Expanding Access to Technology
Expanding access to technology means more than delivering equipment and Internet connections to underserved communities. It also means helping diverse groups of people develop the skills they need to use technology well. EDC collaborates with policymakers, researchers, educators, and community organizations to create new learning and career opportunities for populations that have traditionally lacked access to technology.
|
TOUR EDC'S ONLINE
RESOURCES
|
|
Supporting Community Technology Centers
|
The America Connects Consortium (ACC) provides community technology centers (CTCs) across the country with information, training, technical assistance, public attention, and new resources. A CTC is a community center where people of all ages and abilities can learn about computers, use the Internet, explore new careers, further their education, participate in community activities, or develop technology skills. ACC helps CTCs create strong programs that aim to improve academic achievement, teach new job-related skills, build small businesses, and empower the most disadvantaged Americans to become "digital citizens."
Visit the America Connects Web site. 
|
|
Technology for Learning Around the Globe
|
Sponsored by the United States Agency for International Development, dot-EDU (Digital Opportunity through Technology and Communication Partnerships-Learning Systems) initiatives help developing countries strengthen education and learning systems through information and communication technologies (ICT). dot-EDU works in partnership with ministries, local communities, and USAID missions to implement a wide range of technology initiatives--including interactive radio instruction, online learning, school-to-school partnerships, teacher resource centers, school-based ICT educational resource centers and telecenters, and interactive multimedia instructional materials in local languages. dot-EDU activities are currently underway in Africa, South America, Eastern Europe, and Southeast Asia.
Visit the dot-EDU Web site, which includes articles about the work being done in more than two dozen countries.
|
|
Equity and Diversity
|
The Gender, Diversities & Technology Institute (GDTI) focuses on the impact of design, use, and implementation of technology on the education and work lives of people around the world, particularly those in under-represented communities. GDTI’s projects range from international discussions via technology to field-based projects with schools to the development and design of new learning technologies.
Visit the GDTI Web site.
GDTI produced the report, Effective Access: Teacher’s Use of Digital Resources in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) Teaching, which examines the way teachers use online resources and how Web developers can make these resources more accessible and user-friendly.
Read a feature article about this study, which includes a link to download it. |
|
Home Use of Technology in Low- and Middle-Income Families
|
Children's Emerging Digital Literacies: Investigating Home Computing in Low- and Middle-Income Families is a one-year comparative study of children’s use of computers in low- and middle-income homes which explores the digital divide as a literacy issue, rather than merely a technical one.
Read an article about this study in EDC’s report series, Mosaic.
Download a copy of the report (PDF file, Adobe required).
|
|
E-Government Initiatives |
E-Government for All: Ensuring Equitable Access to Online Government Services, published by EDC and the NYS Forum of the Rockefeller Institute of Government, reviews challenges and opportunities for achieving equitable public access to e-government. Obstacles include reading levels of government documents, accessibility of government Web sites, and user unfriendliness of e-government online resources. The document outlines measures that can be taken to realize the potential of e-government.
Download a copy of the report (PDF, requires Adobe Acrobat).
|
|
The Federal E-Rate Program for Schools |
The Benton Foundation and the EDC’s Center for Children and Technology (CCT) collaborated to produce a series of reports on E-Rate, the federal program that offers schools and libraries a subsidized educational rate for telecommunications services. The reports traces the ideas and the political forces that led to establishment of the E-Rate and the practical issues confronting school districts as they seek to seize the opportunities the E-Rate affords.
Download a copy of The E-Rate in America: A Tale of Four Cities (PDF file, Adobe required)
Download a copy of Great Expectations: Leveraging America’s Investment in Educational Technology (PDF file, Adobe required)
Download a copy of The Sustainability Challenge: Taking EdTech to the Next Level (PDF file, Adobe required)
|
|  |
|
