Education technology

Verizon will deliver enhanced connectivity to approximately 80 Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) schools operated by Native American tribes on 64 reservations in 13 states. Verizon’s network investment across diverse tribal lands is expected to lead to reliable, high-speed internet service and connected devices for thousands of students. The work will support BIE's mission to provide quality education opportunities from early childhood through life in accordance with a tribe's needs for cultural and economic well-being.

The purpose of this study was to examine variables related to teachers’ perceptions of the impact of a one-to-one laptop program on learning. This study used a survey designed to determine the teachers’ self-reported level of technology adoption, demographic variables, professional development needs, and perception of the impact of one-to-one laptop availability on student academic performance. Findings indicate that most teachers identified themselves as Early Majority Adopters.

The study of information and communications technology (ICT) adoption signals that diffusion processes within highly unequal societies produce stratification in the access to digital technologies

CENIC’s current last-mile efforts for K-12 are funded through the Broadband Infrastructure Grant (BIG) program, which was created in 2019 by Governor Gavin Newsom (D-CA) and the California State Legislature to identify and implement fiber-based broadband solutions for K-12 schools lacking broadband connectivity. The BIG program emerged from CENIC’s success in supporting the Broadband Infrastructure Improvement Grant (BIIG) project.

The Federal Communications Commission is committing over $244 million in Emergency Connectivity Fund program support, helping to close the Homework Gap. The funding supports applications from the program’s third filing window which ran from April 28, 2022 until May 13, 2022, and will provide support in the upcoming 2022-2023 school year for 259 schools, 24 libraries, and 1 consortium across the country, including for students in California, Georgia, Michigan, Missouri, New York, and Virginia.

While the pandemic presented obstacles for many students during the 2020-21 school year, the Government Accountability Office (GAO)’s nationwide survey of public K-12 teachers showed that teachers with certain vulnerable student populations were more likely to have students who faced significant obstacles to learning and an increased risk of falling behind academically. Teachers reported that students encountered obstacles to learning including difficulty in getting support, a lack of appropriate workspaces, and a lack of tools for learning.

The Federal Communications Commission has received requests for $2,814,736,532 in the third application filing window of the Emergency Connectivity Fund program to fund 5,120,453 connected devices and 4,285,794 broadband connections. Applications will be prioritized to fund schools and libraries with the greatest need first, with a preference for schools and libraries located in rural areas.

When ed-tech leaders from 21 states met with lawmakers to discuss 2022 policy priorities at EdTech Advocacy Day in Washington (DC), they coalesced around the idea of modernizing federal E-rate funding for new expenses. The May 12 event brought together officials from the US Department of Education, Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, FCC Commissioner Nathan Simington and FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks.

Located in the heart of the San Joaquin Valley, Dos Palos (CA) is halfway between San Jose and Fresno. It’s a remote community, which created challenges for the Dos Palos-Oro Loma Joint Unified School District (DPOL) when it needed to implement distance learning plans during the pandemic. Paoze Lee, the district’s technology systems director, said it was obvious that the district could provide wireless and broadband coverage only to about 50 percent of its students via commercial wireless operators. “As we tried to bridge the digital divide, we wanted to fill in the gaps,” Lee says.

Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina M. Khan announced that an open meeting of the Commission will be held virtually on Thursday, May 19, 2022. The following items will be on the tentative agenda: