The University of Southern California’s (USC) Rossier School of Education is giving school administrators a glimpse into the minds of teachers. USC conducted a survey to find out educator’s top concerns, the role of technology in their classrooms and how they maintain expertise in their field. The survey’s biggest finding was how important a role social media plays in professional development for today’s educators. Rather than rely on specifically scheduled “PD” days, teachers are heading online and taking advantage of resources like Twitter and the weekly #edchat. The classroom in general is becoming more social, technology-focused and community oriented.

Here are some other findings to note:

• The top two concerns for educators are technology in the classroom (65%) and professional development (58%).
• Technology is most helpful for student engagement and motivation, teacher professional development and collaboration.

• 67% of respondents said they were very interested in using social media in the classroom.
• 62% said they were likely to increase their use of social media in the classroom in the next 12 months.
• 81% of respondents use social media to educate themselves on current issues in education. Social media was closely followed by Internet searches (78%) and blogs (75%).
• Twitter led the way as the most popular social media platform for PD (77%) followed by Facebook (45%) and Google + (45%).

As for professional development, survey respondents felt they were lacking in soft skills training such as strategic planning and managing expectations.


Click here to read the full survey results.