Report: Google Gaining in U.S. Classrooms, Apple's iOS Slipping

• By Richard Chang
• 06/21/17

Google is gaining a stronghold in United States classrooms, with Chrome OS expanding its presence on school computers, while Apple’s iOS has been on the decline since the first quarter of 2015 among students and teachers.

These are some of the findings in Kahoot!’s first-ever EdTrends Report, released today, which seeks to address the latest education technology trends in the American K–12 market. The new quarterly report, published by the popular game-based learning platform, aims to help educators and administrators stay better informed about trends in education technology, state-specific challenges and best practices.

According to the report, 58 percent of Kahoot! users were using Chrome OS on their computers in Q1 2017, compared to 52 percent in Q1 2016. The Google Chromebook had the highest number of users among teachers (44 percent) and students (46 percent), when they were asked about their top devices used. Google’s Productivity Suite (G Suite or Classroom) was the most widely used productivity suite in U.S. classrooms, with 57 percent saying they used it, compared to 23 percent saying they used Microsoft Office 365.

Apple’s iOS still dominated on mobile devices such as phones and tablets, with 73 percent of mobile Kahoot! users saying they used iOS in Q1 2017, and 96 percent of tablet Kahoot! users saying they used iOS in Q1 2017.

However, the iPad ranked second after the Chromebook, with just over 30 percent students indicating it was one of their top devices used. Microsoft Windows remains a popular OS among teachers: 56 percent of teachers using Kahoot! said they were using Windows OS, while the Windows laptop was the second most popular device among teachers, after the Chromebook.

Also, a majority of educators (more than 60 percent) said the purpose of adopting education technology was to increase student productivity and efficiency. Their key educational priorities for 2017-18 are “to improve student learning and outcomes” (88 percent), and to “better leverage available time and motivate students” (71 percent). 

Educators saw the top ed tech trends in the next school year as:

• Digital platforms for teaching, learning and assessment;
• Personalized learning;
• Computational thinking, coding and robotics;
• Increased understanding of data; and
• Gamificiation.

“The purpose of the EdTrends Report was to share knowledge — what’s going on in the education space with teachers and districts — just share the information,” said Erik Harrell, CEO of Kahoot!, in an interview. “We have 50 million active users, so there’s a lot of data on what’s actually happening in the classroom.”

Harrell, who’s based in Oslo, Norway, added, “I think it’s interesting data for educators, for people who are making decisions on hardware, operating systems, what’s being used in schools. We want to bring an awareness with what’s on the mind of teachers, because this information is coming from the teachers.”

The EdTrends Report is based on data collected from the Kahoot! platform, as well as a survey among 580 U.S. teachers conducted in May 2017. In addition, third-party data was used from EdTechXGlobal, a research firm and event organizer.

Some other key findings in the report include:

• A majority of U.S. public school educators surveyed said they are challenged with budget restraints and lack of resources when it comes to implementing education technology;
• A majority of U.S. private school educators said they lack training to understand or adopt new technology;
• Many public and private school educators said they saw the adoption of “technology for the sake of technology” as a challenge;
• Educators in California struggle with lack of training and “technology for the sake of technology,” while teachers in Texas struggle with bureaucracy, budget constraints and a lack of resources.

The complete report can be read on the Kahoot! website here. Kahoot! will be at the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) conference at booth 326, where they will share the findings from this report and preview a new mobile app with new features for teachers and students.