Tech Page One’s managing editor for business content. Before joining Dell as a blogger and social media manager, she was a multimedia journalist, and was a member of the Los Angeles Times team awarded the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for breaking news reporting. She is one of the company’s subject matter experts in cloud computing and data management.