"Asking students what they think they need to learn? Problem is, they don't know..." This is typical of a teacher giving his or her students too little credit.

"Asking students what they think they need to learn? Problem is, they don't know..." This is typical of a teacher giving his or her students too little credit. While this may be true of elementary- and perhaps middle-schoolers, I'd say most high school students know what helps them learn. I knew what kinds of books, teachers, writing utensils, memorization techniques and the like that I preferred, and the same was true of just about everyone around me. Similarly, I also knew what failed to help me. There was a girl in one of my classes who always quietly hummed behind me some jingle she had created to help her remember something for that test, but I never liked using songs to memorize important facts. I did something kind of like the memory palace technique (but I didn't know it had a name at the time). There were also plenty of assignments the teachers gave and tools/methods they tried to use that they thought - not without reason - would work. But they often confused me much more than taught me anything. "it is not for lack of understanding, but for lack of action" I agree with this. A huge mistake of many of my teachers is that they assumed some students were dumb or lazy and missed the fact that students simply don't care about some (or all) of the classes they have to take, and teachers that focused on getting students interested in the material were generally more successful than the ones who complained about kids' poor attitudes (not that a bad attitude isn't an issue, and not that it's all on the teacher to do something about it). But then came the "action" part - get kids to do something "right." I hated teachers that tried to force their study habits on me. Many teachers would check and grade our notes to see that we were taking them "properly." Others might make us go step-by-step through some writing process that is "guaranteed to make you a successful writer." While good note-taking and writing skills should definitely be taught at some point, the level of detail enforced was absurd, and single methods cannot work for every student. I know teachers have hard jobs, and I don't claim to know everything. The point is just to give the students some credit. They aren't stupid, and they're all different. If you listen to them, they'll like you better for it. If you don't listen to them, you will never seriously consider some little idea they say that might work wonders for them. But don't get me wrong about the article. This survey says nothing about a correlation between access to technology and success in school/life, and I really doubt smartphones and iPads will help students more than distract them. However, there is merit taking their opinions into account. And there is merit in using the available resources to their full advantage. Considering that mobile devices will become ever more prevalent and powerful in the future, it's a good idea to begin determining their potential in the classroom.