LOUIS Libraries: Advancing Digital Opportunity: A Higher Education Toolkit: Tools for Digging Deeper

Tools for Digging Deeper

set of principles, guidelines, and policy recommendations designed to bridge the digital divides at the state level, for K-12 systems, and for higher education.
Higher Education Digital Equity Framework, Digital Promise (NOTE: this link is for Draft V.1; the final version is still in development and will be published in the near future)
- Provides a systematic and comprehensive approach to democratizing access to academic resources and empowering all students to thrive in today's technology-driven world.
- Student-focused framework with five domains (Leadership for Digital Transformation; Coherent Systems, Resources, and Policies; Consistent Access to Devices and Connectivity; Powerful Learning Propelled by Technology; Digital Competency)
- Highlights specific campus roles that contribute to the functional and sustainable activation of these domains at the institutional level
- Roles include administrators (department chairs, deans, provosts, and institutional presidents), chief technology officers, information technology staff, library staff, faculty, and students
- Key Components include Access, Use, Skills, Support, and Policy

Digital Opportunities Compass: Metrics to Monitor, Evaluate, and Guide Broadband and Digital Equity Policy, by Colin Rhinesmith, Pierrette Renee Dagg, Johannes M. Bauer, Greta Byrum, and Aaron Schill, Quello Center (February 2023)

Offers a customizable approach to utilize a coherent set of indicators and metrics to create a baseline assessment of the state of digital equity, to monitor its changes over time, and evaluate the effectiveness of interventions to improve digital equity.
Offers a framework to assist in the development of plans that meet federal reporting and assessment requirements but go beyond access and affordability to fully harness the benefits of digital technology. Useful as a shared framework to establish goals and priorities, to identify opportunities, and monitor progress toward these goals.

Visions of Digital Equity, Benton Institute for Broadband & Society (August 2023)

Set of principles to help guide both the process and the resulting visions of digital equity. A well-crafted vision of digital equity has the potential to:
- offer a glimpse of a state transformed by universal connectivity.
- provide a roadmap and resources for the digital opportunity initiatives to come.
- act as a north star for goal setting, planning, and implementation efforts over the months and years to come.

The Digital Inclusion Program Manual, National Digital Inclusion Alliance (September 2024)

Offers guidance for planning and launching digital inclusion programs and services. These efforts might involve expanding access to technology through digital skills training, affordable home broadband, affordable devices, and tech support, and can be implemented in settings such as community-based organizations, libraries, housing authorities, local governments, or other community locations.
Focused on the development and sustainability of a long-term program, but its recommendations and guidance may also be used for digital inclusion projects, pilots, and events.

State Digital Equity Implementation Manual, National Digital Inclusion Alliance (April 2024)

This manual supports states as they implement their digital equity plans and create sustainable, robust statewide digital equity ecosystems. Includes best practices and tips for developing and refining implementation strategies and performance measurement, program evaluation, and sustainability.

This resource illuminates insights from conversations with leaders from community-based organizations, as well as families and learners furthest from digital opportunities, to highlight the barriers faced by learner communities and promising solutions for increasing access to technology for learning.

This report profiles key trends along with emerging technologies and practices shaping the future of teaching and learning, and envisions a number of scenarios and implications for that future. Includes a section devoted to artificial intelligence.
The digital divide is included as a technological trend with a note that AI will contribute to widening this divide: "the divide persists, and now students who lack access to technology are falling behind in the latest technologies, such as AI".
In addition to key technologies and practices related to AI (Finding Appropriate Uses for AI-Enabled Technology; Supporting AI Fluency), this report also includes sections on supporting equitable and inclusive learning, protecting data privacy and security, and navigating misinformation.