Bridging the digital divide: How NH districts are making remote learning work

Digilearns is a learning intervention platform created to deliver learning materials to students across the country through the use of mobile phones and doesn’t require an internet connection, making education more accessible and affordable to students, particularly those from low-income families. Since launching in 2020, Digilearns has provided access to educational materials to more than 1,000 secondary school children.

Apps that track students’ online activity, door-to-door visits, and receiving input from families on how to reopen schools, are all ways school districts across the country are responding to absenteeism during the pandemic. In one San Antonio district, they were able to locate around 2,900 of the 3,000 students who weren’t showing up to classes.

In San Antonio, the Guadalupe Community Center is providing a free “day school” for children of working-class families in the city’s poorest zip code. The center serves around 30 K-12 students where they can safely attend virtual classes. The center also provides families with “clothing, food, counseling, and help with utilities.” The center runs 40 other similar programs throughout the city.

In Sub-Saharan Africa, “almost half of schoolchildren, or a total of 121 million pupils, are unable to access remote learning,” according to a 2020 UNICEF report, an even bigger problem during a pandemic when students can’t access virtual classes. Eneza Education is using texts messages to deliver classes. Their bite-size lessons delivered via text and “Ask a Teacher” feature are providing education to millions of subscribers.

School districts and cities in California are looking to create their own local Wifi networks as a long-term solution to the digital divide, and an alternative to hotspots. Some are even becoming internet service providers themselves (ISP) — efforts, they say, that will make it easier to provide internet access to those who can’t afford it.

A new learning pod at a church is serving at least 30 students in Philadelphia. The idea for the pod was the result of a listening tour with the community. “We heard directly from parents and caregivers about their needs.” Now, students are learning lessons they had missed out on before they joined the pod.

In the Philippines, more than half of households have limited access to the internet, making remote teaching challenging. Schools, teachers, and the government have found creative ways to reach students. Some teachers are texting students, others drop out printed materials at student homes, and the government even produced radio and TV shows to explain assignments.

This T.V. segment showcases multiple solutions used by school districts and nonprofits across the nation, from creating cell phone towers so students have access to reliable wifi, to curbside meals, to learning pods. Overall, the hosts emphasize that the solutions highlighted in this segment involve a process that begins before a student even enters the virtual classroom and often involves many people working together.

In Denver, learning pods are helping students access virtual classes during a pandemic. At the Adams 12 school district, 4000 students, district-wide, participate in the pod. Similarly, HOPE Online Learning Academy Co-Op launched a learning center. Students can sit in a classroom, access Wi-Fi, and count on the support of an adult. They also distributed 600 computers, 400 webcams from PCs, and 1,077 laptops to enrolled middle and high school students.

Engaging parents during the pandemic is crucial for student learning. This story takes a look at methods undertaken by an organization in U.S. and another in Botswana. In the U.S., Springboard, has a five-week summer program that helps parents assist their children with book reading. The group also trained 3,000 new Teach for America members and went from working with 62 schools to 667. In Bostwana, the organization Young 1ove launched the Low-Tech Remote Education program, which gives student math classes through text or calls.