Virginia Department of Ed/Flickr
Google products are quickly becoming the go-to in many US classrooms, a new report finds.Beating out Apple iOS and Microsoft Windows in key aspects of school computer usage, Google's Chrome OS is the preferred operating system on the majority of school desktop computers. It's also a growing mobile presence among teachers and students.
"Google's Chrome OS continues to gain overall market share in US classrooms at the expense of iOS," the report, compiled by the edtech platform Kahoot!, reads.
Mobile technology, particularly Google's tech, has been creeping into classrooms for the better part of the last decade. As personalized learning take hold - luring in teachers with the promise of giving each child a tailor-made lesson plan - tech companies are stepping in to modernize the American classroom.
Kahoot!, an educational gaming platform used by 50 million monthly users in grades K-12, includes in its new report responses from 580 US teachers, primarily from public schools, who answered questions about technology in their classrooms. Kahoot! also pulled data from student and teacher devices on the company platform.
While Apple iOS dominated mobile usage, Chrome OS was by far the prevailing platform for desktops. In the first quarter of 2017, Mac OS accounted for just 11% of operating systems, compared to 58% for Chrome OS. Windows came in second at 31%.
Likewise, Google Chromebooks outshined Apple iPads by a substantial margin. Chromebooks made up 44% of teachers' tablet use and 46% of students' use. Windows laptops ranked second among teachers, while Apple iPads ranked second among students.
In addition, Google's productivity suite - a hub for issuing assignments and giving feedback, known as Classroom - was the most widely used suite in the sample. More than half (57%) of all teachers surveyed said they use it. At 23%, Microsoft Office 365 came in second.
Sean Gaillard, principal at Lexington Middle School in Lexington, North Carolina, said the technology helps him capture and assess classroom data.
"Also, any tools that promote collaborative thinking and collaboration among teachers and students, like Google Docs, will be important in the coming year," Gaillard told Kahoot!.
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