By eSchool News Staff, March 1, 2012 —  A survey by the Pew Research Center, who polled more than 2,400  of U.S. middle and high school teachers, finds that ed tech has become central to their profession. At the same time, the internet, mobile phones, and social media have brought new challenges to teachers—and they report striking differences in access between lower and higher-income students and schools.

Brief, the survey found:

• 92 percent of these teachers said the internet has a “major impact” on their ability to access content, resources, and materials.

• 69 percent said the internet has a “major impact” on their ability to share ideas with other teachers.

• 67 percent said the internet has a “major impact” on their ability to interact with parents, and 57 percent said it has had such an impact on their interaction with students.

The survey found that ed-tech tools are widely used in classrooms and assignments, and a majority of teachers are satisfied with the ed-tech support and resources they receive from their schools. However, it also found that teachers of the lowest-income students face more challenges in using ed-tech tools in their classrooms.

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