NETP: Discussing the Digital Divide, Part 1

Greetings and Welcome to another Potentially Useful episode of the TCAPSLoop Podcast. Let us now embark on a journey through the intricate web of education, technology, and equity. Today, we're diving deep into the 2024 National Education Technology Plan. Join us as we navigate through the waves of innovation, unpacking the strategies aimed at bridging the digital divide and ensuring equitable access to educational resources for all learners. We'll unravel the threads of this ambitious plan, shedding light on its impact and implications for our classrooms.

Moment of Zen: Organization is what you do before you do something, so that when you do it, it's not all mixed up. - A.A. Milne

 

The Rundown:

Follow along by downloading the National EdTech Plan (NETP): A Call to Action for Closing the Digital Access, Design, and Use Divides

1. What is the National EdTech Plan? How did it come to be?
2. Building on the concept of the Instructional core, this plan considers the barriers to equitable support of learning through edtech as three divides:
   1. Digital Use Divide
   2. Digital Design Divide
   3. Digital Access Divide

As a path to closing these divides, the NETP also provides actionable recommendations to advance the effective use of technology to support teaching and learning. 

Many schools in the United States have greater connectivity and access to devices and digital learning resources than ever before due to the need for emergency remote learning brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, this continued bridging of the access divide will only add to the failure of edtech to deliver on its promises if systems do not consider its use in conjunction with all components of the instructional core. This NETP attempts to chart a path for all schools, educators, and students to realize the potential of technology in supporting better “everywhere, all-the-time” learning.

 

Tech Tool of the Week

CAST - great source for learning more about UDL

https://www.cast.org/

 

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Hosts: Danelle Brostrom, Larry Burden

Um and Ramble Editing: Larry Burden

 

Cover art created with help from Adobe Firefly.