How to Solve the Digital Equity Puzzle

How to Solve the Digital Equity Puzzle

Join Tech & Learning content director Kevin Hogan, Superintendent Henry Thiele, Tech Director Scott Harris, and Division Director Chris Prekopa from Comcast Business for a webinar on this same topic. Register here.

While virtually every school in the U.S. is connected to the internet thanks to the federal E-rate program, that standard alone doesn't add up to success in the 21st century.

Educators and administrators today face a host of complexities around the issue of digital equity, including capacity planning, affordability and keeping pace with devices and platforms. It is without question the biggest challenge facing educators today

The rapid evolution of technology toward ever-advancing and interconnected devices is widening the digital equity gap in education, even as schools prepare students to participate in the digital economy by learning coding and media production instead of passively using modules.

Where once this technology could be considered a luxury, it is now a necessity—and communities agree that success in education shouldn't depend on a child's zip code. Providing access to technology is the sure path to achieving digital equity and giving students the best chance at success.

But school districts facing limited resources simply cannot meet these challenges alone. Solving this complex problem requires a community-wide effort built around partnerships in business and beyond that make it easier for educators to provide access to crucial technologies such as broadband internet and mobile devices, in order to truly prepare students for the future.

Businesses, not for profits, parents and leaders in communities nationwide are guiding the way to tearing down the silos that house access to resources. These types of partnerships—with participation from state and federal education officials—are key to finding scalable solutions that can be applied to school districts large and small.

Ideas such as helping identify free wifi sources, or providing wifi hot spot checkout opportunities at school libraries, are helping uncover ways to create digital access for all students outside of the classroom. Identifying and leveraging state and federal resources are also areas in which a community-partnership approach can lead to digital equity.

Webinar: Solving the Digital Equity Puzzle

Through a partnership approach, Comcast Business is helping schools, universities and libraries bridge the equity gap in the classroom and beyond.

Listen in on a webinar as Tech & Learning content director Kevin Hogan will lead a panel discussion on how to solve the digital equity puzzle. Joining him on this challenging topic are panel members Henry Thiele, superintendent of a large suburban district, and Scott Harris, tech director of a rural district, as well as Chris Prekopa from Comcast Business.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Ethernet: Paving a Path to Higher Learning

http://cbcommunity.comcast.com/browse-all/details/ethernet-paving-a-path-to-higher-learning

Stay Connected in the Digital Classroom (Infographic)

http://cbcommunity.comcast.com/browse-all/details/infographic-stay-connected-in-the-digital-classroom