When Technology Isn’t the Answer to the Digital Divide

At Endless Network, we are actively mobilizing content creators and organizations to overcome this crisis through our #KeepAllKidsLearning initiative--an initiative to let families without internet access know about offline learning resources, and to encourage content creators to make their educational content available as a free download. Learn more.

Lenoir County, a district serving about 8,500 students in Eastern North Carolina, is a 1-to-1 county: each of their students receives a tablet or laptop. In this part of rural North Carolina, most students come from low-income households and about three quarters identify as Black and LatinX. In these traditionally underserved neighborhoods, teachers and administrators are working days and nights to try to reach each and every one of their students. 

Ms. Jones, a Teach For America (ENC ‘15) alumna, has worked in the County for a few years. She started in a second grade classroom before taking over the school’s library. You can tell she loved her job from the handmade decor, which transformed the library from a classroom into a comfy space with throw pillows and reading lamps. Jones, above all, wanted to encourage her students to find their love of books. 

Along with teachers all over the country, at the onset of the pandemic, her classroom had to transition to an online world. But while all of her students have access to technology, Jones is concerned about her students and the other kids in the district: attendance overall is down, assignments aren’t being completed, and worst of all, books are unread.

The problem? Internet access. 

“It’s a really big issue here” Jones says, despite all the corporate programs that try to connect families with free WiFi. The district even created “Park and Learn sites” where families can park their cars near schools and libraries and utilize the internet connection from the parking lot - a great way to increase access, but even with lots of advertising, one that isn’t being used very much, perhaps because some families don’t have reliable access to cars.

While the District does have a platform for downloading content, Jones mentioned it is confusing for the teachers and community members to navigate. Some of the content she would like students to be able to access, like videos and podcasts, aren’t always compatible. Kids who can’t download those resources are likely to miss out on them altogether.

Even when students are able to connect at park and learn sites, they’re still at risk of missing out on learning with their friends in the virtual classroom setting if the schedule doesn’t work out: “Giving a synchronous lesson on zoom is not as effective as being in person, [but] that's still better than always just having to watch a video [asynchronously].” Kids who don’t have access to the internet at home might not even be able to access those videos on their own time; widespread internet access throughout the community is critical for her students to receive the education they need during this time.

Staying in touch with parents is more challenging than ever before, but Jones and her coworkers are dedicated to reaching out in different ways to see how they can support their families. Jones said that one parent of several students at her school told her they wouldn’t have internet for another two weeks: “I mean, it was weeks that they didn't get any instruction from me and that was five kids in the school, one whole family.” 

Kids are missing out on weeks worth of instruction in Eastern North Carolina and around the country because of unequal access to internet connection. So what would it take to #KeepAllKidsLearning during this time?

Beyond better internet connections, offering more downloadable content could be part of the solution: expanding “Park and Learn” sites that families can more easily get to and strengthening the capabilities of their downloadable content would increase student access to high quality content. Investing in teacher PD and supporting Digital Learning Specialists to prioritize remote learning access is a critical component.

At the end of the day, kids across the country are missing out on educational content because WiFi is a privilege. Teachers and administrators are doing everything they can - but until the digital divide is addressed on a wide-scale basis, kids will continue to be left behind.

Endless is working to #KeepAllKidsLearning by spreading the word about downloadable content, encouraging teachers and parents to explore offline tools, and calling on content providers to make their resources available offline.