Getty

Technology has often been called a democratizer in education, allowing students from all backgrounds to access the same resources and tools. Others see potential for technology to do great harm, widening an already substantial achievement gap related to issues of equity. Access to technology costs money and some fear lower-income schools and students will lag behind the frenzy for newer and better devices, faster connectivity and effective teacher training on digital tools.

EveryoneOn is one attempt to make sure that doesn’t happen. The campaign, coordinated by the non-profit Connect2Compete, launched today brings together partners from both the public and private sectors to address some of the most vexing aspects of the digital divide. The program offers low-cost devices and Internet service, as well as access to digital literacy training programs around the country, hoping to give access to the estimated 100 million Americans who have no broadband connection at home and another 62 million who don’t use the Internet at all.

“The consensus is that a big piece of how we are going to work in classrooms is with digital tools, both in class and at home,” said Zach Leverenz, CEO of Connect2Compete. Kids living in homes without the Internet are increasingly at a disadvantage as coursework and workplace skills become more dependent on technology. To help students get access to the Internet at home, the group is working with major Internet providers Comcast and Cox Communications to offer low cost Internet. Families with K-12 students eligible for free or reduced lunch can get a free router and unlimited Internet service for less than $10 per month. And there’s a deal for households with no kids too: half off the cost of the router and $10 for 12 gigabits of Internet service per month. If a family lives in a zip code with a median income of $35,000 or less it immediately qualifies.

[RELATED READING: Bridging the Digital Divide in Rural Schools]

“Access is a basic right. It’s the same as roads or clean water or electricity,” said Michael Mills, a professor of Teaching and Learning at the University of Central Arkansas during a SXSWEdu session recently. “Those are [accessible] here in this country because we expect it. The same thing should apply to the Internet. The Internet is about empowerment. If we take away this access because we think certain people aren’t going to use it right, we’re no better than governments who take away voting rights from minorities.”

The program is offering deals on devices, too – 70 percent discounts on PC desktop and laptop computers, and a similar offer for tablets coming in the summer of this year. The hope is that by providing low-income families with affordable devices and Internet, cost will no longer be the prohibitive barrier that it has become. Kids can use the Internet for school and adults might learn that things like searching for a job are made easier when connected.

But cost is not the only barrier. Many people don’t understand how the Internet could benefit their lives or how to use it. That’s why the campaign includes a media blitz through radio, TV, and print publications that target the population they are trying to reach. The ads feature first person narratives of digital literacy improving quality of life.

One of the biggest pieces of this initiative is providing digital literacy training. Using a network of partners already skilled in digital inclusion work, the campaign is working with 21,000 libraries and training centers that offer digital literacy trainings. The “EveryoneOn” website offers a locator tool, and information is available by texting “Connect” to 30364.

Connect2Compete is the organizing force, aggregating the resources specifically targeted at the populations they want to reach based on research on connectivity.

Leverenz is aware that the companies involved stand to profit from the initiative and he’s okay with that. Signing up 100 million new Internet users could mean big profits for Internet providers and device makers, even at discounted rates, but for Leverenz, the goal is connectivity.

“Our goal is 30 million connected in three years,” Leverenz said. “If we haven’t substantially moved the needle then we shouldn’t be doing it at all.” He’d like to see this offer snowball into a bigger movement that recognizes how crucial access will be to equity.

[RELATED READING: By the Numbers: Teachers, Tech, and the Digital Divide]

The Department of Education has been using its bullhorn to help get the word out about the initiative, although it has no role in financing the effort. “They are leveraging this public-private partnership in a pretty unique way,” said Richard Culatta, acting director of the Office of Education Technology. “They are bringing people together who have power to make huge shifts and huge changes if they can be brought in.”

The DOE sees Internet access as one important piece of their larger plan to leverage digital technologies to personalize learning, help students and their parents use data to make informed educational choices and improve connectivity in schools.

“We’ve been waiting for a long time for an alignment of digital stars and I think we’re actually getting to this point where it’s all coming together to provide really incredible learning experiences,” Culatta said.

The EveryoneOn website will serve as a portal for newly connected users. It will host educational content as well as employment search tools and digital literacy materials. The site is meant to offer a friendly way for new users to become acquainted with some of what’s on the web.

Getty

No device should ever be hailed as the silver bullet in “saving” education — nor should it be completely shunned — but when it comes to the possibility of bridging the digital divide between low-income and high-income students, devices may play a pivotal role.

Access to the Internet connects kids to all kinds of information — and for low-income students especially, that access has the power to change their social structure by allowing them to become empowered and engaged, said Michael Mills, a professor of Teaching and Learning at the University of Central Arkansas during a SXSWEdu session last week.

“For minorities and for low-income students who have these devices, it might be their only way to access the Internet, to get information about their own health, access to social media,” he said. “And they’re using that as the agent to change their social structure.”

Yet it’s those very students who are deprived of the right to use their own devices in schools, according to a recent Pew report showing that access to devices is noticeably different between higher and lower income schools: 52% of teachers of upper and upper-middle income students say their students use cell phones to look up information in class, compared with 35% of teachers of the lowest income students. And when it comes to blocking sites, 49% of teachers of students living in low-income households say their school’s use of Internet filters has a major impact on their teaching, compared with 24% of those who teach better off students who say that. In the same vein, 33% of teachers of lower income students say their school’s rules about classroom cell phone use by students have a major impact on their teaching, compared with 15% of those who teach students from the highest income households.

Why is this the case? It all comes down to expectations, Mills said, that could also be related to blatant racism.

“We have some significant issues with race relations, and the core of what it comes down to is that we have to redefine what we expect,” Mills said. “Just because a student is Tweeting or using another back-channel, or whatever doesn’t mean he’s not being productive. And it takes away from trusting that student to do what’s right for himself in his community. We need to be more trusting, more open and flexible.”

Schools don’t allow students of color to use their mobile devices because they think those students will not use them in what they consider appropriate ways, he said. “But the very fact that we’re saying they’re not being productive is to say that our values are more valuable than their values.”

And therein lies the divide.

“Access is a basic right. It’s the same as roads or clean water or electricity,” Mills said. “Those are [accessible] here in this country because we expect it. The same thing should apply to the Internet. The Internet is about empowerment. If we take away this access because we think certain people aren’t going to use it right, we’re no better than governments who take away voting rights from minorities.”

[RELATED: Students Demand to Use Technology in Schools]

The numbers line up: A recent study by QualComm showed that low-income students’ test scores increased by 30 percent after they were given smartphones to access more information and instruction and to collaborate with their peers.

And discipline issues actually diminished in some schools that have Bring Your Own Device programs. For example, in the Katy Independent School District in Texas, one of the pioneers of the BYOD effort that participated in a pilot program with Cisco, director of technology Lonnie Owens said their results were surprising. “Discipline issues went down and test scores went up, so we viewed it as a success,” Owens said.

Mills believes that the simple act of students using their coveted devices for study purposes makes learning more acceptable to them and to their peers. In neighborhoods where caring about school is most certainly not cool, Mills said “it’s becoming more socially acceptable to talk about school stuff outside school because of that device. When they text or tweet about it, somehow it crosses the boundary of becoming okay. It’s not exactly cool yet, but all of a sudden it’s becoming okay.”

HOW TO NARROW THE DIVIDE

For educators who want to start chipping away at the divide, Mills listed a number of ways.

1.   GIVE STUDENTS ACCESS.
Many Title 1 schools — those in low-income communities — receive funds and grants, but don’t always buy what they need. If they have enough funds, Mills said schools should invest in a 1-1 program — a device for every student.

2.   GIVE STUDENTS PROMPTS

Whether it’s the school that provides the device, or whether students are allowed to use their own, it’s important to give them guidance on how to use those devices for learning. “Students do not generally use their personal technology for learning activities unprompted,” he said. “We have to provide them with prompts.”

Educators should also be instrumental in guiding student etiquette with devices. For students who use text-speak and shorthand when handing in assignments, teachers can ask them to proofread and resend until the assignments are up to par. “We can teach them to use mobile literacy to help themselves,” he said.

3.   PROVIDE INSTRUCTIONAL OBJECTIVES.
“We need to think about what we are teaching,” Mills said. “This is not technology — this is Pedagogy 101.” Educators must understand the dotted line between an assigned activity and the instructional objective, which should be tied to learning skills.

4.   MAKE YOURSELF AVAILABLE.
Just giving kids a number where they can reach you has “exponential impact,” Mills said. “Just that small gesture tells kids you’re available.” For those who don’t feel comfortable giving students their phone numbers, Mills suggests using a Google voice account, which students can call and leave messages.

5.   INVITE OBSERVERS TO YOUR MOBILE ENHANCED CLASS.
Parents, other teachers, and administrators will learn a lot from watching how kids can plug into learning by using their devices. During their visits, talk about the upward trajectory of kids you’ve noticed who have benefited from the change.

6.   INVENTORY THE DEVICES.
Keep track of who owns what kind of device (especially after the holidays when kids receive new ones). This way, you can create flexible, shifting groups to make sure there’s a good variety of devices in every group. Don’t place all the iPhone 5 users in one group — mix them up to promote equity.

7.   USE DISCRETION.
Be careful not to publicly call out kids who don’t have a device when organizing groups. Use common sense and compassion.

8.   USE EVERYTHING YOU HAVE.
If the school has 10 Kindles, find ways to use them in your class. If it has six iPods or 30 computers, don’t let them collect dust. Even the oldest computers can be fired up for basic research.

9.   REFRAME PRODUCTIVITY.
Sitting quietly doesn’t exemplify productivity, Mills said. If you have flexible processes, you can give students different ways of understanding.

10.   TEACH PROCESS NOT CONTENT.
All educators, but especially those who teach low-income students, need to be open to students’ ideas of showing what they’ve learned. If they don’t want to write a blog, but want to create a video, be open to it.

11.   VALUE COLLABORATION.
Promote group work and project based learning.

You can find many more resources, ideas, and links on Mills’ website here.

Getty

A new Pew Research survey of more than 2,400 middle school and high school teachers released today shows that, while teachers believe technology has helped with their teaching, it’s also brought new challenges — including the possibility of creating a bigger rift between low-income and high-income students.

A few highlights from the report:

• While 92% of these teachers say the internet has a “major impact” on their ability to access content, resources, and materials for their teaching, 75% say the internet and other digital tools have added new demands to their lives by increasing the range of content and skills about which they must be knowledgeable. And 41% report a “major impact” by requiring more work on their part to be an effective teacher.

• 73% of AP and NWP teachers say that they and/or their students use their mobile phones in the classroom or to complete assignments, and 45% report they or their students use e-readers and 43% use tablet computers in the classroom or to complete assignments.
• Overall, 62% of AP and NWP teachers feel their school does a “good job” supporting teachers’ efforts to bring digital tools into the learning process, and 68% say their school provides formal training in this area. (But that’s the average — there’s a bigger discrepancy when those numbers are broken down between high-income and low-income schools). Still, 85% of these teachers seek out their own opportunities to learn new ways to effectively incorporate these tools into their teaching.
• Despite their heavy tech use, 42% of AP and NWP teachers say their students usually know more than they do when it comes to using new digital technologies.  Just 18% feel they know more than their students.  This is despite the fact that over half of AP and NWP teachers (56%) are “very confident” when it comes to learning how to use the latest digital tools, and another 39% say they are “somewhat confident.”

THE DIGITAL DIVIDE

• A large majority of these teachers (84%) agree to some extent with the statement that “Today’s digital technologies are leading to greater disparities between affluent and disadvantaged schools and school districts.” However, asked whether today’s digital technologies are narrowing or widening the gap between the most and least academically successful students, 44% say technology is narrowing the gap and 56% say it is widening the gap.
• These teachers see disparities in access to digital tools having at least some impact on their students. More than half (54%) say all or almost all of their students have sufficient access to digital tools at school, but only a fifth of these teachers (18%) say all or almost all of their students have access to the digital tools they need at home.
• Access to devices is noticeably different between higher and lower and income schools. More than half of teachers — 55% — of higher income students say they or their students use e-readers in the classroom, compared with 41%  teaching in low income areas. And 52% of teachers of upper and upper-middle income students say their students use cell phones to look up information in class, compared with 35% of teachers of the lowest income students.
• Apart from access to devices, knowing how best to use them is also a problem for low-income students. The survey showed that 39% of AP and NWP teachers of low income students say their school is “behind the curve” when it comes to effectively using digital tools in the learning process; just 15% of teachers of higher income students rate their schools poorly in this area.
• And when it comes to blocking sites, 49% of teachers of students living in low income households say their school’s use of internet filters has a major impact on their teaching, compared with 24% of those who teach better off students who say that.
• In the same vein, 33% of teachers of lower income students say their school’s rules about classroom cell phone use by students have a major impact on their teaching, compared with 15% of those who teach students from the highest income households.

Read the full report here.

Sarah Butrymowicz

Jasmine Redeaux (left) and Nakesha Wilkerson team up to finish a worksheet in a "flipped" chemistry class at their Macon, Ga., high school, while other classmates work on a lab.

By Sarah Butrymowicz

When Portland, Ore., elementary school teacher Sacha Luria decided last fall to try out a new education strategy called “flipping the classroom,” she faced a big obstacle.

Flipped classrooms use technology—online video instruction, laptops, DVDs of lessons—to reverse what students have traditionally done in class and at home to learn. Listening to lectures becomes the homework assignment so teachers can provide more one-on-one attention in class and students can work at their own pace or with other students.

But Luria realized that none of her students had computers at home, and she had just one in the classroom. So she used her own money to buy a second computer and begged everyone she knew for donations, finally bringing the total to six for her 23 fourth-graders at Rigler School. In her classroom, students now alternate between working on the computers and working with her.

So far, the strategy is showing signs of success. She uses class time to tailor instruction to students who started the school year behind their classmates in reading and math, and she has seen rapid improvement. By the end of the school year, she said, her students have averaged two years’ worth of progress in math, for example.

“It’s powerful stuff,” she said, noting that this year was her most successful in a decade of teaching. “I’m really able to meet students where they are as opposed to where the curriculum says they should be.”

Other teachers in high-poverty schools like Rigler also report very strong results after flipping classrooms. Greg Green, principal of Clintondale High School in Clinton Township, Mich., thinks the flipped classroom—and the unprecedented amount of one-on-one time it provides students—could even be enough to close the achievement gap between low-income, minority students and their more affluent white peers. Clintondale has reduced the percentage of Fs given out from about 40 percent to around 10 percent.

Yet anecdotal evidence suggests that flipping classrooms is a more popular practice in wealthier suburban communities where nearly all students have Internet access at home and schools are more likely to have computers in classrooms. Some skeptics say flipped classrooms still rely heavily on lectures by teachers, which they argue are not as effective as hands-on learning. Still others worry that the new practice—so dependent on technology—could end up leaving low-income students behind and widening the achievement gap.

“It’s an obstacle,” said Karen Cator, director of the Office of Educational Technology in the U.S. Department of Education. “We do need to figure out ways that students, regardless of Zip code, regardless of their parents’ income level, have access” to technology inside and outside of schools.

The flipped classroom can be traced to a 2008 experiment by Aaron Sams and Jonathan Bergmann, teachers in Woodland Park, Colo., who were quick to take advantage of the ability to post videos online. The concept is one small and simple way that technology can transform the way students learn. Research on the effectiveness of flipped classrooms is in the early stages, and it’s not known how widespread the practice is.

Praised by advocates for letting students work at their own pace, flipped classrooms also allow teachers to tailor their instruction to individual students. At home, for example, students can watch online video lectures—recordings of their own teachers explaining concepts, say, or videos produced by other teachers or textbook companies—while classroom time can be spent working one-on-one with teachers, tackling worksheets or problem sets once given as homework, or collaborating with other students on projects.

These are the tenets that Sams and Bergmann, whose book Flip Your Classroom: Reach Every Student in Every Class Every Day is due out this month, will try to spread with the Flipped Learning Network, a nonprofit organization launched this spring to train teachers from schools across the socioeconomic spectrum in the strategy. Sams and Bergmann, who are chemistry teachers, had learned, for example, that they could solve their technology access issues by making DVDs of the videos for students without reliable Internet access at home.

At Luria’s school in Oregon, she said other teachers were interested in the strategy but were unlikely to emulate her. “The reality is that I have more computers than anyone else does,” Luria said. “Unless they’re able to ask and get laptops from other people, there’s just not the capacity.”

At Westside High School in Macon, Ga., more than 85 percent of students are minorities and 78 percent qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. Chemistry teacher Jennifer Douglass estimated that about half are so transient they don’t have a guaranteed place to sleep each night. Members of feuding gangs are placed into classes alongside pregnant teenagers, she said, and parent involvement is rare.

With the help of a federal grant that provided netbooks for all students, a handful of teachers in different disciplines at Westside flipped their classrooms and reported that doing so improved students’ grades—and their level of engagement.

Douglass has seen a modest increase on her regular chemistry class’s final exam scores since flipping. Social studies teacher Sydney Elkin said her students’ scores on the Georgia state end-of-course exams increased, particularly for her special-education students. The semester before she flipped her classroom, about 30 percent of all students passed. In her first semester with a flipped class, she said, nearly three-quarters passed, including nine out of 10 special-education students.

Knewton/Column 5 Media

An infographic explaining the "flipped classroom." Click to see the entire image.

NOT A PANACEA

Flipping does not solve all problems, though, Elkin said. Some students must still be constantly needled to do their work. And despite second and third chances on tests that act as gateways to the next level, some students still fall behind.

“I would love to say this was a better fit for everyone. There’s no panacea,” Elkin said. Outside factors “have an impact on what these kids do just as much as the way content is delivered.”

The students at Westside are disadvantaged from the start, she said, coming from homes where parents might work two or three jobs to get by and children aren’t exposed to as many opportunities to learn as their more affluent peers. By the time they get to high school, many are far behind and haven’t developed a work ethic for school.

Sams, the Colorado chemistry teacher known as one of the fathers of flipping, acknowledged that about 9 percent of his students have received Fs every year he has taught—both before and after he started delivering lectures through video in his school district.

“Some students, they choose not to learn, not to participate,” he said. “A lot of people ask, ‘What do you do with the unmotivated kid?’ I wish I had a good answer to that.”

But Bergmann, his former colleague who is now a lead technology facilitator for a school in Illinois, said students were learning more and performing at higher levels, on average. He said the change also created time for him to talk to every student every day to monitor his or her progress.

Some students at Westside, in Macon, Ga., said they were no longer bored in class, where they can work with classmates, ask for help and enjoy more face-time with their teachers.

“It’s like having a private tutor,” junior Marvin Wesley explained.

“That you don’t have to pay for,” his classmate Sarah Walker chimed in.

Douglass’s chemistry class looked like an exercise in organized chaos on a weekday in March, with some students working on a lab in the back of the classroom as others, wearing headphones, danced in their seats while filling out a worksheet.

Periodically, as those with their netbooks hit the play button on a video Douglass had made, the faint strains of a Rihanna parody, “Only Mole (in the World),” could be heard. Two girls new to the school had teamed up to finish a worksheet while Douglas darted around the classroom, wearing her signature white lab coat, answering questions.

“I used to get tired because I had to stand up [and lecture], and I felt like a circus performer,” she said. “Now I’m running all around the room. I don’t sit down all day long.”

Students said they spend different amounts of time on her instructional videos, although all must fill out a “note-taker” sheet as they watch. One might spend just 10 minutes, while another might pause and rewind, listening over and over to certain sections for nearly half an hour. Some watch the videos at home; others prefer to listen in class.

“It’s wherever, whatever, whenever; that’s the whole point,” said Larry Rosen, a psychology professor at California State University, Dominguez Hills, who writes widely about technology and is studying how it’s transforming education. “The flipped classroom allows you to present content and the kids then consume it in their own location at their own pace.”

Flipped classrooms are a start, but don’t take the concept of individualized learning as far as it can go, said Michael Horn, executive director of education at the Innosight Institute in Mountain View, Calif., which works to introduce innovation into education.

“It’s a first step on the way to a promising use of technology, but I don’t think people should see it as an end-all, be-all,” Horn said. “It’s sort of a low hanging fruit of innovation.”

For Douglass, though, such uses of technology are nothing short of revolutionary. She said she still has the occasional student who’ll put his head down or surf the Internet instead of working, but giving students some control over the pace of their learning improves their desire to learn.

Misbehavior all but disappeared after she flipped the classroom, Douglass said, and students who hadn’t passed anything in years began proudly displaying their grades.

“They were getting to choose to push the play button,” Douglass said. “They were very, very excited about accepting that responsibility. They actually like having the power to make decisions. That’s the biggest impact I’ve seen in my classroom—the ownership has gone from teacher to student.”

This article originally appeared on the Hechinger Report.

Hutton

By Jenny Shank

Public libraries are a major hub for Americans to gain access to e-books and other digital resources. But the nation’s recent economic troubles and the transition to digital books are creating major difficulties for these public institutions.

Last month, the American Library Association released its annual State of America’s Libraries Report, and many of its findings were grim. “Public libraries continue to be battered by a national economy whose recovery from the Great Recession is proving to be sluggish at best,” the report concluded. Twenty-three of the 49 chief officers of state libraries surveyed indicated that their library systems faced budget cuts over the past two years. “For three years in a row, more than 40 percent of participating states have reported decreased public library funding,” the report states.

While library budget cuts continue, demand for library services has soared. Lower income and unemployed patrons often turn to local libraries as their only source of Internet access.

At the same time, libraries have sought to accommodate Americans’ ever-increasing demand for access to digital materials, a mission that has put them at odds with the publishing industry, which is struggling to retain its viability as many American readers shift toward reading books electronically and purchasing those titles from online retailers rather than traditional bookstores.

“In the end, it will be a matter of leadership and vision that will guide libraries through the current conditions,” said Jorge Martinez, director of Information Systems for the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, which supports libraries through grants.

SPARRING OVER E-BOOKS

One of the biggest challenges libraries face in this new digital age is the friction in their relationship with publishers, caused largely by the advent of e-books.

Publishers argue that borrowing a printed book from a library requires a patron to physically visit the building and then return a few weeks later to bring it back, which is more difficult than purchasing it from an online retailer. When libraries allow patrons to download e-books through one click on a website, the convenience factor that might drive a reader to purchase a book is eliminated. Penguin Group recently blocked Kindle owners from the ability to download library e-books directly from their devices — now they must transfer the e-book from the library site to a computer, and then to a Kindle.

Just as printed books wear out after a lot of use, some publishers require libraries to re-purchase the electronic version of popular books after a certain number of patrons view it. HarperCollins allows each copy of its e-books to be loaned up to 26 times, which a recent press release from the American Library Association described as “arbitrary.” The libraries then must buy the book again at a lower price.

Simon & Schuster, Macmillan, and Penguin do not sell e-book versions of their titles to libraries, while Hachette refuses to sell its newest e-books to libraries. Although many small presses allow unlimited e-book access to libraries, Random House is the only one of the “Big Six” publishers to do so — and it recently increased its prices significantly, “by 100-200% in March 2012,” according to the ALA’s new report.

Most e-books come with embedded software that creates restrictions on how they can be used, such as allowing only one library patron to borrow each copy at a time. However, on April 25, Tor/Forge Books, an imprint of Macmillan that specializes in science fiction and other genres, announced that its entire catalog of books will be offered without DRM (digital rights management) software by July.

“Library organizations are intimately involved in the ongoing discussions about digital rights management systems and some of the copyright issues associated with e-books,” said Michael Crandall, senior lecturer and chair of the Master of Science in Information Management Program at the University of Washington’s Information School. “This is an area that will continue to evolve as the market becomes more widespread, since it impacts the way people use and share their books with each other and the way libraries are able to purchase and lend e-books.”

Knight’s Martinez said, “It will take a few years for the dust to settle. Laws and contracts always seem to lag behind new technological innovations. But, it will get settled. Librarians, library service organizations, and others are engaged in trying to make sure the eventual terms and conditions for the use of digital books are ones that are fair to all involved.”

For the moment, however, nothing is settled, as two industries with their backs against the wall struggle to reach a compromise.

E-READER PETTING ZOOS, DIGITAL BOOKMOBILES

Despite libraries’ impasse with publishers over restricted e-book use, many are forging ahead in the digital realm, offering patrons new services.

According to the ALA’s recent report, “The proportion of U.S. libraries that made e-books available almost doubled over the past five years, climbing from 38.3 percent in 2007 to 67.2 percent in 2011.”

Samantha Becker, the research project manager of the U.S. IMPACT Study at the University of Washington’s Information School, noted, “The technology environment in libraries has provided a wonderful opportunity to preserve collections and enhance access to them through digitization, which many libraries are doing with out-of-print and local collections or digital artifacts. The Washington Rural Heritage project is a wonderful example.”

That project allows users to search and access digital versions of material from libraries, heritage organizations, and private collections throughout the state of Washington. The Denver Public Library’s Western History Department offers a similar resource for photographs, documents, and other materials related to the American West.

THE DIGITAL DIVIDE

A recent Pew Research Center report uncovered a digital divide in the use of e-books. People less likely to use e-books include Hispanics, those without a high school diploma, the unemployed, rural Americans, and those with household incomes of less than $30,000.

“Without libraries, the division would be even greater, since for many people they serve as the only access point for digital information and services,” Crandall said. “Our study of library computer use found that for 22 percent of library computer users (age 14 and older), the library was their only source for access to computers and the Internet. This would suggest that similar restricted access would apply to e-books without libraries in the mix.”

Martinez noted that libraries are finding creative ways to meet demand despite budget challenges. “In Philadelphia they are placing equipment and trainers in community organizations to make these valuable services available to their patrons at these sites, even when their regular locations are closed due to budget cutbacks,” he said. “In other places, they have recreated the old bookmobile as mobile digital centers that take training, computers and Internet access to parts of their communities where there are no [library] buildings.”

A recent Op-Ed put out by the Knight, Gates, and MacArthur foundations cited several other innovative uses of library resources:

“Bookmobiles have been supplemented by mobile computer labs — visiting minority communities in St. Paul to teach digital literacy classes in Spanish, Hmong, and Somali, for example. In Dover, Mass., the library has installed QR codes around town that link signs at the market and playground to community information and services. Seattle Public Library offers live chats with librarians 24 hours a day getting answers to reference questions and live homework help.”

It also mentioned an initiative at the main Chicago library called YOUmedia that “lets any teen with a city library card have in-house access to computers plus video and audio recording equipment to create their own content with the help of a mentor. At another YOUmedia space in Miami, workshops help teens think critically and creatively about their lives, by teaching them to publish an autobiographical digital story, or to visualize their favorite books.”

Becker said that libraries are working hard to provide access to e-reading materials, as well as helping patrons enter into the e-reading marketplace by exposing them to e-reading devices through lending and device “petting zoos,” and by helping them learn to use new devices in classes and one-on-one sessions with librarians.

Crandall said his study found that two-thirds of the library computer users asked a librarian for help in using the technology. “The ability to use the new technology may seem intuitive to many,” he said, “but clearly for many others it is not, and having a community resource that is able to help people understand how to use digital technology and information, and why they might want to use it to improve the quality of their lives is something that libraries have taken on as a transformation of their traditional mission.”

Martinez said the Knight Foundation’s library funding will focus on “innovative projects and leaders that help to show what the library of tomorrow should be.”

The mission and responsibilities of libraries may be in flux due to Americans’ ever-increasing use of digital information sources, but Becker points out that it’s the same as it ever was: “Libraries have long been at the front lines of providing people with access to new formats for reading and new technology, whether when switching from scrolls to the familiar book format, to newer trends in e-reading.”

Jenny Shank is the author of the novel “The Ringer” (The Permanent Press, 2011), a finalist for the Reading the West Book Awards. Her fiction, essays, and reviews have appeared in Prairie Schooner, Alaska Quarterly Review, McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, Poets & Writers Magazine, Bust, Dallas Morning News, High Country News and The Onion.

The article was originally published by PBS MediaShift, covering the intersection of media and technology. Follow @PBSMediaShift for Twitter updates, or join us on Facebook.

Flickr: Kenteegarden

In the past two days, I’ve received a few comments and emails from readers about different articles that all point to the same problem: frustration over lack of money to take advantage of all these transformational tech tools that we write about here.

In response to The Most Anticipated Tech Tools of Back to School, reader Noi Schoch writes:

“All this tech is great! IF you have the cash for it! Most schools can’t afford it, and most can’t afford the staff development to train everyone how to use it and keep up with the newest uses for it.”

In reference to the article Math and Science: Out of the Classroom, Into the World, which describes why new technology makes this an exciting time to be a student, reader “mjamerson” says:

“This really sounds like a wonderful expansion of educational possibilities. But there is a potential downside. This new technology will depend on two things: teacher ability and access. As we know, in poor communities there are less seasoned teachers and less access, both at school and at home. So as much as I love the idea of using technology to widen the educational experience, this seems to widen the technology/educational opportunity divide at the same time. It makes me wonder; How many people will be left behind?”

And yesterday, I received an email from Shelley Tingle, with the subject head “Where do I start?”:

“I’m a parent of an 8th grader, 4th grader and 2nd grader.  I’m also a research civil engineer at the Engineer Research and Development Center in Vicksburg, Mississippi.  My junior high student goes to a school with virtually no technology!  Vicksburg is an odd society since it is home to many engineers and scientists but also has an extremely high level of poverty with the majority of the students on reduced or free lunches. See our district’s report card.

My passion is for these children to get connected to math and science which will help in educating our low-income children out of poverty with many job opportunities in their hometown. Where do I begin to get technology into the hands of these students?  We do not even have Smartboards in the classrooms.  What would be your priority list?  How do we go about getting the funds for pay for the technology?”

And this is just from the past couple of days. Since the launch of MindShift almost a year ago, I’ve received more notes and comments than I can count asking this pressing question. And I’m not sure how to answer it.

As I wrote in a recent article “For At-Risk Youth, is Learning Digital Media a Luxury?” the issue is one of priority for school administrators, those in positions of power. If educators can reach out to disenfranchised kids by engaging them with tactics like using their mobiles phones and Facebook for learning in class, and by learning about topics that interest them and have direct relevance in their lives, dropout rates and truancies might actually drop. We might see kids more interested in school, regardless of their economic standing. What makes this a more urgent issue is that the “digital divide” or “participation gap”—whatever term you like—will grow even more if low-income students aren’t taught how to use important tech tools they’ll need to survive outside school.

But is there a way to circumvent the system with sites like Donors Choose? Can teachers find sources to fund their own, individual classroom projects, and if so, is that the right way? Can parents help lead the movement in their individual communities? I’d love to hear from those who’ve been successful.