We have all heard about the Digital Divide. Maine’s schools are the first (and still only!) schools to participate in a statewide 1to1 technology initiative. Does the 15-year-old MLTI mean that we no longer have a Digital Divide in Maine? What are the issues surrounding technology, inequity, and learning?

Session highlights:

• Maine’s schools are much more rural than most states. 
• Maine is first in New England for child hunger and food insecurity.
• Maine free school lunch students reach proficiency at a rate more than 20 percentage points less than non-school lunch students and graduate high school at a rate 15-20 percentage points less than non-school lunch students.
• The first Digital Divide is the Digital Access Divide related to access to devices and quality internet connectivity, including the Homework Divide, which focuses on student access to the internet at home.
• The second divide is the Digital Use Divide where some students get to use technology for high quality learning activities and some students only use their technology for low level learning activities.
• There are things we can do and advocate for to reduce the Digital Divide.

 

Resources

Rural Readings

• Maine Schools in Focus: Maine’s Schools Are Much More Rural than Most Other States’
• Six charts that illustrate the divide between rural and urban America
• Digital Learning Strategies for Rural America: A scan of policy and practice in K–12 education
• Why Rural Schools Matter by Mara Tiekan

Poverty Readings

• America’s poor becoming more destitute under Trump, UN report says
• Report: Rural Poverty In America Is ‘An Emergency’
• Opportunity for All? Technology and Learning in Lower-Income Families
• Donna Beegle – Poverty
  • Opinion: All kids should take ‘Poverty 101’
  • Communication Across Barriers
  • Donna Beegle on Facebook

 Readings About the Digital Divide

• Digital Divide: Impact of Access
• Writing from ISTE’s Digital Equity Personal Learning Network
• Digital Divide in U.S. Education
• The First and Second Digital Divides: Challenges in Classroom Tech Use
• The Digital Use Divide: Challenges to Technology Implementation
• Without a Net: The Digital Divide in America – A Documentary
• Impacts of the Digital Divide: Classroom Case Studies
• What’s Lost When Kids Are ‘Under-connected’ to the Internet?
• National Education Technology Plan

 Addressing the First and Second Digital Divides

• Digital Learning Strategies for Rural America: A scan of policy and practice in K–12 education
• Digital Equity Initiative Toolkit – CoSN
• Dynamic Learning Project – Digital Promise
• Joan Ganz Cooney Center At Sesame Workshop – Advancing Children’s Learning in a Digital Age
• Digital Equity for Learning 
  • Digital Equity for Learning Report: Opportunity for All? Technology and learning in lower-income families
  • Digital Equity for Learning Report: Connecting to Learn: Promoting Digital Equity for America’s Hispanic Families
• Maine Learning Technology Framework
• Plain English Instructional Model
• Focus on 6 High-Impact Motivation Strategies
• Classroomu Management in a Title I School