Student Connectivity is not a simple yes/no question
The digital divide is still apparent in schools throughout our country, and it can be heartbreaking when schools with great hardware and connectivity are only a few miles away from schools who have fewer devices and slow to no connectivity. With coordination, advocacy, and planning, more schools are getting better access.
As schools gain access and teachers learn how to implement technology in meaningful ways that extend outside of the classroom, the next focus tends to be on home access and connectivity. Many educators start by trying to find out if
students are connected at home. However, a recent study by the Cooney Center that was funded by the Gates foundation reported that “access to the Internet and digital devices is no longer a simple yes/no question. Whether families have consistent quality connections and capabilities to make the most of being connected is becoming just as important.” The study went on to survey low and moderate income parents with school aged children (ages 6–13) and found that
52% said that their access was too slow
26% said that too many people share the same computer
20% said that their internet had been cut off in the last year due to not paying the bill.
Initially, then, educators who ask a simple yes/no question might be convinced that there is little problem for their students to access the internet at home because a high percentage of them said that they had access. In addition, accessibility gets clouded by the definition of what it means to be connected. Increasingly, low/moderate income families are shifting away from broadband and to a wireless only connectivity.
As a result, when a teacher asks a student if they have internet access at home, a student might say yes because they can access a browser on a smart phone. Often, this type of connectivity is most likely not enough to meet the demands of what a teacher is asking a student to accomplish outside of the classroom. In schools with a one to one take home device implementation, a better question (asked in a confidential manner) would be if a student can connect their school device to a home network. If the answer is no, it means that activities like collaborative presentations, peer editing, and flipped classroom instruction become difficult or impossible. Once schools realize that connectivity is not a simple yes/no proposition, then it is easier to design more meaningful surveys. A sample survey (in English, Spanish, and French) can be accessed here. Knowing the types of connectivity that are found in a student population is the first step in brainstorming strategies for learning opportunities outside of the school day.
