Adolescents today have vastly different opportunities to learn and process information via pervasive digital technologies and social media. However, there is scant literature on the impact of these technologies on urban adolescents with lower socioeconomic status. This study of 531 urban students in grades 6-8 used a self-reported survey to…

The potential use of computer-based assessments has raised concerns from educators, policymakers, and parents about information technology infrastructure in school districts and the preparation of staff and students to use new technologies for assessment purposes, and the potential impact of testing activities on core school functions,…

Interviews with 216 Grades 4-8 teachers and observations in 21 classrooms show that computers are widely used to teach writing across Canada. Restricted access to computers plays a role in the frequency and types of interactions that students and teachers have with computers in writing classes. Equally influential are assumptions about writing…

Examination of the "digital divide" has increasingly gone beyond the study of differences in physical access to computers to focus on individuals' use of technological tools for empowered and generative uses. In this research study, we investigated the relationship between access to tools and experience with creative production…

This article presents the results of a three-year study of "Gamestar Mechanic" (www.gamestarmechanic.com), a flash-based multiplayer online role-playing game developed for the MacArthur Foundation's digital media learning initiative by the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Gamelab in New York. The game's objective is to help children…

This article relates the story of one California school district that is making laptop ownership for students a reality, despite the overwhelming financial burden. In January 1996, Clovis Unified School District found itself in a situation familiar to many districts. Fresh from a conference in Redmond, Washington, sponsored by Microsoft and…

Maine is the first state to deliver "anytime, anywhere learning" to schools by providing laptop computers to every 7th and 8th grader in public schools statewide. It's an unprecedented attempt by a state to be a catalyst for school technology. The brainchild of then-Governor Angus King, the Independent who herded it through the…