NPR has provided an interesting education story about schools that allow students to take school devices home over the summer. The opportunity is provided to address the “summer slide” – the loss of learning known to occur over the summer. The impact of this slide is not a constant across students and tends to be more acute in students from lower families. I know schools like to do maintenance on equipment in the summer, but this seems a very practical use of technology to address a known issue.
Internet access is another part of the challenge and schools cannot always provide a solution to this challenge. The NPR article tells a story of two kids sharing a coke at McDonalds so they can use the wifi. This is obviously not a universal solution and not useful at all in rural areas.