Digital Divide in America

We had a quick meeting yesterday. We are beginning to use the program
"Keyboarding Without Tears"
We are excited to start to use this. Our third and fourth graders were issued ChromeBooks this year. They will have to take their state tests on the computers in a couple years. In order to help them be proficient in taking the test we have decided to teach them how to use the computer more efficiently.

That being said, there was a long discussion of what happens when students bring home their devices and are not able to use them. No wifi.
Some public libraries will lend you a computer and a hotspot. Is this the answer? I am not sure. I know the answer is not to tell a parent that there are plenty of places with free wifi. Starbucks...Dunkin"...the firehouse.
Is that what these kids need to be doing at 7:00 or 8:00 at night? Doing their homework in a car near the fire station? I am not sure what the answer is for this.
I am fortunate to work in a district that has some money available for new technology. Our students are lucky, but that doesn't mean they have the same access at home.

What about those districts that don't have the funds?

On September 26th, National Geographic is airing a documentary about the Digital Divide in America. I have watched the trailer. I can't wait to see it. I think it is going to open up some eyes.

I hope it will open up some eyes.













Without A Net: The Digital Divide in America
At a time when American students from economically-deprived schools are often ill-prepared for the global, digital economy, the film explores the rise of the ‘digital divide’ through the lens of the policies and funding structures that have contributed – and if greater parity in education can be achieved through technology, what are the critical factors in determining that success?

The one-hour film examines the challenges of providing connectivity in public schools, the complexities of barriers like teacher training, as well as the transformative potential of fully equipping all students for the digital world. 

Kennedy takes viewers from William Penn High School near Philadelphia, following a family at the center of the recent lawsuit against the PA Dept. of Education, to a coal-mining town in Eastern Kentucky where technology has opened an incredible door for one student, to Harlem in NYC, and Coachella Valley, CA, where a desperate principal parked WiFi-equipped school buses in neighborhoods so kids could get homework done after school. Researchers from Stanford and MIT also take a deeper look at this looming crisis and how it will affect the tech economy of the future.

Without A Net: The Digital Divide in America will premiere on National Geographic on Tuesday, September 26th at 10 p.m. ET and is an official selection of the New York Film Festival.

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