New data illustrates how statewide technology tracking is helping Utah education leaders as pandemic continues

SALT LAKE CITY, Feb. 23, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — The Utah Education and Telehealth Network (UETN) released this week the fourth iteration of its Utah School Technology Inventory. Completed in collaboration with national nonprofit Connected Nation (CN), the report supplies important updates on technology in every school across Utah which has continually proven to be critical for those working within school districts.

“We started working with Connected Nation to track technology in our schools in 2015,” said Ray Timothy, CEO & Executive Director, UETN. “The inventory, which is completed every other year, has consistently helped our schools identify areas that need improvement, as well as best practices. The January 2020 findings were released just months before the onset of the pandemic. Because Utah leaders were already taking this proactive approach to improving technology in the classroom, our schools were better prepared to pivot in response to COVID-19 closures — something that many other schools districts across the country struggled with in 2020.”

The 2021 inventory was completed in December and includes 80,000 new data points across 1,037 public schools. It had a 100% participation rate among school leadership and district-level technology directors, and focused on devices, age of hardware and software, teaching resources, and for the first time, at-home access.

“We are very grateful for the UETN technology inventory,” said Terry Allen, IT Director, Morgan School District. “It has allowed us to identify assets that are being underutilized so that they can be repurposed in areas that are in need.”

The key findings include: 

• The number of devices per student is increasing. More than 888,800 computing devices are available to more than 675,500 Utah students.
• This represents about 1.32 devices per student; up from 1.19 in 2019.
• Statewide, 2 out of 5 Utah schools (39%) have deployed mobile computing devices on a 1:1 basis so students can take devices home.
• Google Chromebooks are still the most widely deployed device.
• 1 in 5 Utah schools (19%) say the wireless networking gear used in school is newer than one year old; an improvement over the 2019 inventory, when 11% indicated the same response.
• Wired networking gear across Utah’s K-12 schools tends to be older, with more than 2 out of 5 schools (44%) reporting that their wired hardware is four years old or older.

“We applaud the great work UETN does by shining a light on the important role technology plays in the classroom,” said Lindsay Conrad, Director, Program Development, CN. “We feel school districts across the country can look to Utah as an example of how this kind of work directly benefits teachers and students.”

View the 2021 Utah School Technology Inventory Report. It includes data summaries for every school across Utah.

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SOURCE Connected Nation