This book highlights how, in principle, digital technologies present an opportunity to reduce social disparities, tackle social exclusion, enhance social and civil rights, and promote equity. However, to achieve these goals, it is necessary to promote digital equity and connect the digital underclass. The book focuses on how the advent of technologies may become a barrier to social mobility and how, by concentrating resources and wealth in few hands, the digital revolution is giving rise to the digital oligarchy, further penalizing the digital underclass. Socially-disadvantaged people, living at the margins of digital society, are penalized both in terms of accessing-using-benefits (three levels of digital divide) but also in understanding-programming-treatment of new digital technologies (three levels of algorithms divide). The advent and implementation of tools that rely on algorithms to make decisions has further penalized specific social categories by normalizing inequalities in the name of efficiency and rationalization.

A comprehensive look at the promise and potential of online learning In our digital age, students have dramatically new learning needs and must be prepared for the idea economy of the future. In Getting Smart, well-known global education expert Tom Vander Ark examines the facets of educational innovation in the United States and abroad. Vander Ark makes a convincing case for a blend of online and onsite learning, shares inspiring stories of schools and programs that effectively offer "personal digital learning" opportunities, and discusses what we need to do to remake our schools into "smart schools." Examines the innovation-driven world, discusses how to combine online and onsite learning, and reviews "smart tools" for learning Investigates the lives of learning professionals, outlines the new employment bargain, examines online universities and "smart schools" Makes the case for smart capital, advocates for policies that create better learning, studies smart cultures

Three experts on equity and technology offer concrete, evidence-based strategies for classroom teachers to move toward digital equity in K12 settings. Closing the Gap is an ISTE book series designed to reflect the contributions of multiple stakeholders seeking to ensure that digital equity is achieved on campuses, in classrooms, and throughout education. In this series, authors Nicol R. Howard, Sarah Thomas, and Regina Schaffer offer historical and philosophical insights while exploring challenges and solutions unique to teacher preparation programs, pre-service and in-service teachers, and instructional coaches. The second title in the Closing the Gap series, this book includes: • Examination of digital equity and the “problem of practice” for teachers and coaches • Strategies for connecting the ISTE Educator and Student Standards to practice • Discussion of key challenges facing teachers in today’s classrooms, such as access, connectivity, limited resources, digital divide, and the homework gap • Research-based vignettes from teachers who have encountered and conquered some of the challenges addressed in the book, and from edtech coaches who have implemented equity-centered innovative professional development This book helps teachers address the challenges of teaching in the digital age, providing positive examples and recommendations for achieving digital equity in their classroom communities.

Equity and Quality in Digital Learning identifies and presents specific strategies and practices for using digital tools to reduce inequities in educational opportunities and improve student outcomes. Based on a ten-year research-practice partnership with the Dallas and Milwaukee public school districts, the book highlights the factors that can support or impede the implementation of digital learning in K-12 schools. As public schools make major investments in digital learning, it is critical to ensure that digital tools are effectively leveraged to enhance learning and reduce achievement gaps, especially for those students historically underserved in schools. The authors offer concrete ways to use evidence from the book to increase the effectiveness of digital learning. "With rich accounts of two districts' efforts to integrate digital tools, the authors offer a well-reasoned caution that digital tools can easily replicate, even amplify, inequality in our education system. Yet, they offer a clear outline for how districts can adopt and implement digital tools to improve learning for all students. This book is an essential read for any school system leader." --Betheny Gross, associate director, Center on Reinventing Public Education, University of Washington Bothell "At this moment, we are grappling with not only how to ensure equity of access to devices and internet but also how to provide equity in quality and delivery of digital content. This book serves as a resource to help educational organizations understand how we got here and offers solutions on where to go." --Lakisha Brinson, Director of Learning Technology, Metro Nashville Public Schools Carolyn J. Heinrich is the Patricia and Rodes Hart Professor of Public Policy and Education, chair of the Department of Leadership, Policy, and Organizations, and an affiliated professor of Economics at Vanderbilt University. Jennifer Darling-Aduana is an assistant professor of learning technologies in the Department of Learning Sciences, College of Education and Human Development, at Georgia State University. Annalee G. Good is a researcher at the Wisconsin Center for Education Research (WCER), codirector of the Wisconsin Evaluation Collaborative, and director of the WCER Clinical Program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

This book highlights how, in principle, digital technologies present an opportunity to reduce social disparities, tackle social exclusion, enhance social and civil rights, and promote equity. However, to achieve these goals, it is necessary to promote digital equity and connect the digital underclass. The book focuses on how the advent of technologies may become a barrier to social mobility and how, by concentrating resources and wealth in few hands, the digital revolution is giving rise to the digital oligarchy, further penalizing the digital underclass. Socially-disadvantaged people, living at the margins of digital society, are penalized both in terms of accessing-using-benefits (three levels of digital divide) but also in understanding-programming-treatment of new digital technologies (three levels of algorithms divide). The advent and implementation of tools that rely on algorithms to make decisions has further penalized specific social categories by normalizing inequalities in the name of efficiency and rationalization.

Digital Solidarity in Education is a book for educators, scholars, and students interested in better understanding both the role technology can play in schools and its potential for strengthening communities, optimizing the effects of globalization, and increasing educational access. The digital solidarity movement prioritizes the engagement and mobilization of students from diverse racial, ethnic, linguistic, and economic backgrounds, and with giftedness and/or disabilities, to utilize and apply technologies. This powerful book introduces innovative technological programs including virtual schools, e-tutoring, and interactive online communities for K-12 students that can: • increase students' knowledge and understanding of advanced concepts while reinforcing their basic skills; • reinforce students' communication in their first language while introducing second and third language possibilities; • nurture students' capabilities to think analytically, while using creative and innovative ideas to think simultaneously “outside of the box.” The experienced author team shows how collaborative partners from the private sector can assist public school systems and educators in creating access for all students to technological innovations, with a goal of increasing individual opportunities for future college and career success. Combining theoretical scholarship and research with the personal perspectives of practitioners in the field, this volume shares with readers both the nuts and bolts of using technology in education, and the importance of doing so.

Contrary to optimistic visions of a free internet for all, the problem of the ‘digital divide’ – the disparity between those with access to internet technology and those without – has persisted for close to twenty-five years. In this textbook, Jan van Dijk considers the state of digital inequality and what we can do to tackle it. Through an accessible framework based on empirical research, he explores the motivations and challenges of seeking access and the development of requisite digital skills. He addresses key questions such as: Does digital inequality reduce or reinforce existing, traditional inequalities? Does it create new, previously unknown social inequalities? While digital inequality affects all aspects of society and the problem is here to stay, Van Dijk outlines policies we can put in place to mitigate it. The Digital Divide is required reading for students and scholars of media, communication, sociology, and related disciplines, as well as for policymakers.

Much of the discussion about new technologies and social equality has focused on the oversimplified notion of a "digital divide." Technology and Social Inclusion moves beyond the limited view of haves and have-nots to analyze the different forms of access to information and communication technologies. Drawing on theory from political science, economics, sociology, psychology, communications, education, and linguistics, the book examines the ways in which differing access to technology contributes to social and economic stratification or inclusion. The book takes a global perspective, presenting case studies from developed and developing countries, including Brazil, China, Egypt, India, and the United States. A central premise is that, in today's society, the ability to access, adapt, and create knowledge using information and communication technologies is critical to social inclusion. This focus on social inclusion shifts the discussion of the "digital divide" from gaps to be overcome by providing equipment to social development challenges to be addressed through the effective integration of technology into communities, institutions, and societies. What is most important is not so much the physical availability of computers and the Internet but rather people's ability to make use of those technologies to engage in meaningful social practices.

Health care is in the midst of a dramatic transformation in the United States. Spurred by technological advances, economic imperatives, and governmental policies, information technologies are rapidly being applied to health care in an effort to improve access, enhance quality, and decrease costs. At the same time, the use of technologies by the consumers of health care is changing how people interact with the health care system and with health information. These changes in health care have the potential both to exacerbate and to diminish the stark disparities in health and well-being that exist among population groups in the United States. If the benefits of technology flow disproportionately to those who already enjoy better coverage, use, and outcomes than disadvantaged groups, heath disparities could increase. But if technologies can be developed and implemented in such a way to improve access and enhance quality for the members of all groups, the ongoing transformation of health care could reduce the gaps among groups while improving health care for all. To explore the potential for further insights into, and opportunities to address, disparities in underserved populations the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine held a workshop in October 2014. The workshop focused on (1) how communities are using digital health technologies to improve health outcomes for racial and ethnic minority populations, (2) how community engagement can improve access to high-quality health information for members of these groups, and (3) on models of successful technology-based strategies to reduce health disparities. This report summarizes the presentations and discussions at the workshop.

Three experts on equity and technology offer research, evidence-based strategies, and examples of best practices to move toward digital equity in teacher education programs and beyond. Closing the Gap is an ISTE book series designed to reflect the contributions of multiple stakeholders seeking to ensure that digital equity is achieved on campuses, in classrooms, and throughout education. In this series, authors Nicol R. Howard, Sarah Thomas, and Regina Schaffer offer historical and philosophical insights while exploring challenges and solutions unique to teacher preparation programs, pre-service and in-service teachers, and instructional coaches. The first title in the Closing the Gap series, this book includes: • Discussion of historical placement of “digital equity” content in teacher education programs • Research- and evidence-based vignettes from teacher educators, higher education deans, and department coordinators demonstrating best practices • Examples of ISTE Standards in action • Practical tips for preparing future teachers to navigate the process • Positive applications of digital equity • A hypothesis for the future direction of digital equity in teacher education This book will inform teacher education programs and future research, providing positive examples and recommendations for educational technology leaders and educators on moving toward digital equity in K12 and teacher education.