Governor Roy Cooper has proclaimed today Digital Learning Day, highlighting his commitment to strengthening education through innovative, technology-based learning and achieving digital equity in North Carolina.
To facilitate digital learning, all North Carolina public schools have high-speed broadband connectivity. The majority schools also have Wi-Fi networks and progress is underway to bring Wi-Fi to all public schools.
“In 2018, North Carolina was the first state to get all public schools connected to high-speed internet. Wi-fi for all schools and closing the homework gap is next on our list,” Governor Roy Cooper said. “Digital learning and literacy are critical to students’ future, and we know that closing the digital divide with high speed internet is the kind of infrastructure all North Carolinians need to succeed.”
North Carolina still has areas that lack the infrastructure, called broadband, to support high-speed internet. Addressing this disparity has been a priority for Governor Cooper.
Last year, he established the Governor’s Task Force on Connecting North Carolina so state agencies could work more collaboratively to identify and remove barriers to affordable, high-speed internet access.
Students are particularly hindered by the digital divide when it creates a ‘homework gap,’ which occurs when students are assigned homework requiring access to the internet, but do not have home access or adequate device. Efforts around digital learning include the N.C. Department of Information Technology’s Broadband Infrastructure Office and State Library’s partnership with the North Carolina library systems to develop and implement a holistic, replicable, and scalable model to equip North Carolina’s public libraries to address the K-12 homework gap in their communities.
Leveraging statewide and local partnerships, this project equips libraries to simultaneously address the four primary challenges contributing to the homework gap: broadband access, affordable broadband service, access to a digital device at a student’s home and digital literacy training.
Read the full Digital Learning Day proclamation here.
Learn more about national Digital Learning Day here.
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