Transcription
Bryson has been working to provide free technology, free internet access, and immersive hands-on learning experiences at underprivileged schools. The program helps give under-resourced students the education that they deserve. Joining us today from New York is Rose Stuckey Kirk, chief corporate social responsibility officer at Verizon, along with Nakia, a student who has been impacted by the initiative. Ladies, thanks so much for being with us.
Miss Kirk, tell us about the digital divide.
There's a massive chasm between underprivileged kids and kids that have access to great technology. How can we fix it? What are you guys doing?
Well, Megan, thank you so much. I think that you said it perfectly. If you think about the digital divide, there's two components to it. It one is that inside of academic environments, kids don't have access; there is no connectivity. They are not able to actually apply technology to any of their learning, to any of their classroom work; nothing exists. There are other situations where they may be in a school where there is connectivity, there is some level of technology, but students and teachers, administrators, they're not trained on how to use it. And so if you don't know how to apply it in a very rich and authentic way, you will end up using technology to do the same things that you were using pen and paper for, and that creates another divide. So it's twofold.
You didn't—you don't even think about that, but you're exactly right. So who's most impacted then by sort of the education and equality factor?
So if you think about our education system, it is one that is absolutely sort of the haves and the have-nots that exists in a place where you can think about a zip code, and in that same zip code you can have schools who are in well-resourced environments; the kids are using drones and doing robotics and 3D printing, augmented reality, artificial intelligence. They are engaged and learning in this fun, exciting way across all their subject matter. Drive down the highway two to three miles; kids are in the same zip code, and they have absolutely nothing, and they know it. And as a result, they are changing their dreams and their perspectives about their future and what they can be. That's what research that we throw—that shows—it really diminishes and changes their engagement levels. And so the opportunity and what Verizon Innovative Learning does is to address that very issue by equalizing the playing field and giving students who are in under-resourced environments all the tools that they need to be successful.
So tell us a little bit more specifically about the program, what y'all are doing.
Yeah, so we are providing—we have adopted a hundred underserved middle schools—a two to three years. Every single student, teacher, administrator gets a fully loaded tablet with applications that they can use in their classrooms; gamification, how to actually use it in Spanish class, how to use it in English, math, science class. They also—all the teachers are trained on how to use the technology and how to apply it. We are running alongside of them for the two to three years. They can take those tablets home; they have 24/7 access. And what we're seeing is that math scores are improving; they're two times greater than before we were there. Reading scores are three times greater, and kids will tell you over and over that they are excited to be in school, and teachers are excited about the learning changes and also the efficiencies that they are gaining as a result. It's really, really inspiring.
Okay, Nakia, there was a time you didn't have access to this kind of technology; it made you feel kind of lousy, huh?
Yes, it did. I didn't have much access to technology in elementary school, especially in fifth grade. I really noticed it when we didn't get to go to the lab as much, and we didn't have the access we wanted to have—the iPads. Everybody wants a chance to play a game on an iPad.
Yes, everybody does.
But the reality of this, we don't always get that access, and we really want that access to the tablets and get to play all those educational games. But this has really helped by giving us each a tablet and telling us that the possibilities are endless.
Do you feel like you're learning more?
Yes, I do. My grades have increased, and I feel like I have more of a hands-on learning; I like it.
Very good. Okay, well, what else can we all do to kind of close that digital divide, Miss Kirk?
Yes. If you think about what Nakia is saying, that she's customizing her education, she's learning on her own, she's using gamification as a way of furthering her education, you can go to VerizonInnovativeLearning.com, and there you will see more about the program, but you also see how you can share information on the program. For every share, we will put a dollar value on it, and your sharing via your social media outlets, we've put a dollar value on it, up to two million dollars. That two million dollars will be used to put technology inside of more schools, and that's on top of the hundreds of millions of dollars that we've already put into the program. So it's VerizonInnovativeLearning.com. Help us put two million dollars more into technology inside of under-resourced schools in America.
Such an important cause. I just got chills. Thank you so much for sharing with us today.
Thank you.
All right, stick around; we're gonna head to the kitchen.