Washington, DC (October 24th, 2008) Three quarters (77 percent) of K-12 teachers report that they – or a fellow teacher in their school – assign homework that requires Internet use, and students in 42 percent of schools are producing or creating their own videos as part of their schoolwork, with that number rising to 60 percent for high school students, according to a nationally representative survey of K-12 educators and library media specialists conducted for Cable in the Classroom (CIC) by Grunwald Associates LLC.

“We are experiencing a sea-change in the extent to which teachers are employing mainstream technology by integrating new tools in their classrooms. At the same time, schools are reinforcing positive use of technology outside of school, by recommending and assigning homework that requires Internet use. Students are also learning technology skills in the classroom such as video production, which empowers them to be creators – not just consumers – of media,” said Peter Grunwald, President and founder of Grunwald Associates.


"Access to and use of the Internet and a wide range of technologies and applications are increasingly required for student academic success,” added Grunwald.


Teachers report students are producing their own video content in record numbers. This finding emerges as early as elementary school, with students in 24 percent of schools producing and editing videos, expanding to 43 percent in middle school and topping out in the high school years at 60 percent.


"With evidence that teachers are embracing new and emerging technologies for learning, there is both an opportunity and increasing responsibility to more widely foster 21^st century skills, including especially media literacy” said Douglas Levin, senior education policy director at Cable in the Classroom. “Indeed, educators recognize the need to increase the in-school emphasis on media literacy as a way to help students think critically about traditional and new media, including on the Internet and in video production."

For nearly 20 years, Cable in the Classroom has offered resources to both teachers and parents to help guide children’s media use. Teachers and parents can visit www.ciconline.org/media-smart for free resources, including a primer on media literacy, resources on digital ethics, 21st century skills, social networking, Internet safety and additional research on how to ensure these new technologies are employed by children and youth safely, productively and ethically.

Grunwald Associates conducted 1,436 interviews among classroom teachers and librarian/media specialists in grades K-12. Interviews were conducted online in April, 2008. For a sample size of 1,436, the random error of any percentage based on this sample size is about ± 3% at the 95% confidence level.

Grunwald Associates LLC is an independent research and consulting firm that has been providing market intelligence since 1993. Grunwald Associates is well known and highly respected for industry surveys, including “Schools and the Internet;” “Children, Families and the Internet;” and the current “Kids’ Social Networking,” which have established benchmarks for media habits and attitudes among students and families at home and at school. Information is available at http://www.grunwald.com

Cable in the Classroom (CIC), the cable industry's education foundation, works to expand and enhance learning for children and youth. Created in 1989 to help schools take advantage of educational cable programming and technology, CIC has become a leading national advocate for media literacy education and for the use of technology and media for learning, as well as a valuable resource of educational cable content and services for policymakers, educators and industry leaders. For more information about Cable in the Classroom please visit: www.ciconline.org.