CENTER FOR HUMAN POTENTIAL AND PUBLIC POLICY PRESENTS THEIR ANNUAL LECTURE ON SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY & SOCIETY

A lecture on The Educational Consequences of the Digital Divide from Robert W. Fairlie Professor, Department of Economics, The University of California, Santa Cruz

Panel Discussion:

Hardik Bhatt – Chief Information Officer and Commissioner of Department of Innovation & Technology, City of Chicago

Eszter Hargittai Associate Professor of Communication Studies, Northwestern University

Nearly 30 percent of children in the United States do not have access to the Internet in their homes. In contrast, computer and Internet use in the nation’s schools is ubiquitous with an average of roughly four computers per classroom in nearly all instructional classrooms in U.S. public schools. The federal government has also made the provision of computer and Internet access to school children a top priority. The increasing reliance on computers and the Internet for classroom instruction, delivering educational content, and completing homework assignments suggests that disparities in home access to technology or the so-called Digital Divide may have implications for educational inequality. Professor Fairlie discussed the causes and consequences of the Digital Divide for educational outcomes globally and in the United States.

Co-sponsors: Center for Human Potential and Public Policy http://harrisschool.uchicago.edu/centers/chppp/sts2008/, Harris School of Public Policy Studies, University of Chicago & C2ST

The Standard Club, 320 S. Plymouth Court, Chicago, IL 60604