Guest Commentary: Could Open Education Resources Widen the Digital Divide? (video)

First, a hat tip to Education Week's Digital Education blogger Katie Ash for pointing to this.
Justin Reich, a doctoral student at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, has posted a video about his research open education resources (OER) and the impact on education equity.
Common wisdom would lead one to think that OER, combined with mobile devices, expansion of virtual education and other online learning opportunities, would go a long way to closing the digital divide.
Reich says his research doesn't point to that result.
Click here for Reich's video on his work and to learn about his Jan. 17 presentation, which will be webcast live, on whether OER actually might widen the digital divide.

Tom Vander Ark: How Edtech will Benefit Low-Income Students

Digital learning will benefit all students—particularly students from low income families where education leaders are proactive.  In light of the ‘OER exacerbates the gap’ flap  launched by Justin Reich’s blog and Audrey Watter’s response (see the post below this one for links), I thought it would be worth expanding on the ways in which Edtech, blended learning, and open education resources (OER) will benefit low income kids. Click here to see my 10 ways that digital learning will benefit low income students.

Guest Commentary: Open Education Resources and Educational Inequality

Audrey Watters is a technology journalist, freelance writer, ed-tech advocate, recovering academic, and a self-proclaimed rabble-rouser at her blog "Hack Education."
Earlier this month, Watters took aim at a  post on the blog "Educational Technology Debate" by Justin Reich on Open Education Resources and the Digital Divide.
"Reich’s story, along with his related research, raises important questions about whether or not the push for more OER is really benefiting all students in the ways that we pat ourselves on the backs, thinking that it is," she writes.
"Everyone benefits, yes. But in practice, Reich argues, not everyone benefits equally, nor in a way that’s going to close any sort of achievement gap. Rather, more affluent students may actually benefit disproportionately from OER, in part because both teachers and students have the time and the technological capacity to do more with the material," Watters adds.
Click here to read more.