Participate 3.1.1 Access to the Digital Community

photo credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/markmorgantrinidad/5129077263/in/photostream/

Many of my students do not have access to the Internet once they leave the school building. Cost and lack of skills seem to be the most prohibitive barriers to digital connectivity for parents. Even with the statistics showing there are many places in the USA lacking dependable connectivity, there is good news.

I am lucky to have reliable access compared to many areas across the country. We also have high-speed internet here at home while many places do not.

Dec. 10, 2015 "... if Title IV receives full funding, school districts will be able to use as much as $1 billion of this block grant for ed tech. Additionally, districts will be able to expend Title IV dollars on solutions to bridge the so-called “homework gap” – which describes the problem of students lacking any or adequate Internet connectivity in their homes." This is great news for Internet access in the hinterland!

Even more recently Bernstein says on Dec. 11, 2015: "Since the E-rate program’s creation as part of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, U.S. Department of Education surveys show that Internet access in public schools increased from 35 percent to 95 percent, and library connectivity grew from only 28 percent of public libraries providing public Internet access, to today’s reality, where virtually all libraries provide free access to Internet-enabled computers and WiFi, according to the 2014 Digital Inclusion Survey." 

Bernstein, Ally. "ISTE Advocacy Network." International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE). ISTE, 09 Dec. 2015. Web. 14 Dec. 2015. <http://connect.iste.org/communities/community-home?communitykey=f63a5f3f-859c-45b6-9bb5-2afe9f834c98&tab=groupdetails>.

~Charlotte