Cetic.br surveys student use of cell phones for school activities

TIC Education 2016 shows that despite the basic incorporation of ICT equipment in schools in urban areas, connection speed is still a challenge.

For the first time, the use of cell phones by students in school activities was investigated by the TIC Education 2016 survey, released this Thursday, August 3, by the Brazilian Internet Steering Committee (CGI.br), through the Regional Center for Studies on the Development of the Information Society (Cetic.br), part of the Brazilian Network Information Center (NIC.br). The use of this type of device in school activities was cited by 52% of students in schools with classes in the 5th year, 9th year, of Elementary School, and/or 2nd year of High School, located in urban areas. This percentage reached 74% among High School students.

After twenty years of implementation of ProInfo – a program created by the Federal Government to promote the pedagogical use of information and communication technologies (ICT) in the public Elementary and High School networks –, there are still challenges to be overcome regarding access to ICT equipment and Internet connection. The presence of some type of computer (desktop, laptop, or tablet) is universalized among public schools located in urban areas, with 95% of them having at least one of these computers connected to the Internet. However, 45% of public schools still have not exceeded 4Mbps of Internet connection speed, while 33% have speeds up to 2Mbps.

Computer labs are present in 81% of public schools, with only 59% of them being used in 2016, according to directors. Additionally, only 31% of teachers in public schools reported using computers in the lab for developing activities with students. “Although we are one of the first countries in Latin America to have an ICT policy in education, the full adoption of computers and the Internet in teaching and learning routines is still limited, either due to deficiencies in ICT infrastructure or limitations in teacher training,” says Alexandre Barbosa, manager of Cetic.br.

Use of cell phones and mobile devices in pedagogical activities

In 2016, the survey began to investigate in greater detail the diffusion of mobile devices in pedagogical activities, conducted both inside and outside the school.

The survey indicates that 91% of teachers used the Internet through their cell phones for personal use (in the first year of the survey, in 2011, this number was only 15%). Additionally, 49% of Internet-using teachers declared using the cell phone in activities with students, a growth of 10 percentage points compared to the previous year (39%).

Despite the advancement in the use of cell phones as a pedagogical tool, only 31% of students stated they used the Internet via cell phone at school, being 30% among public school students and 36% in private institutions. Restrictions on students' access to the school's WiFi network are among the aspects explaining the low use of equipment in the school environment: while 92% of schools had a WiFi network, 61% of directors stated that its use was not allowed for students.

According to the survey, 40% of Internet-using public school teachers reported using the computer in the classroom for activities with students, with only 26% saying they connect to the Internet when doing these activities. In private schools, these percentages are 58% and 54%, respectively. “Despite the recorded advances in Internet connection reaching schools, there are still many educational spaces where there is no access or this access is limited. Therefore, it is essential to expand the use of the Internet in pedagogical spaces most used by teachers and students, such as classrooms, libraries, and study rooms,” emphasizes Alexandre Barbosa, manager of Cetic.br.

Teachers' perceptions of ICT use in pedagogical practice

The TIC Education 2016 survey also provides indicators on the perception of teachers, pedagogical coordinators, and directors regarding the use of technologies in pedagogical practices. “These perceptions contribute to subsidizing actions that are still necessary to improve this use in the teaching and learning process,” explains Barbosa.

For 94% of teachers, the use of ICT allowed access to more diverse or higher quality teaching materials. Moreover, a large part of teachers agreed that adopting new teaching methods (85%) and fulfilling administrative tasks more easily (82%) is a result of using ICT.

According to directors (36%) and pedagogical coordinators (35%) of private schools, developing new teaching practices based on computer and Internet use is the priority action for integrating ICT into the school. In public schools, the development of new pedagogical practices is also relevant, but actions in the area of Infrastructure are more emphasized. For 32% of directors and 22% of pedagogical coordinators, increasing the number of computers per student should be the priority action.

In its 7th consecutive edition, the TIC Education 2016 survey was conducted from August to December 2016 and covered 1,106 public and private schools, with classes from the 5th or 9th year of Elementary School and/or 2nd year of High School located in urban areas. The survey interviewed 935 directors, 922 pedagogical coordinators, 1,854 Portuguese Language and Mathematics or multidisciplinary teachers, and 11,069 students from the 5th and 9th year of Elementary School and the 2nd year of High School. Conducted annually since 2010, the survey aims to investigate the access, use, and appropriation of information and communication technologies in public and private Brazilian elementary and high schools located in urban areas.

To review previous publications of the TIC Education survey, visit: https://www.cetic.br/pesquisa/educacao/publicacoes. To review the historical series of TIC Education, visit: https://cetic.br/pesquisa/educacao/indicadores. Compare the evolution of the indicators from the data visualization available at: https://data.cetic.br/cetic/explore?idPesquisa=TIC_EDU.

About Cetic.br

The Regional Center for Studies on the Development of the Information Society, part of NIC.br, is responsible for producing indicators and statistics on the availability and use of the Internet in Brazil, providing periodic analyses and information on the network development in the country. Cetic.br is a Regional Center of Studies, under the auspices of UNESCO. More information at https://www.cetic.br/.

About the Brazilian Network Information Center – NIC.br

The Brazilian Network Information Center – NIC.br (https://www.nic.br/) is a civil, private, non-profit entity that, in addition to implementing the decisions and projects of the Brazilian Internet Steering Committee, has among its responsibilities: coordinating domain name registration – Registro.br (https://www.registro.br/), studying, responding to and handling security incidents in Brazil – CERT.br (https://www.cert.br/), studying and researching network technologies and operations – Ceptro.br (https://www.ceptro.br/), producing indicators on information and communication technologies – Cetic.br (https://www.cetic.br/), fostering and promoting the evolution of the Web in Brazil – Ceweb.br (https://www.ceweb.br/), and housing the W3C Office in Brazil (https://www.w3c.br/).

About the Brazilian Internet Steering Committee – CGI.br

The Brazilian Internet Steering Committee is responsible for establishing strategic guidelines related to the use and development of the Internet in Brazil, coordinating and integrating all Internet service initiatives in the country, promoting the technical quality, innovation, and dissemination of the services offered. Based on the principles of multistakeholderism and transparency, CGI.br represents a democratic Internet governance model, internationally praised, where all sectors of society participate equally in its decisions. One of its formulations is the 10 Principles for Internet Governance and Use (https://www.cgi.br/principios). More information at https://www.cgi.br/.

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