Resources for Closing the Digital Divide

Understand The State of the Divide

• Bridging a Digital Divide That Leaves Schoolchildren Behind: Learn more about the homework gap that affects five million students who lack access to high-speed internet at home. (The New York Times, 2016)
• What’s Lost When Kids Are ‘Under-Connected’ to the Internet?: Review a summary of a report from the Joan Ganz Cooney Center that looked at obstacles faced by low-income families that undermine their access to information. (KQED's MindShift, 2016)
• Many Students Lack Access to Computer Science Learning: Consider findings from Searching for Computer Science: Access and Barriers in U.S. K-12 Education, a 2015 study conducted by Gallup in collaboration with Google. (Gallup, 2015)
• How Teachers Use Technology: Examine implications of a study by Pew Research about how teachers are using technology at home and in their classrooms and what it can tell us about the digital divide. (Edutopia, 2013)
• Bridging the New Digital Divide: Read about some of the strategic thinking that informs school technology purchases, the differences in supports among American schools, and the importance of striking a balance between virtual and real-world activities. (Edutopia, 2013)
• The Emerging Connection Gap: Learn about the growing digital divide between educators who are tapped into the global community and the educators who are not. (Edutopia, 2012)

Take Action to Improve Digital Access

• Engage Parents as Partners to Close the Digital Divide: Find out how some schools are identifying local solutions and enlisting parents as partners to help close the digital divide. (Edutopia, 2016)
• Here’s One Way to Fight to End the Digital Divide: Strong Leadership in Schools: Take a look at CoSN's Digital Equity Action Toolkit, which provides school leaders with information to address digital equity in out-of-school learning. This sample survey can help leaders identify local needs. (The Hechinger Report, 2016)
• How Teachers Can Provide Equal Learning in a World of Unequal Access: Examine five ways that educators can mitigate the effects of unequal internet access at home -- while still maximizing the use of classroom technology in a strategic and effective way. (EdSurge, 2016)
• Power Up! / Helping to Close the Digital Divide: How can schools provide internet access to students whose families cannot afford it? Read about several ways schools can address this divide. (ASCD's Educational Leadership, 2015)
• Is Your School #FutureReady?: Find out about two recent events that have the potential to help schools nationwide get up to speed when it comes to internet access and equity. (Edutopia, 2014)
• Why Reading Mattters: An Interview With a School Leader: Discover how an instructional development director from a charter schools network in the San Francisco area acquired 300 donated digital reading devices for students. (Edutopia, 2014)

Closing Digital Learning Gaps

• What a Decade of Education Research Tells Us About Technology in the Hands of Underserved Students: Access alone isn’t enough to raise the bar for underserved students. Consider five tips on using digital tools meaningfully within the context of authentic learning tasks. (EdSurge, 2016)
• The New Face of STEAM: Find out how one award-winning school is modeling a pathway into STEAM for underrepresented minority groups through culturally relevant narratives, choice, autonomy, and time for collaboration. (Edutopia, 2016)
• Coding in the Classroom: A Long Overdue Inclusion: By promoting code literacy, see how schools could improve education equity, be more inclusive, improve STEM proficiency, and build neuroplasticity associated with multilingual education. Another good read: "Should Coding be the "New Foreign Language" Requirement?" (Edutopia, 2015)
• Big Thinkers: Nichole Pinkard on Digital Literacy: Watch this video to hear Digital Youth Network (DYN) founder Nichole Pinkard describe how her organization empowers young people with critical digital literacy skills that make them academically and professionally competitive. (Edutopia, 2013)

• Digital Literacy is the Bedrock for Lifelong Learning: Bridging the digital divide means more than just access to devices, it includes digital literacy, which ensures informed citizens and the birth of new ideas. (Edutopia, 2011)
• Why Media Literacy is Not Just for Kids: Boss proposes that media and digital literacy is not just for students, but essential for all citizens nationwide. (Edutopia, 2011)

Developing Media and Digital Literacy

• Empowering Students Through Multimedia Storytelling: Help students develop critical skills, take ownership of their learning, and effect change in their communities by giving them opportunities to tell their stories through multimedia. (Edutopia, 2015)
• A Guidebook for Social Media in the Classroom: All students need to learn strategies for communicating effectively online; these 12 positive examples provide a place to get started with social media. You may also want to review Edutopia's resource toolkit for Social Media in Education. (Edutopia, 2015)
• 15+ Ways of Teaching Every Student to Code (Even Without a Computer): Find ways to get students started with coding and expose students to computer science via this extensive list of year-round resources. (Edutopia, Updated 2015)
• Using Blogs to Engage English Language Learners: Discover how blogging can help students begin to view themselves as authors and digital citizens. (Edutopia, 2011)

Do you know of other useful resources, or are there other types of resources you'd like to see included on this page? Please share your feedback in the comments.