On October 26, 2021, the Cooney Center hosted Learning at Home While Under-Connected and the Role of Public Media, a discussion about learning at home and digital inequality, and how public media stations can help within their local communities.
Vikki Katz (Rutgers University) presented key research findings from Learning at Home While Under-Connected: Lower-Income Families During the COVID-19 Pandemic, which follows up on 2016’s Opportunity for All? Technology and Learning in Lower-Income Families to uncover the perspectives of lower-income parents with children ages 3 to 13. Published by New America, the report delves into the experiences that these families had while many children were learning at home during a time when many school buildings were closed.
- There has been a dramatic increase in home broadband access, so there are fewer un-connected families than in 2015—but millions remain under-connected for a number of reasons including cost of internet plans or too many people needing to share devices.
- Educational media (including PBS content) has helped to keep kids learning and growing during the pandemic, especially among the lowest income families— 41% of children in household with incomes below the federal poverty line often watched educational videos online
- Families learned to engage technology as digital learning teams, with parents and children helping each other learn how to use tech together.
- The Learning at Home While Under-connected Project
- Opportunity for All? Technology and Learning for Lower-Income Families
- Are the families in your community under-connected? Toolkit
- Media Literacy Week
- Michigan Learning Channel
- At-Home Learning
- PBS SoCal’s Family Math
- CoSN’s Digital Equity Toolkit
- Big Heart World
- Sesame Street: Caring for Each Other