Digital Learning Days

How much learning is occurring on digital learning days? Do all students have equal access and opportunity?

This school year my family and I moved to Georgia and into the Gwinnett County School District. For the first time, my children experienced a Digital Learning Day to replace the time that the children would not be in school for an anticipated snow day. As an educator who has lived in very cold places during winter that often get many feet of snow, like Kansas and Missouri, I had never experienced this kind of learning day. Furthermore, having been a teacher and administrator in Texas as well as Missouri, I had never worked in a district where this type of learning was occurring. I thought the idea was genius! That was until I began to think about students and families I have served in the past who do not have reliable internet services or electronic devices to connect to the internet, or access to the internet--at all! My heart sank thinking about all of the students I have worked with in those school districts who would not be able to participate in digital learning day and the flurry of unintended problems it would cause for the child, the teacher and the parents when they would return to school without work complete.

Out of curiosity, I began to research the digital learning concept in Georgia. After a little research, I learned that Forsyth County reported it was the first in Georgia to implement this approach (Broady, 2019). Individual community persons in this school district raise funding for students to have technological tools and internet access. In districts like Gwinnett, provides supplemental assignments for students who do not have technological access or tools and additional for learning when students do not return to school with work complete. Vander Ark (2012), noted that one of the top concerns of teachers in Rhode Island, rolling out digital learning days was students having limited access to area broadband support. According to the 2018 Federal Communication Commission Broadband Deployment Report, as of 2016, 24 million Americans (approximately 7%) of Americans fail to have access to area broadband support, with a larger number of those living in rural and tribal areas having less access to broadband support than those living in cities. Sheinin (2017) reported when there is limited access to broadband support it inhibits learning which would ultimately result in the impaired development of persons who are adequately trained for the future workforce.

Given these concerns, it seems imperative to me that all school districts must determine innovative ways to provide technological tools and internet connectivity to all students to provide equitable learning opportunities using digital resources for all students.

References

Broady, A. S. (2019). Schools don’t need inclement weather for digital learning days. The Atlanta-Journal Constitution. Retrieved from https://www.ajc.com/news/state--regional-govt--politics/broadband-deserts-hinder-growth-rural-georgia/Fx3iwMdptBtTfMpdz0CgtJ/

2018 Broadband Deployment Report. (2018). Federal Communications Commission. Retrieved from https://www.fcc.gov/reports-research/reports/broadband-progress-reports/2018-broadband-deployment-report

Sheinin, A. G. (2017). Broadband deserts’ hinder growth in rural Georgia. The Atlanta-Journal Constitution. Retrived from https://www.ajc.com/news/state--regional-govt--politics/broadband-deserts-hinder-growth-rural-georgia/Fx3iwMdptBtTfMpdz0CgtJ/

Vander Ark, T. (2012). 10 Benefits & 10 Concerns About the Shift to Digital Learning. Getting Smart. Retrieved from https://www.gettingsmart.com/2012/02/10-benefits-10-concerns-about-the-shift-to-digital-learning/