EdSurge
Hybrid Educational Tech is Lagging—Policymakers Need to Step Up
It’s time for states to step up and realize that proper technology and WiFi connectivity are a must-have in public school districts, and that state policy is dangerously lagging behind. While systems might not continue to operate as 100 percent virtual schools in a post-COVID world, better access to learning technology is no longer negotiable in this increasingly-digital world. Hybrid schooling models can offer significant opportunities for personalized learning, from special education students to students in rural areas who don’t have adequate wireless connectivity at home.
Connecticut Gives Every Student a Computer and Home Internet to Close the Digital Divide
The state of Connecticut is giving every student in grades K-12 a laptop and paying for their internet access. Recently, the state announced that it had achieved near-universal access for both device distribution and connectivity—a significant achievement in a state where 40 percent of households in some cities lack home access, according to census data. The program, known as the
Video Is Eating the World, Broadband Fails to Keep Up
Connected Nation finds that 47 percent of US school districts—6,132, to be exact, representing about one-third of public K-12 students—meet the 1 Mbps/student standard. Still, that means about two-thirds of students lack what Connected Nation calls “scalable broadband” in schools. The broadband gap isn’t only a problem for remote learning. “Early childhood” videos on YouTube nearly all have advertising. And as video dominates online instruction, more educators need easy-to-use resources for video creation.
COVID-19 Is Pushing School Tech Departments to Their Limits — and Then Some (EdSurge)
Submitted by Robbie McBeath on Tue, 11/10/2020 - 13:40Op-ed: Moving a Summer Program to the Virtual World — While Closing the Digital Divide (EdSurge)
Submitted by benton on Sun, 07/19/2020 - 09:57Coursera Raises $130 Million as Colleges Turn to Online Courses for the Fall (EdSurge)
Submitted by benton on Sun, 07/19/2020 - 09:11Here’s How Colleges Should Help Close the Digital Divide in the COVID-Era
Here are two recommendations for how higher education institutions can help close the digital divide:
Op-Ed: COVID-19 Is Accelerating the Digital Blending of Working and Learning (EdSurge)
Submitted by Robbie McBeath on Fri, 06/19/2020 - 13:56COVID-19 Has Widened the ‘Homework Gap’ Into a Full-Fledged Learning Gap
In a matter of days, the “homework gap” widened to a full-fledged learning gap, as computers and internet connections soared to the top of the list of required school supplies and districts made hasty plans to roll out virtual learning. What that disparity has revealed about the education inequities in our country, according to Common Sense Media’s CEO Jim Steyer, is “a national disgrace.” “Millions and millions of kids … don’t even have the basic essentials of what they need to be students during this time,” Steyer said.