The Digital Use Divide

As discussed in the 2017 National Educational Technology Plan, a divide exists between those students who regularly encounter opportunities to leverage technology in active, critical, and creative ways and those whose experiences with technology in their learning are limited to more passive expectations of use. Some students experience a school year full of critical media analysis, video and podcast creation, real-world data collection, connections with remote content area experts, and authentic opportunities to share their learning with global audiences.

Other students—often students from historically marginalized backgrounds—have very different experiences with technology.^{8 9 10 11} They are guided towards more limited engagements that frame them as passive technology users. They have school years of digital worksheets, point-and-click assessments, locked-down devices, and penalties for organic collaboration. In some cases, they may have access to more technology than their peers on the other side of the divide but seldom have opportunities to use that technology in formal education beyond digitized versions of practices of classrooms of a century ago.

Closing this digital use divide—ensuring all students have transformative, active, creative, critically thoughtful experiences supported by technology—is the focus of the following section. Beginning with a clear vision of what states and districts want for all graduates, it then offers guidance and recommendations for operationalizing, evaluating, and systematizing the experiences necessary for all students to fulfill that vision. 

Recommendations:

1. Develop a “Profile of a Learner/Graduate” outlining cognitive, personal, and interpersonal competencies students should have when transitioning between grade levels and graduation. (States, Districts) 
2. Design and sustain systems, including needs assessments, technology plans, and evaluation processes supporting the development of competencies outlined in the “Profile of a Learner/Graduate” through the active use of technology to support learning. (States, Districts, Schools)
3. Implement feedback mechanisms that empower students to become co-designers of learning experiences. (Districts, Building-Level Administrators)
4. Develop rubrics for digital resource and technology adoption to ensure that tools are accessible and integrated into the larger educational ecosystem, that they support Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles, and that they can be customized in response to accommodation or modification needs of learners with disabilities. (States, Districts, Building-Level Administrators)
5. Review subject area curricula or program scopes and sequences to ensure that student learning experiences build age-appropriate digital literacy skills through active technology use for learning. (States, Districts)
6. Build public-private partnerships with local businesses, higher education institutions, and nonprofit organizations to help students access edtech-enabled hands-on learning and work-based learning experiences. (States, Districts)
7. Provide professional learning and technical assistance to district leaders, building-level administrators, and educators to support the use of evidence to inform edtech use. (States, Districts)
8. Develop guidelines for emerging technologies which protect student data privacy and ensure alignment with shared educational vision and learning principles. (States, Districts)

Re-Defining the Digital Use Divide

From the printing press to streaming video tutorials, the history of edtech is littered with claims of imminent, disruptive transformation. These prognostications often imply that the advent of technology is sufficient for realizing this transformational potential. However, technology alone has yet to prove adequate to improve education for all students. Marshaling technology in support of learning can be most effective when that technology is in the service of common visions of student learning. However, not all students can access the same high-quality learning experiences. Technology can be deployed in classrooms almost as an afterthought for many students, with little understanding of how best to use it. What is often identified as “professional learning” regarding technology for educators can often be little more than training on basic functions such as entering rosters, generating reports, or assigning prefabricated tasks. The human element, in these instances, is taken out of the loop.¹²

The 2017 NETP defined the digital use divide as the disparity between students who use technology to create, design, build, explore, and collaborate and those who are only invited to consume media passively.¹³

The plan noted, “Without thoughtful intervention and attention to the way technology is used for learning, the digital use divide could grow even as access to technology in schools increases.” While the field made strides toward more active use for all in subsequent years, 2020 halted many of these efforts. It also expedited the proliferation of technologies and connectivity on a scale and speed for which many districts and schools were unprepared. Although this switch to emergency remote learning necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic and emergency federal funding undoubtedly helped narrow the digital access divide, it did not close it.

In addition to hardware, recent years marked a swell of digital learning resources. During the 2019–2020 school year, a LearnPlatform survey found that school districts used an average of 895 digital tools,¹⁴ and a U.S. Department of Education survey found that 45 percent of schools reported having a computer for each student.¹⁵ By comparison, in 2023, a LearnPlatform survey found that school districts used an average of 2,591 edtech tools in the 2022–23 school year.¹⁶ Ninety percent of educators surveyed by the EdWeek Research Center responded that there was at least one device for every middle and high schooler by March 2021 (84 percent said the same about elementary school students).

Because school systems deployed so much technology on an emergency basis without the benefit of thoughtful planning, change management, or in the service of shared goals, many school systems are struggling to make the most of these new technologies.¹⁷ In a 2021–2022 Project Tomorrow Speak Up Survey of over 41,000 students nationwide, 84 percent of grade 6-12 students reported that the number one way they are using new technology in school is for taking online tests or quizzes.¹⁸ The subsequent most frequent uses of technology, as reported by students, were creating documents to share (63 percent), emailing teachers with questions (55 percent), and watching online videos (52 percent). While all those are valid uses of technology to support instruction, for the most part, they reflect technology as a passive substitution for traditional teaching practices. These examples are far from the vision of technology “as a tool to engage in creative, productive, lifelong learning.”

Active use of technology utilizes technology to discover, analyze, and apply learning rather than passively receiving information.¹⁹ It can empower students to take ownership of their learning, collaborate with peers, and use their skills practically and meaningfully. It reveals voice and choice in the learning process while enhancing engagement, critical thinking, creativity, and problem-solving abilities, preparing students for success in a technology-driven world.^{20 21 22 23}With active use, students frequently engage in self-directed, interest-driven learning using technology outside of school as well, and these learning experiences are representative of their preferences for how learning should be in the classroom.²⁴

Passive technology use occurs when students consume digital content or interact with technology in a primarily observational or non-interactive manner. This technology use is less engaging and may not require active participation or student contribution. It may include activities like test prep applications focusing on rote memorization or completing digitized worksheets online without immediate feedback. During the pandemic, many students used technology for emergency remote learning in passive ways, which did not necessarily result in high-quality learning experiences.^{25 26} Because school systems deployed technology on an emergency basis, many teachers did not have the time or capacity to design effective online learning environments; in many cases, teachers transferred over traditional lesson plans and structures to a virtual environment, with varying degrees of success.²⁷ Post-pandemic, teachers and students still use many new digital tools, but not necessarily in ways that foster active technology use.^{28 29}

Decades of research from the learning sciences have shown the importance of considering individual learner variability and encouraging active learning experiences.³⁰ Technology has the potential to support learner needs and create learning opportunities in ways that we could not have imagined 40 years ago, but only when paired with the understanding of how learning can and should look different in the present. Without thoughtful consideration of the learning goals to be supported by technology use and what that should look like, the digital use divide will continue to grow and exacerbate existing inequities already worsened by the pandemic.^{31 32 33}

Resetting Destination: Portrait of a Learner/Graduate

Amid this new connectivity, influx of devices, and swell of digital learning resources lies an opportunity to cast a clearer vision of what communities want for the learning of their young people. Before implementing edtech, states and school systems have the opportunity to set a clear vision of cognitive, personal, and interpersonal competencies students should have when they transition between grade levels and at graduation. BCSC’s vision was formed by its clear commitment to UDL as a pedagogical framework supported by the active use of technology for learning. In other states and districts, this vision is often called the Portrait of a Learner or Portrait of a Graduate, which serves as a guiding framework that influences curriculum, instruction, assessment, and overall educational design. The NETP will use the term “Portrait of a Learner/Graduate” to describe the entirety of the K-12 journey, a portrait that changes as students progress through grade levels.

Whether at the state or district level, developing a Portrait of a Learner/Graduate involves soliciting input from various stakeholders—educators, parents/guardians, local business owners, colleges and universities, workforce development organizations, and community members. This development process can foster a sense of shared responsibility and ownership and ensure that the final vision aligns with community needs.

Development of a Portrait of a Learner/Graduate pushes all involved to articulate the full range of outcomes they want for their graduates. Although the specific skills outlined in a Portrait of a Learner/Graduate can vary based on individual states’ or school systems’ values and goals, they often include “soft skills” such as critical thinking, problem-solving, communication, collaboration, creativity, and digital literacy. These transferable skills are often highly valued by employers across industries and help prepare students for college or careers, and civic and community engagement.^{38 39} By explicitly defining the skills and attributes required for success in college, in the workforce, and in civic life, the Portrait of a Learner/Graduate helps prepare students for post-secondary opportunities and lifelong learning.

After articulating the full range of outcomes desired for their learners and graduates, educators and policymakers can work backward to build a school model and technology plan that maps directly to the identified outcomes. While developing a shared vision is an essential first step, execution may require redefining some critical assumptions regarding learning and how technology can and should support that vision. This process should include the thoughtful, intentional work of change management to help all education community members see what’s possible.^{40 41} Frameworks for managing this transition to innovative learning include the Innovative Learning Implementation Framework from The Learning Accelerator, Change Management from Digital Promise, and The 4 Shifts Protocol.

Universal Design for Learning: Framing Active Use for All Learners

Effective and active use of technology incorporates the principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL), a research-driven framework,^{45 46 47} to improve and optimize teaching and learning for all people based on scientific insights into how humans learn.⁴⁸ UDL aims to make learning accessible and effective for all students by reducing barriers in instruction and addressing individual differences, learning preferences, abilities, and backgrounds. Developed to address the diversity of students’ needs and to provide equal opportunities for learning and success, UDL emphasizes the need to design instructional materials, evidence-based learning activities, and assessments to maximize inclusivity and accommodate a wide range of learners. As such, the UDL framework supports an inclusive and equitable education environment for all learners by providing multiple flexibilities. UDL practice includes flexible presentations of content, flexible response options for students to demonstrate their learning, and flexible options for student engagement. UDL also incorporates appropriate accommodations, supports, and challenges for all students, including students with disabilities and students who are English language learners.

While the following section will include a more detailed examination of how UDL can aid in the use of technology to support learning, the three main principles of UDL are outlined below.

With the increasing number of digital learning tools and devices available to teachers post-pandemic, educators have even more options to support their use of UDL. Digital tools can offer more flexibility and learning support than traditional educational material formats. They empower educators to personalize and customize learning experiences to align with individual student needs while recognizing learner agency in charting the learning path that best meets these needs.

Educators can implement UDL without modern digital technology;⁵⁰ however, edtech is uniquely suited to support it. Including no-tech and tech-enabled choices for learners may be the best way to meet student needs. This flexibility extends to providing students with the option to use a variety of different digital and analog tools to demonstrate their learning. Rather than teachers feeling like they need to be experts on a specific digital tool before including it in the classroom, they can instead allow students to use the tool or tools of their choice to demonstrate mastery of educational content if the final product demonstrates their understanding of the learning goal.

Example Lesson Utilizing UDL and Technology: A Goal-Driven Unit

As an example of UDL, consider a fictional elementary school lesson created by Ms. Ramirez, who used UDL to develop a unit titled “EcoExplorers.”⁵¹ She started by identifying the unit’s goal and considered the barriers that might emerge in the learning process. Ms. Ramirez considered how multiple means of representation, engagement, action, and expression might overcome these barriers. 

The unit aimed to support all students in understanding ecological concepts associated with diversity and sustainability. To achieve this goal, Ms. Ramirez introduced the unit’s goals and central question: “How can we protect and sustain our planet’s diverse ecosystems?” She then reviewed the various tools and pathways students had to explore the topic.

In representing information, Ms. Ramirez leveraged technology to ensure all her students could access and understand the content. Some students chose to engage in an immersive 360-degree virtual tour of rainforests, while others, including a blind student, listened to narrated podcasts about aquatic ecosystems. Finally, some learners, including two students with learning differences, used interactive simulations that allowed them to manipulate ecosystem variables. The variety of provided resources ensured all students overcame the barriers to learning the essential content.

To actively engage students in their learning, Ms. Ramirez related the unit to previous units and encouraged students to take on the role of “EcoExplorers.” She then reminded the students how to use the online collaboration tools for group projects, and students then chose different roles within the unit. Some students took on the role of scientist, some took on the role of engineer, while others took on the role of reporter. Across the different roles, students needed to gather information and develop solutions around critical challenges. The students gathered and organized their information through an online information organizing tool. Some designed infographics using graphic design software, while others created videos using tablets. By offering choice in technology tools, students contributed in ways that aligned with their strengths.

Thinking about how all students could act and express their understanding, Ms. Ramirez embraced diverse assessment methods. She tied all assessment methods back to assessment rubrics aligned to each engagement role and the unit’s goal of understanding ecological concepts associated with diversity and sustainability. She walked the students through various options for demonstrating their understanding, including developing multimedia presentations, podcasts, written reports, or clay models. A couple of students then asked if they could develop a digital book with text, video, and visuals. Ms. Ramirez told students they could use any number of ways to demonstrate their understanding, including digital books. She then reminded the students to submit a self-completed rubric on their chosen expression of understanding. Encouraging students to reflect on their work helped students develop their executive functioning skills.^{52 53}

Using the UDL framework to design the unit, Ms. Ramirez supported all students in learning the content while helping them develop digital literacy and citizenship skills.

UDL Considerations for Educators

UDL principles, especially when combined with active technology use, can help educators better meet student learning needs. However, many policymakers, administrators, and educators do not understand the UDL framework and learner variability. Furthermore, few districts and schools provide educators the time to build their capacity to design educational experiences with that variability in mind. As a result, teachers’ experience and training in classrooms may circumscribe student learning opportunities, even within the same school buildings. This difference in student learning opportunities is at the heart of the digital design divide.

The adults associated with an education system—whether educators, administrators, classified staff, policymakers, or parents/caregivers—tend to view education through their own experiences as students. Despite advances in learning science and the advent of technologies that empower educators to design learning experiences to meet the needs of diverse student populations, this information often does not make its way into schools. Instead, teachers often teach based on their own learning experiences.⁵⁴ Whether or not their educational experiences met their learning needs, changing practices without explicit training in new instructional models can be difficult. In addition, teachers need to experience these new instructional models as learners through ongoing professional training and teacher preparation programs. Unfortunately, many professional learning opportunities and teacher preparation programs are not designed using UDL principles nor provide teachers with opportunities to experience these new instructional models.

An additional challenge educators and administrators face in many school systems is that teachers are overwhelmed with responsibilities. Teachers may have only one 45-minute planning block per day—barely enough time to complete administrative tasks and answer emails, let alone design lessons that meet the needs of all learners. “Here’s just one more thing” is a common refrain among educators with overflowing plates who are asked to take on additional tasks. Initiative fatigue often occurs when teachers, administrators, and educational institutions are subject to frequent changes in curriculum, teaching methods, assessment systems, and more, resulting in exhaustion and decreased effectiveness.⁵⁵

Just as students need time and space to learn, grow, and reflect on their learning, so do educators. In short, school systems need to engage in what Justin Reich calls “the power of doing less”—taking the time to step back, eliminate non-essential activities, and provide teachers with the time to reflect on their professional practice.⁵⁶ In the words of author John Maxwell, “Learn to say ‘no’ to the good so you can say ‘yes’ to the best.”

State and district policymakers and leaders can consider the following steps to develop systems that provide educators with the time, space, and capacity teachers need to become learning designers:

• Gain a working understanding of UDL and how to leverage it in the workplace and classroom. 
• Plan for and intentionally model UDL in adult interactions and meetings and provide the necessary time for authentic learning/discussions.
• Engage and advocate for adequate connectivity and device access for educators and students at home and school to support learning and instruction.
• Partner and collaborate across agencies and departments to support UDL implementation.
• Support active technology use as a foundational UDL strategy.
• Advocate for equity of access to professional learning that is focused on UDL through sustained funding and policy priorities.
• Encourage teacher preparation and residency programs to implement UDL principles and support teachers as learning designers versus practitioners.
• Build on existing partnerships and relationships to develop and deliver professional learning opportunities leveraging UDL and technology.

Additional Technology Standards and Frameworks

States and districts have used several different technology standards and frameworks in conjunction with UDL to guide technology use in instruction. Examples include the SAMR Model,^{57 58 59} the TPACK Framework,^{60 61 62} the PICRAT Model⁶³ and the ISTE Standards⁶⁴ (available for students, educators, education leaders, technology coaches, and computational thinking competencies). Standards and frameworks such as these can serve as examples for states and districts developing technology plans to align with their Portrait of a Learner/Graduate, Portrait of an Educator (described in the digital design divide section of this document), and Portrait of a Learning Environment (described in the digital access divide section).

Considerations for Emerging Technologies

Educators who remember the advent of laser disk players or interactive whiteboards know that the adage of change as the only constant is true in edtech. Whatever the most cutting-edge technology in classrooms is today, tomorrow promises more improvements and innovations. These emerging technologies often promise increased engagement, transformation of the field, and increased learning outcomes. This can be alluring, but school systems should measure the potential benefits against potential student health, safety, and privacy risks. An important first step for districts is to set clear thresholds and expectations for including emerging technologies in learning spaces. They should also ensure all educators understand these guidelines and can measure their practices against them.

After addressing privacy and other concerns, one must consider the sometimes-brief lifespan of emerging technologies. Developers can move on from projects, or successful tools can be purchased by other companies and locked behind paywalls. A technology freely available to educators one day can be inaccessible the next. Districts like St. Vrain Valley Schools in Longmont, Colorado, developed a tiered approach to emerging technologies, such as the district’s Innovative Tech Framework for evaluating emerging technologies. Such frameworks can help evaluate new technologies while helping educators understand which tools they can expect to be supported. While there is no “one size fits all” solution to address emerging technologies, there are some general principles that education leaders should keep in mind when considering new technologies. The following recommendations have been adapted from the Office of Educational Technology publication, Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Teaching and Learning:

1. Emphasize Humans in the Loop. Regardless of technologists’ claims, no emerging technology will in and of itself solve the long-standing challenges faced by educational systems.⁷⁰ As new technologies emerge, educators must be involved in designing and developing digital tools for classroom use. Evaluating these technologies for potential classroom use at the state, school system, or school level should be iterative and include educator and student input. Evaluators should ensure tools are accessible and meet the needs of all students including students with disabilities. These evaluations should also consider how best to educate teachers, students, and families about these new technologies’ potential benefits and risks. Educators should also keep in mind that technologies come and go – companies go bankrupt, get acquired by larger ones, or change their business focus or priorities, which is especially true of emerging technologies. By keeping this fact in mind, school systems can help prevent teachers from relying on tools that disappear.
2. Align the Use of Emerging Technologies to Your Shared Vision for Education (State and District). Every conversation about emerging technologies should start first and foremost with the educational needs and priorities of students, including discussions about educational equity. How might an emerging technology support the development of the skills outlined in your state’s or district’s Portrait of a Learner/Graduate? It is important not to let the excitement surrounding emerging technologies distract from the north star defined by your state or school system. When deploying emerging technologies in classrooms, evaluate their effectiveness against these priorities.
3. Learning Principles Should Drive the Use of Emerging Technologies. Consider how modern learning principles such as UDL can leverage emerging technologies. Pay particular attention to the needs of students from historically marginalized populations, including students who are English learners (ELs) and those with disabilities. Before deploying emerging technologies, consider learner variability and the diversity of settings in which teachers and students will use digital tools. New technologies developed and deployed without such considerations risk exacerbating the digital use divide instead of narrowing it.
4. Develop Education-Specific Guidelines and Guardrails. New data privacy and security risks can accompany the practical and powerful functionality of emerging technologies.⁷¹ As with any edtech tool, evaluate emerging technologies to ensure they allow school systems to meet their federal and state legal obligations for protecting student data privacy and security. In addition, evaluate these tools to guard against the potential for bias, and to make sure they support cultural responsiveness, and educational equity. Creating an incubation framework for new and emergent technologies can help ensure alignment with these considerations.

Improving Practice, Progress, and Proficiency

Once education leaders and policymakers have defined their vision for learners and implemented a framework to shift teacher practice (to be discussed further in the next section), building evidence about their efforts’ success is important. With the more open-ended practices associated with active technology use, both qualitative measures (such as teacher narratives of adoption barriers) and quantitative measures (such as the frequency with which tools are used and student performance) can help education leaders describe implementation, monitor its progress, and adapt practices to better meet their implementation goals. 

These self-evaluation questions are adapted from The Learning Accelerator’s Digital Equity Guide Self-Assessment Tool: 

1. Are students engaging with materials that are targeted and relevant? Can they access differentiated content from several different cultural perspectives, using a variety of modalities, such as audio and video, in an accessible way? Can they choose to access content that they find motivating and relevant and do they have strategies to support how they interact with different forms of media?
2. Are students actively engaged with the available technology, tools, and digital materials? Can students use various technologies, allowing them to choose the modality that best motivates them, meets their learning needs, and fits the circumstance? Is technology used not only for content acquisition, assignments, and instruction but also to connect to students’ personal and professional interests?
3. Do students have opportunities to engage in peer learning, relationship-building, and connection with the broader community? Do students learn across multiple contexts and modalities? Are they comfortable using a variety of channels to communicate and collaborate, and do they possess the digital and media literacy skills and competencies to engage in socially connected learning?
4. Can students use platforms, tools, and software that adapt to meet their needs, help them reflect and monitor progress, and support their acquisition of new knowledge and skills? Do students experience authentic and inclusive opportunities for learning, reflection, feedback, and assessment? Do they have choice and agency in engaging with differentiated, standards-aligned materials, tracking their progress toward learning goals, reflecting on their learning, engaging in individual practice, and demonstrating proficiency or mastery? Do they possess the digital literacy skills and competencies to determine how to leverage different tools or platforms to best meet their unique learning needs?

Some potential strategies include:

1. Cognitive walkthroughs are an approach to assessing usability in which one or more evaluators work through a series of tasks and ask a set of questions from the perspective of the user.⁷² In education, cognitive walkthroughs systematically analyze the usability of educational materials, environments, and experiences from the learner’s perspective. Cognitive walkthroughs can help educators identify obstacles students might encounter in the learning environment, including anything from accessibility challenges to a lack of culturally responsive learning materials. Considering education materials and environments from multiple learner perspectives can help ensure they work for more students.
2. Journey mapping refers to creating a detailed visual breakdown of the smaller events that make up a larger experience.⁷³ This process includes depicting learners’ various touchpoints, interactions, and experiences during the learning process. Journey mapping focuses on understanding the learners’ perspectives, emotions, and interactions throughout their educational journey.
3. Educator, student, and parent surveys can provide valuable insight into the perceived benefits associated with technology implementations.

The digital use divide stands between students who have opportunities to engage actively with technology as part of their educational experiences and those who don’t. All learners deserve an education designed around the active use of technology rather than the passive technology uses they report being offered most frequently in school. 

In this section, we have discussed the updated definition of the digital use divide; discussed the importance of active technology use for learning; introduced UDL as a component of active technology use; explained how developing a Portrait of a Learner/Graduate can serve as a “north star” for edtech use; and discussed how to evaluate the usability, feasibility, and implementation of technology used in developing these competencies. The next section will discuss the digital design divide, focusing on educators and the larger education systems that impact their instructional effectiveness.

In the next section, we’ll discuss the four Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) tiers of evidence and the role of research studies in the evaluation process.

National Educational Technology Plan (Back to Main)

Introduction

The Digital Use Divide

The Digital Design Divide

The Digital Access Divide

Conclusion

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Appendices / Acknowledgments