Digital Divide archive
What’s Your Memo to President-Elect Obama?
The longest presidential campaign in history is over. We now know Barack Obama will become president, but what will he accomplish in the realm of education technology policy? What do you want him to accomplish?...
On Order: Half a Million Classmate PCs to Portugal
This week, Intel announced a major partnership with the government of Portugual to supply half a million low-cost Classmate PCs to Portuguese primary school students. One can only imagine the disappointment of MIT’s One Laptop Per Child initiative, but that...
Dude, Where’s My Laptop?
Last November, MIT’s One Laptop Per Child program (OLPC) launched an initiative that would allow individuals to purchase their very own XO laptop - better known as the $100 laptop - while making a donation so that another laptop would...
Discussing Edtech and the Digital Divide with Barack Obama and John Edwards - Sort Of
I’ve been hoping to ask the U.S. presidential candidates some questions about education technology and the digital divide, but my access to them is, shall we say, limited. So I suggested some of my more pressing questions to tech blogger...
The YouTube Debate: Shining More Light on Schools, Filters and the Digital Divide
You’ve probably noticed I’ve been harping lately on the relationship between the digital divide, civic participation and Internet filters. Thanks to this week’s YouTube presidential debate, others have been talking about the issue as well....
Intel and the $100 Laptop: What Does it Mean for U.S. Schools?
Last Friday, I nearly did a spit-take when I saw the headline: after years of acrimony, computer chip manufacturer Intel is forming a partnership with MIT’s so-called $100 laptop program. It’s big news, no doubt, but how will the move...
Got Broadband?
After posting my interviews with several of the Democratic presidential candidates last week regarding the digital divide, some of you emailed me and asked about the actual status of the divide here in the U.S. As it turns out, there’s...
Video: Democratic Presidential Candidates Discuss the Digital Divide
Over the weekend I edited together some video I shot at the PBS Democratic candidate presidential debate on June 28, 2007. The video features candidates Bill Richardson, Chris Dodd, Dennis Kucinich and Mike Gravel offering some thoughts on how they...
Ask a Presidential Candidate
Last night, PBS hosted a debate among the Democratic candidates running for president. After the event, I had a chance to speak with four of the candidates about their perceptions about the digital divide and the role schools might play...
UK Proposal to Tackle Home-School Digital Divide
At a major edtech conference in London this week, a British government announced a new proposal to address the home-school digital divide....
Course Forge: Posting Your Entire Curriculum Online
Last week a Washington state school district announced an ambitious plan to put its entire curriculum online for public access. They’re one of the first K-12 districts to follow the lead of higher education’s open courseware movement, which is changing...
New Govt Report Exposes the School-Home Digital Divide
I might as well have fallen off the map. This past week, I moved from Boston back to the DC area. Because of a mix-up with our new telecommunications provider, we won’t have phone, cable or Internet access until next...
Will Wikimaniacs Change Education -
Or Are They Just Maniacs?
I’ve just spent the last four days at the second annual Wikimania conference, an international gathering of hundreds of wiki enthusiasts (“wikimaniacs”) associated with Wikipedia and its various offshoots. Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia, used the occasion to announce several...
Does Home Internet Access Improve Academic Achievement?
One of the questions I’m most often asked by journalists is whether there’s any evidence that having Internet access will raise student test scores. Not surprisingly, this is a question that gets knocked around by policymakers, too, particularly those who...
